9 May fireworks, 6 May 2026

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Before the next post reflecting on what the EU/Europe should do, it’s too hard not to squeeze in a May 9 first 😍

Last year, Ukraine heavily drone-attacked in the days before May 9, but Zelensky made it clear that he was not allowed to drone the parade for us in the West, who in our infinite wisdom thought it was more important that the war didn’t end.

Putin invited 30 heads of state (or their representatives for those who didn’t trust Zelensky) including Xi Jinping. They sat lined up on a nice bench beside the parade, grinning broadly with the sun in their faces because they knew Ukraine wouldn’t do anything. My blood pressure was worryingly high that day, but I have trained self-control ahead of this year’s parade by lifting empty beer cans with dumbbells for five minutes every morning.

This was last year – now Trump has burned all bridges with Zelensky so no one cares what he says even though he has tried to help Putin get a ceasefire through by May 9. A one-day ceasefire – completely shameless even for him and directly embarrassing.

Last year, Ukraine respected the ceasefire which was supposed to last about a week, but on May 10 Russia carried out a violent bombing campaign against Ukraine as thanks for the shown respect.

Zelensky has smartly countered with his own ceasefire on May 5-6 – and that they will follow how Russia acts. Since RU practically won’t be able to avoid terror bombing today and tomorrow, May 9 is reasonably a legitimate target according to the principle of proportionality.

We are already rejoicing over the burning export ports in the Gulf of Finland like Primorsk, which are really only surpassed by the total destruction of refineries like Tuapse, or the violent attacks on the Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk and on Crimea.

How RU could still have their valuable Ropuchas on Crimea is beyond my understanding but so it was – no more Ropuchas Mr. Putin.

For the first time, Putin has stopped just enduring in silence.

Now he mentions all the droning as a problem and THAT IS A BIGGIE because everything that has hurt them they haven’t mentioned with a word during 4 years of war – it’s serious now.

Putin has played it safe and cleared Russia of portable air defenses which are now found on rooftops around Moscow. Despite that, Ukraine yesterday carried out a violent drone attack on Moscow that sailed right through the air defense umbrella – there you have it, RU is totally caught with their pants down here and they have tried EW weapons, early-warning systems and all the different air defense capabilities they have in their arsenal along with snipers.

The important thing is that exactly everything is a downside for Putin right now ahead of May 9 – no matter how he spins this, the publicity will be terrible at a time when he already fears at least one palace coup.

Recently he asked Musk to shut down Starlink quickly followed by the blackout of Telegram to prevent the spread of information – the two proposals for this move are mobilization or to sound the alarm before internal unrest has started.

FSB has (again) started a purge mixed with unexplained suicides so something is absolutely going on, especially since public figures with reputations to maintain have begun criticizing the war AND Putin in very clear terms – some kind of opposition has started to move, it’s crystal clear because everyone knows what happened to Girkin and the bloggers who tried that too early.

The ball is rolling simply and those of you reading know that Putin intends to counter it with an escalation in the Baltics.

Earlier, Ukraine already has a deal with the 6 oblasts closest to them to tie these to themselves as a buffer zone post-war. What they get in return is trade with Ukraine which then has full access to the EU internal market, which is very attractive.

ATESH exists all over Russia together with at least six different active local liberation fronts.

A whole bunch of sub-republics with minority peoples are just waiting to declare their independence but since they are as cowardly as Europe, they only do so when UA projects sufficient strength.

Old “stans” like Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan are also waiting for the moment to fully orient themselves towards Ukraine/Europe even though China is trying to tie them to itself too – same there, it must be completely risk-free.

Not to mention the judiciary – recently a senior officer (above Colonel?) responsible for the massacre in Bucha died, hard to find another explanation than that Ukraine stole a page from Mossad’s playbook and is now dispensing justice in a headshot style. Apparently, Putin’s inner circle has received greatly increased protection now, they are absolutely worried.

