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Russia Sends Over 1500 Missiles, Drones On Ukraine In 48 Hours After V-Day Ceasefire

Soon on the heels of the successful 3-day and US-backed 'V-Day' ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, Russian forces have unleashed several days of drone and missile barrages on Ukrainian cities, especially the capital. It seems the Kremlin is bent on 'payback' for several weeks of effective Ukrainian long-range drone attacks which have badly damaged several Russian oil refineries and energy sites.

BBC reports Thursday that "At least seven people have been killed, including a 12-year-old girl, in Kyiv after Russia launched a massive wave of drone and missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital and other regions, officials have said."

The death toll is expected to rise given bodies are still being pulled from under the rubble of a destroyed apartment building in Kiev, while local emergency agencies say at least 20 people are feared missing. Dozens more were wounded in the attack, with at least 21 initially being transported to the hospital.

via Associated Press

Thursday marks the third day in a row Ukraine has witnessed deaths from the now unrelenting drone attacks, which followed the last day of the ceasefire, which expired on Monday.

President Zelensky later announced that the military tallied that Russia sent more than 670 drones and 56 missiles targeting the country overnight. This ranks it as among the largest aerial assaults since the war started in 2022.

Zelensky stated that the strikes hit at least 180 sites across Ukraine, including over 50 residential buildings, but also claimed an "overall interception rate" of 93%.

He additionally added a 48-hour tally: "In total, since midnight yesterday, Russia has used more than 1,560 drones against our cities and communities," he said on X.

"These are definitely not the actions of those who believe the war is coming to an end," he added, referring to Putin's Saturday speech wherein he hinted a the 'end' of the special military operation ending.

This week's strikes have been particularly devastating against large civilian neighborhoods. According to an Associated Press description:

As dawn broke on a clear day in Kyiv, a scene of devastation came into focus in the capital’s leafy Darnytsia neighborhood, located between a suburban forest and the Dnieper River. Wisps of smoke rose from the collapsed nine-story apartment block, where emergency workers dug under concrete slabs and took people away on stretchers. The building’s entrance was smashed in the strike, preventing residents from escaping.

All 18 apartments in the building were destroyed, officials said. Among the dead was a 12-year-old girl, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Zelenskyy said seven people were killed, with at least 20 people believed to be missing.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha in the latest overnight attack aftermath took to X to appeal to world leaders: "At the very time when leaders of the most powerful countries are meeting in Beijing, and the world hopes for peace, predictability and cooperation, Putin launched hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles at the capital of Ukraine," he wrote.

🗺 Approximate map of Russian missile and drone strikes across Ukraine over the past 24 hours

The map highlights particularly massive attacks on Kyiv, as well as a large number of targets in western Ukraine.

As a reminder, since yesterday evening alone, Russia has attacked… pic.twitter.com/GJ8UGmMrNG

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 14, 2026

Speaking of Putin, he added: "Only pressure on Moscow can make him stop." However, it seems White House attention has been absorbed in the Iran war and ongoing Hormuz blockade standoff, and the impact on global energy.

While Presidents Trump and Xi are expected to dialogue on finding a way toward peace in the Russia-Ukraine war, most attention has been paid so far to what's next in the Persian Gulf. The question of Ukraine peace has taken a back seat for much of the past year.

Tyler Durden Thu, 05/14/2026 - 11:00

Iran Proclaims Safe, Toll-Free Passage For 30 Chinese Tankers Amid Xi-Trump Summit

During President Trump's ongoing state visit to China, he and President Xi Jinping agreed that the ‌Strait of ‌Hormuz must be open for ‌the ⁠free flow of energy. They along with their senior officials have expressed agreement that no country can ​be allowed to exact shipping tolls in the Strait of Hormuz.

Following this, Thursday saw Iranian state media proclaim that some 30 Chinese vessels are being allowed safe passage by Iran. Bloomberg also freshly reports, "The vessels were allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz with the coordination of the Iranian authorities and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ navy, state TV reports, citing an IRGC naval official." While it's as yet unknown or unclear whether the US Navy side of the de facto blockade will also let them pass, Reuters has also reported the following:

Iran ‌has begun allowing some Chinese vessels to transit through the Strait of Hormuz following an understanding over Iranian management protocols for the waterway, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Thursday, citing an informed source.

via Reuters

In particular the move also follows formal requests by China's foreign minister as well as Beijing's ambassador to Iran, with Tehran reportedly agreeing based on safeguarding the two allies' strategic partnership.

