ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 9, 2026

Key Takeaways from the ISW: A prominent Russian milblogger noted that the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has recently issued fewer claims of Russian forces seizing settlements in Ukraine. The Russian Central Bank is acknowledging that Russia’s war in Ukraine is having mounting economic effects, while trying to present these effects as temporary. Nabiullina’s characterization of Russia’s economic strains as temporary contrasts with the Kremlin’s preparations for increased budget deficits over the coming years and the mounting costs of wartime economic policies for ordinary Russians. Russian forces continue to lean into highly maneuverable quasi-cruise missiles for strike packages against Ukraine’s critical and industrial infrastructure, exploiting Ukrainian air defense and interceptor shortages. Russian forces are also modifying anti-aircraft and ballistic missiles to expand the scale of ballistic trajectory strikes and improve their precision against key Ukrainian transportation nodes, particularly in Kyiv City. Ukrainian forces continued their long-range strike campaign against Russian missile production facilities overnight. Russia launched 317 drones (including 105 jet-powered) against Ukraine overnight. Neither Russian nor Ukrainian forces advanced on November 9. JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. See the original here.