Ukraine has always pursued fully asymmetric warfare – they are in contact with an opposition in Russia they believe in where the goal is to topple Russia which then splits into about a dozen new countries.

It may not succeed all the way with another villain in power instead but they try as best they can.

Back to May 9 – it is Russia’s big day where they project strength for Putin and Rodina – the Nazis in Germany tried but failed, motherland forever, Red Storm.

We have received some information – a drone network is being set up on the streets ahead of the parade which will go without heavy vehicles this year. Since new production is working well so there are hundreds of freshly painted vehicles of the latest model available, it is purely a precaution. There is also a strategic offensive reserve available – if Putin wanted, he could hold the biggest parade ever to project maximum strength which he surely needs right now.

If one may guess, Putin will not stand in the middle of the square in the sunshine at all in a few days but appear on big screen TV as the Great Leader or alternatively sit behind triple layers of protective nets they believe in – which is worse is probably a matter of taste?

But if they are already worried today about a palace coup or UA attack, the protective nets are not enough because what would be a better way to carry out a palace coup than to have the revolutionaries walking in the parade with Putin ten meters away.

If it’s a Putin double, we already have all the copies – funny friendly guy, the guy with the wrong forehead and someone else so it will take two hours before we know which copy it was – but IF the double is then killed, it will be quite a big problem for Putin in his bunker I think if the situation runs out of control.

This is where it gets wonderfully sunny – a bit like soothing elevator music in light blue because Ukraine can do absolutely anything, everything will become a totally gloomy bar hangout for Putin.

A few suggestions from a happy amateur –

-Totally drone the parade into pieces in a cloud of FPV drones that darken the sky to the ride of the Valkyries with thermobaric grenades and “dracarys drones”, as a finale salt the earth – my favorite option but maybe a bit less likely unfortunately.

-fly FPV drones over the parade so all of Russia watches live TV when Shoigu pushes Gerasimov away before he crashes under the table and loses one boot.

-hack the big screen TV with Putin in the middle of his speech for some UA propaganda.

-combat all LV that is now gathered within a small geographic area for a few days.

-unleash the war’s largest drone and robot swarm against all other targets around Russia that had to allocate their LV for the protection of Moscow.

-start the spring offensive at the fronts (I don’t really believe in it unless UA has already planned an offensive in May and is just timing the dates, I have guessed that it is a bit early so far but who knows…).

-hack state TV during the parade and run UA propaganda.

-let the sub-republics declare their liberation from Russia on May 9.

-sink the Kerch Bridge.

-release a cloud of Ukraine-pampfletters over the parade using drones, someone suggested that on johanno1.se, a bit too peaceful for my taste but if paired with sticky napalm I support it.

You can quickly see that anything will pull down Putin’s pants who looks weak in front of the country’s citizens in a country where only pure brute force keeps you in power.

May 9 is this year’s most important date to ridicule Putin so that something happens we can be sure of – it should have happened last year but we chose to betray Ukraine because we are better.

On Saturday it happens, then Ukraine scrapes out this year’s big lottery win so far – we usually can follow it on some live channel YouTube I think?

Now I am supposed to have an alcohol-free year so it will be snus and Pellegrino with blood orange flavor for me but all of you others better pour a good whisky to prepare a toast with.

If you then in pure joy run in for a paid subscription on Substack so you become a winner you will have an even better day I can promise. One BigMac meal less per month is also good for your health – a health cure.