Bloomberg cited the IRGC official as saying of the Iranian protocol for passage, "A new era in the Strait of Hormuz has started as many countries of the world and fleets have accepted that the best, quickest and simplest way for transiting this very important waterway is only though coordination with the IRGC’s naval forces."

This was after Wednesday saw the key milestone of a Chinese supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude having successfully passed through the Strait of Hormuz, after previously being stranded for more than two months.

Also of note is that the Chinese Cosco Shipping tanker did not have to pay tolls. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Lloyd’s List Intelligence data show the Yuan Hua Hu crossed the waterway through the corridor in the north controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Ship trackers said the vessel switched off its transponder while sailing from an anchorage in Dubai towards Larak, then came back online for a couple of hours before going dark again. Ships crossing through Larak pay an average of $2 million each, according to brokers.

The Yuan Hua Hu is the third Chinese state-owned tanker to leave the Gulf since the start of the war.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott emphasized earlier this week that Washington and Beining "agreed that no country or organization can be allowed to charge tolls to pass through international waterways like the Strait of Hormuz."

China imports the bulk of its energy from the Middle East, and while it has amassed substantial crude oil stockpiles that are helping it weather the worst of the crisis - anecdotally over 1.4 billion barrels - restoring normal flows from the Persian Gulf is important for one of the world’s top energy importers.

Are Iran and China coordinating behind the scenes to seek to take negotiating leverage away from Trump?

Chinese companies are in talks for major new arms sales to Iran, explicitly ignoring Trump's letter to Xi before his arrival.

And in return, Iran just granted more than 10 Chinese ships, including oil tankers, passage through the Strait of Hormuz — preempting any U.S. attempt to… pic.twitter.com/k4H3vG0vgb

— MeidasClips (@MeidasClips) May 13, 2026

Earlier in the war, reports emerged that Beijing had pressured Iranian officials to stop attacking vessels carrying crude oil and LNG via Hormuz. Judging from later events that involved Iranian strikes on vessels in the chokepoint, Tehran did not yield to the pressure.

Tyler Durden Thu, 05/14/2026 - 10:55

The "Game of Thrones" alum told "How to Fail" podcast listeners Wednesday that she "shut down emotionally” amid her near-fatal health battle.

The "Game of Thrones" alum told "How to Fail" podcast listeners Wednesday that she "shut down emotionally” amid her near-fatal health battle.

A whistleblower publicly accused the CIA of snatching critical files on John F. Kennedy and MKUltra, the agency's notorious human experiment program, that were being reviewed by National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard's team.

Consuelos agreed that his sweater was "giving Mr. Rogers a little bit."

The lease is the first of any kind for the ambitious project, which is scheduled to break ground next winter.

A top Iranian navy commander claimed the Islamic Republic has deployed some of its small submarines, known as the "dolphins of the Persian Gulf," in the Strait of Hormuz to wreak further havoc on the critical oil chokepoint, according to state media.

Indian Ship Sunk Near Oman; Iranian Commandos Seize Vessel Off UAE

Summary: 

• Indian Cargo Ship Sinks in Suspected Drone Attack off Oman 

• Iranian Commandos Board & Seize Honduras-Flagged Ship Off UAE

Indian Cargo Ship Sinks Near Oman

Maritime data company Windward revealed on X:

Indian cargo vessel sunk by suspected drone attack off Oman The MSV HAJI ALI (MMSI: 419908021) has gone down in the Strait of Hormuz region. The 57m vessel was running dark (AIS disabled) at the time of the incident.

The ship had recently transited from Somalia. All crew members have been successfully rescued. No fatalities reported. Note: As a vessel under 500 GT, it does not have a formal IMO number.

This incident highlights the escalating risks for smaller commercial vessels operating in regional chokepoints. While attention is often on large tankers, small tonnage like the Haji Ali is increasingly exposed in this shadow war.

