‘Judging Freedom’ edition of 6 May 2026: Ukraine War hits Russians’ pocketbooks

It will be interesting to see whether today’s Judging Freedom show will be put up on rutube in Russian translation later today, because our discussion was frank, direct and not at all favorable to the powers that be in Moscow.

As I said in answer to Judge Napolitano’s question as to whether Russia is actually winning the war presently, my position has changed substantially from where it stood just a few weeks ago. What has changed is the vast improvement in quality and numbers of Ukrainian drones striking key infrastructure deep inside the Russian Federation. Just in the past week there were two drone strikes in central Moscow, which has the most advanced and till now effective air defenses in the country. The Russian oil export installations on the Gulf of Finland at Primorsk have been hit repeatedly. The oil export installation on the Black Sea south of Sochi, at Tuapse, was hit badly this past week.

This is not to say that the Russian advance in Donetsk is not proceeding. It is and perhaps by September the Russians will reach the Dnieper, having freed all of the Donbas. Perhaps soon afterwards, they will take Odessa. But, contrary to my earlier predictions, that will not be the end of the war now that such powerful new offensive weapons are being put in the hands of the Zelensky gang by the West and 90 billion euros are approved to finance the Ukrainian government and war machine for at least another year. Ukrainian attacks on Russian cities will continue until such time as Russia obliterates the Zelensky regime in Kiev, Lvov and other major Ukrainian cities.

And it is an open question whether President Putin is morally prepared to make that giant step to total war.

©Gilbert Doctorow, 2026