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119 thoughts on “9 May fireworks, 6 May 2026”

  1. MXT

    Russian losses in Ukraine, 2026-05-06

    • 1050 KWIA
    • 1 Tank
    • 5 AFVs
    • 92 Artillery systems
    • 5 MLRS
    • 2 Air defense systems
    • 2 031 UAVs
    • 12 UGVs
    • 282 Vehicles and Fuel tanks
    • 1 Cruise missile

    GLORY TO UKRAINE

  2. MXT
    AFU reports:
    • 186 combat clashes
    • 77 aviation strikes (13 missiles)
    • 244 KAB/CAB
    • 10,301 kamikaze drones
    • 3,651 shelling (102 from MLRS)
    The drones (fourth highest today) and artillery continue to increase since the low point about a week ago.
  3. jockesoft

    May 9th will undoubtedly be an interesting day, let’s see if Putin agrees to Zelensky’s ceasefire that he announced starting today, otherwise I assume Ukraine will fly all sorts of things on May 9th, as you wrote Johan, maybe it should be accompanied by a Whiskey. 🙂

    A bit off-topic from my region, it started as a rumor but now the news is everywhere, war really drives new and very unexpected collaborations, about 5 years ago the UAE and Israel were bitter enemies…

    “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly ordered the Israeli military to send an Iron Dome interceptor battery – and soldiers to operate it – to the UAE after a call with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a move that demonstrates just how far ties have come.”

    https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/01/middleeast/israel-uae-middle-east-alliances-opec-intl

    1. DenGamle

      Unsure, but rumor has it that Putin failed and was forced to change his diaper early last night at 4 AM, caused by fear of… everything.

  6. 205

    There are many rumors going around now, but the one about Putin changing a diaper at 4 a.m. last night sounds more believable than Putin asking Musk to shut down Starlink. But maybe it’s true?

    1. Proxima

      Is he changing it himself? Or is it the home care service? Speaking of home care, I’m celebrating with home-distilled on Saturday. Usually, I take vodka for absolutists, but Absolut home-distilled works fine🚰Thanks for the post Johan no 1👍👍👍

    2. Pehr

      I agree.
      I am convinced that Starlink is more connected to the IPO and that Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation had a one-on-one with Elmo.

  7. 205

    Sharp increase in Pokrovsk in the last 24 hours, otherwise mostly the same number of attacks as the previous day, with a slightly rising total of localized attacks.

    The increase in the localized total to a relatively low 129 was followed by a rise in unlocalized attacks to a relatively high 57 attacks, thus maintaining yesterday’s ratio of 0.44, or just over two Ukrainian attacks per five Russian ones, assuming the unlocalized are Ukrainian and the localized are Russian.

    With the same assumption and with two KWIA per Russian attack in Pokrovsk according to yesterday evening’s report at 22:00 applied to the localized attacks in today’s report, 258 KWIA are obtained from the Russian attacks and thus the rest, 792 KWIA, from the Ukrainian attacks, giving a ratio of 14 KWIA per attack. This lies in the range of 5-25 that has been observed many times.

    N Slobozhansky-Kursk 2
    S Slobozhansky 12💥↗️
    Kupyansk 2
    Lyman 6
    Slovyansk 1
    Kramatorsk 1
    Kostjantynivka 14💥
    Pokrovsk 50💥💥💥↗️↗️
    Oleksandrivskij 14💥↗️
    Huliaipole 24💥💥↘️
    Orikhivsk 0
    Prydniprovskij/Dnipro 3

    Localized 129↗️
    Unlocalized 57↗️
    Total 186↗️
    Ratio unloc/loc 0.44

    • Pokrovsk 50💥💥💥↗️↗️

     

  8. MacMelmac

    The best thing would have been if the UA had split it up and flown in with the drones so the idiots shoot down the crap on themselves. At the same time, you take out some air defenses to show that they can no longer hide.

    Meanwhile, you hit a number of strategic targets all over RU so Prutten has to cancel the parade of limping crutch-soldiers.

    Why not shoot a little at Prutten’s mansions too. He will need more than one diaper, he will need a whole sewage suction truck!

    1. maggan

      Not the computers, I seem to remember they were protected since they are not military? That is, violations of international law? Unnecessarily bad publicity.