Iranian Commandos Board & Seize Honduras-Flagged Ship Off UAE

It appears the Iranians have boarded and seized another ship in the Persian Gulf region - this time as the vessel was anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, and while it was reportedly en route to Iranian territorial waters.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said Thursday that the vessel was seized by "unauthorized personnel", with the initial incident being reported about 38 nautical miles northeast of the UAE port of Fujairah.

via Reuters

The agency said the ship's company security officer reported that "the vessel has been taken by unauthorized personnel while at anchor and is now bound for Iranian Territorial Waters."

UKMTO said it is seeking more information incident and urgently advised vessels operating in the area to report any suspicious activity. While the agency did not immediately identify the vessel, Reuters in follow up interestingly described that is a mere fishery research vessel. According to the report:

A vessel was boarded by unauthorized personnel ​on Thursday while at anchor northeast of the ‌United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah and was heading towards Iranian territorial waters, United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said.

Two maritime security sources ​said the ship was believed to be the Honduras-flagged ​Hui Chuan fishery research vessel.

Ship tracking data on the MarineTraffic platform indicates vessel ⁠was last seen in the Gulf ​of ‌Oman, just within Iran's exclusive economic ​zone (EEZ) on ⁠May 12; however, an EEZ can still be considered international waters - though the Iranians are apparently not interpreting it that way.

In the face of the ongoing US naval blockade of Iranian ports, Tehran is seeking to assert its geographic and military leverage, enforcing an 'Iranian protocol' over the vital Strait of Hormuz oil and goods shipping waterway.

This week has seen Iran begin to let more Chinese vessels through, at the request of Beijing, and reportedly without imposing tolls either.

Bloomberg freshly reports Thursday of 30 Chinese ships, "The vessels were allowed to pass the Strait of Hormuz with the coordination of the Iranian authorities and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ navy, state TV reports, citing an IRGC naval official."

Diplomacy has taken a back seat at the moment, as each warring side seeks to 'wait out' the other in hopes that enough economic pain can be imposed to 'cry uncle' - as President Trump himself has recently expressed.

Tyler Durden Thu, 05/14/2026 - 10:45

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Today's Soap Operas – Coronation Streeting, Eastenders, And Succession

By Michael Every of Rabobank

In the UK --where the 30-year gilt yield sits at 5.74%, the highest since 1997-- politics is abuzz with rumors centre-right Health Secretary will resign to take on PM Starmer in a leadership contest, which left-wing Energy Secretary Miliband is expected to join to prevent any Coronation Streeting, as left-wingers Rayner and Burns may try to as well. This is 24 hours after King Charles read out the Starmer government’s legislative agenda, which includes using a Henry VIII-era statute to force the UK to readopt EU laws without (yet) wanting to rejoin. As UK political commentators put it, the struggling Labour Party needs to decide what it’s for - and depending on what happens next, it remains to be seen if that includes the markets. Indeed, several left-wingers have been openly derisory about concerns over potential Labour policies lifting gilt yields. 

Logically, a (successful) political party should try to understand the context in which its policies will operate. As a social media commentator points out, while Labour built the welfare state in 1945 when the UK was broke, which remains its proud legacy, “Attlee's settlement was bankrolled by imperial surpluses, Marshall Aid, sterling's privileged role within Bretton Woods, capital controls that turned domestic savers into a captive bond market, and inflation that quietly torched the real debt. It sat on top of a state a fraction of today's size, financed by a young workforce, riding reconstruction productivity growth.” Raise your hand if you think the present geoeconomic backdrop, and that of the UK, meets those criteria – and the bond market will also get a vote. 

As the Financial Times relatedly underlines ‘Why global imbalances matter’, as they are the root of our geopolitical and geoeconomic problems (which, ironically, is why we rarely talk about them?), another long-running soap opera is playing in Beijing. 

In Eastenders, Trump, with a billionaire CEO entourage, is meeting Xi after posting in Air Force One that he will be asking him “to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level!” Indeed, as some talk of UK Labour going back to the 1970s, the US language is also of Nixon–Mao 2.0, albeit from a very different starting point. Everybody gets how important these talks are, but few consider the full US *and* Chinese contexts, and many takes are colored by what they think of Trump. Some think Xi now has all the cards; others that the US still has some aces. 

