Welcome back to The Restricted Handling Podcast — Russia just unleashed its largest air assault since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, hitting Ukraine with over 800 drones and 13 missiles in a single night. For the first time, Kyiv’s Cabinet of Ministers building took a direct hit from an Iskander ballistic missile, a symbolic and dangerous escalation aimed right at Ukraine’s center of power. Ukrainian defenses managed to shoot most of it down, but not before lives were lost and the capital burned.

At the same time, the Kremlin is turning its rhetoric against NATO itself. Dmitry Medvedev dusted off the old Soviet-style propaganda and threatened Finland with nothing less than the “collapse of statehood.” Yep, Russia is now using the same bogus justifications it once used for invading Ukraine and pointing them northward. If that doesn’t send chills across Europe, nothing will.

Meanwhile in Washington, Donald Trump says he’s finally ready to escalate sanctions on Russia. But Moscow shrugged it off, with Peskov calling Western sanctions “absolutely useless.” So what’s real? Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says coordinated U.S.-EU sanctions could actually crash Russia’s war economy—if Europe steps up on secondary sanctions against Moscow’s lifelines like India and China.

And speaking of China, Beijing is sending mixed signals. On one hand, Chinese regulators may let Russian energy firms issue yuan-denominated “panda bonds” for the first time in years, a financial lifeline for Putin. On the other hand, Chinese exports to Russia just dropped 16%, the sharpest fall since February, showing Beijing is nervous about overexposure.

We also break down Russia’s quiet military adaptations:

• Cranking out 50,000 fiber-optic drones a month that jam-proof Ukrainian defenses.

• Conserving armored vehicles for a possible big autumn offensive.

• Rolling out its Borei-A nuclear submarine Emperor Alexander III in the Pacific to flex ahead of New START’s 2026 expiration.

Oh, and while Russia tries to look strong abroad, Putin’s big Vladivostok economic forum was basically a flop—no China, no India, just Laos. Not exactly the “global pivot east” he was hoping for.

This episode is a mix of hard intel, battlefield updates, and some sharp analysis—delivered with the energy and edge you need to stay ahead of the curve.