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A leaked European intelligence report highlights Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasing concern over his personal safety and the safety of his senior officials. Western and Russian opposition sources reported on May 4, citing the intelligence report, that Russian security forces have increased security measures as Putin fears possible assassination attempts, including targeted drone strikes. The intelligence report noted that Putin spends most of his time in underground bunkers in Krasnodar Krai and has stopped going to his residences in Moscow Oblast and Valdai, Novgorod Oblast. The intelligence report also cited sources in Russia familiar with Putin as stating that the recent internet shutdowns in Moscow City were at least partially related to Putin’s security and anti-drone protection. The intelligence report stated that Putin amended Federal Protective Service (FSO) regulations to provide security to 10 high-ranking generals after a December 2025 meeting of security officials in which the officials shifted blame onto each other for the December 22 assassination of Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, the chief of the Russian General Staff’s Operational Training Department, in Moscow City.
ISW has not observed independent evidence to support other aspects of the leaked intelligence report about Putin’s fears of a coup attempt in Russia. The European intelligence report portrayed former Russian Defense Minister and current Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu as "associated with the risk of a coup." CNN, which obtained the intelligence report, noted that it does not provide evidence to support these claims.
Russian forces first infiltrated into the outskirts of Kostyantynivka in late October 2025 but have yet to achieve meaningful operational progress in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area. Western media sources recently reported that fighting has reached the outskirts of the city. ISW has observed evidence to assess that Russian forces have infiltrated in 10.14 percent of Kostyantynivka and advanced in only 0.7 percent of its eastern outskirts. Russian forces first infiltrated the eastern outskirts of Kostyantynivka on October 24, 2025, and have failed to make even tactically significant gains in the subsequent six months despite numerous exaggerated claims from senior Russian officials about alleged Russian successes in the city. Russian milbloggers have offered criticism of these exaggerated claims and noted the slow tempo of Russian progress in Kostyantynivka. Russian forces also conducted two mechanized assaults near Chasiv Yar (northeast of Kostyantynivka) in April 2026 that did not result in tactically significant gains.
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