We will have to wait and see if we get a Grand Bargain that reshapes geopolitics and geoeconomics – and, yes, imbalances; smaller agreement on tariffs, tech (as the Netherlands protests a US proposal to further bar chip giant ASML from the China market), and even Taiwan; a de minimis Farce Two Trade Deal can-kicking exercise, or a Great Escalation. 

On which note, some media suggest China might be prepared to put pressure on Tehran, yet the New York Times reports that Chinese firms are plotting arms sales to it. Which will it be? 

While Europe is on the sidelines of the UK, US-China, and Iran dramas, that doesn’t mean it’s absent. Yesterday, the FT reported Euroclear, one of Europe’s largest financial intermediaries with over €43 trillion of assets under custody, is considering accepting China onshore bonds traded in Hong Kong as collateral, not just offshore bonds as now. Euroclear states this would support Beijing’s efforts to promote yuan internationalisation to counterbalance the global dominance of the USD… at a time when the EU’s push for strategic autonomy, heightened by the Iran War energy crisis, is accentuating the need to boost global usage of the euro, not the yuan. 

That’s particularly the case in trade commodity finance, where the single currency only accounts for around 6% of the global total in SWIFT, and even less considering more of that trade is being done on China’s CIPS system. 

Of course, Euroclear is free to do whatever it wants, but it remains to be seen how this plays out politically and geopolitically now the news is out - the US will note the timing well, just as Trump is in Beijing looking for bargains. 

If this is seen as a European bargaining chip vs. the US in a game of geoeconomic poker, note USD swaplines have now been openly politicized by the US Treasury via Argentina and the UAE, and next Fed Chair Warsh has stated that even Fed swaplines are not an area subject to central-bank independence.  

Or is this a plan for Succession from the current Eurodollar system, which the US is now openly advertising it is going to transmogrify into something else via neo-mercantilist tariffs, economic statecraft, and US dollar stablecoins? Note successions can be disputed, and the candidates aiming to fill some large shoes can fall far short of the giants they have to replace. 

Against that backdrop, Warsh was just voted in as Fed Chair by the Senate, in the narrowest confirmation (55-45) in US history – that shows how contested even ‘apolitical’ central banking now is. He will take over that key role with his predecessor Powell refusing to leave the FOMC table, which will be an ‘interesting’ dynamic; and with the 30-year US Treasury yield hitting 5% for the first time since 2007 as headline and core CPI rise due to the Iran War.

On which, the Middle East remains on edge. Not only did the UAE, and Saudi, reportedly strike Iran pre-ceasefire, but the Saudis and Kuwait both just hit Iran-backed militias in Iraq; the Iranian foreign minister threatened the UAE after Israeli PM Netanyahu claimed he and the head of Mossad had visited Abu Dhabi during the fighting – which the UAE has denied; Lebanon has filed a UN complaint against Iranian interference; and the Gaza Board of Peace envoy has stated the stalled ceasefire has failed to meet the expectations of both Israel and Palestinians, which appears to be down to Hamas’ refusal to disarm.

Things are also fluid re: Ukraine. The Ukraine Support Act won enough signatures to force a vote in the US House of Representatives; the US is close to signing a strategic defence deal with Ukraine for drone tech; NATO boss Rutte is asking allies to commit 0.25% of GDP to Kyiv but is running into opposition from France and the UK; the US just cancelled the deployment of troops to Europe as part of Trump’s drawdown pledge; Switzerland is considering rival defence systems after Washington delayed delivering Patriot missiles to it; and the Russian parliament voted to allow Putin to order troop deployments abroad to protect Russian citizens facing arrest, detention, trial, or other perceived persecution by foreign nations and international courts – note the EU has several countries with Russian minorities, and aims to eventually expand to include others that also do.

So, back to today’s soap operas – Coronation Streeting, Eastenders, and Succession.

Tyler Durden Thu, 05/14/2026 - 10:30

Is it September yet?

“I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health,” the pro golfer wrote in an X post on March 31 after his arrest.

“I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health,” the pro golfer wrote in an X post on March 31 after his arrest.

“An unhealthy man did a horrific thing."