Olena Davlikanova, Senior Fellow at the Sahaidachnyi Security Center, gave an extensive video commentary to World Talks (TVP World) on Russia’s large-scale strike against Ukraine on May 24, 2026 — an attack that, for the third time, involved the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile alongside one of the heaviest combined drone-and-missile barrages since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Speaking with host Sascha Fahrbach, Davlikanova argued that the strike was a demonstration of power, a message aimed at both Ukrainians and Europeans. She read it as a deliberate signal following a notably weak 9 May parade in Moscow, and as further confirmation that the Kremlin has no intention of negotiating in good faith.
On the battlefield, Olena Davlikanova pointed to real Ukrainian progress. Since the start of the year, Ukraine’s Armed Forces have liberated almost 600 square kilometres of territory, and the front has settled into a stalemate in which Russia is no longer able to seize meaningful ground.
Unable to win militarily, she argued, the Kremlin is instead trying to break Ukrainian resolve from within — the logic behind its campaign against energy infrastructure during the winter. That strategy, Davlikanova believes, is failing: each horrific attack leaves Ukrainians more determined never to give up.
In her assessment, the months of maneuvering around negotiations have largely been an attempt to play the US president while Moscow continued to seize territory and kill civilians. Russia has simply never been serious about reaching a workable middle ground, arriving each time with maximalist demands and sabotaging any progress.
She observed, “The only obstacle to peace is in the Kremlin.”
She concluded that Russia understands only the language of force, and Europe — already facing sustained sub-threshold warfare across the continent — is not yet ready for the kind of attacks Ukraine endures daily.
There’s much more in the full conversation. Watch Olena Davlikanova on World Talks (TVP World).