      2. fedtmule

        Hmmm… Not military targets.. Putin often leads the war from the command centers in his dachas, so in my world they are legitimate targets.
        Of course, my name is not Nils Funke, but just like him, I have opinions about absolutely everything. 😉

  9. alfaomega

    Thank you Johan for yet another worthwhile yellow wall. When it comes to May 9th, I believe that some kind of “peaceful” drone attack (maybe with blue and yellow flags) would ridicule Putin much more than one with live weapons. At the same time, it would show that you can reach the big guys anywhere and still not give them any opportunity to accuse Ukraine of violating the ceasefire. The effect should be that the paranoia spreads even more among the chatter in the Kremlin.

  11. MXT

    Nice post today! 👍👍👍

    It was a well-written post yesterday too, but I didn’t want to spoil it by disagreeing or bringing up fact-checking. 😂

    1. fedtmule

      Speaking of defilement.. Here on the blog we have Johan’s yellow walls, in Putin’s bunkers they have brown walls…. Sorry, came home from Gothenburg last night……

  12. MXT

    Off-Topic, Iran War

    “The White House assesses that it is close to reaching an agreement with Iran to end the war, sources familiar with the matter told Axios. The US is said to have submitted a draft of 14 points, which among other things includes details regarding nuclear negotiations. Iran is expected to respond to the agreement within 48 hours.

    The parties have not yet agreed on the points. However, officials believe this is the closest the US and Iran have been to making peace since the war broke out.”
    https://omni.se/kallor-iran-och-usa-narmar-sig-ett-fredsavtal/a/j03VOo

    —

    Wonder who bought shares before Trump’s statement? 😂

    “The Stockholm stock exchange started Wednesday with an increase and at 11 o’clock the trading looks like this:

    • OMXSPI: +2.6%
    • OMXS30: +2.5%

    Donald Trump said on Truth Social that ‘Project Freedom’ is paused for a short period but that ‘major progress’ has been made in the peace talks with Iran. Futures are rising in pre-market trading on Wall Street just like in Europe.”
    https://omni.se/fredshopp-vantas-ge-positiv-start-pa-borsdagen/a/j0385b

    1. jockesoft

      “I wonder who bought shares before the statement from Trump?”

      I think exactly the opposite, now he brought the price down so now it is surely being traded actively before Israel and the USA really end it and the oil price takes a big jump upwards again.

      But it is probably true that there were some around Trump who “happened” to buy at exactly the right time before he said the deal is close.

      But, the question is who will sign the deal from Iran? Considering that the IRGC lives its own life and shoots when they get a little feeling, no deal will hold unless the IRGC has been involved in it.

  13. MXT


    Russia has launched over 100 drones against Ukraine during the night, according to Ukrainian authorities. Thus, Ukraine considers that Russia has rejected the offer of a ceasefire, reports among others AP.


    “Putin only cares about military parades – not human lives,” writes Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha on X.


    The Russian leader Vladimir Putin has declared a unilateral ceasefire in connection with the Victory Day celebrations starting on May 7. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky responded by declaring a ceasefire from midnight on the night of May 6.


    Russia also claims that Ukraine violated the ceasefire during the night.

  18. MXT

    ** Chinese companies continue to massively supply drone components to Russia and Iran, despite US and EU sanctions. China’s customs data reveals hundreds of containers shipped to drone factories. In particular, Xiamen Victory Technology openly sells Limbach L550 engines  – the core component of Shahed-136 kamikaze drones used by Russia to terrorize Ukrainian cities. Previously, Chinese exporters used fake declarations to bypass sanctions. Now, US Treasury officials note they don’t even bother hiding it anymore. Source: WSJ **

    https://bsky.app/profile/antongerashchenko.bsky.social/post/3ml6bklmj4k2c

  27. MXT

    Off-Topic, AI

    Some dismiss the risk of AI replacing humans by saying that there have always been the same concerns when new technology has been introduced, and even though some professions have been affected, development has still progressed and new jobs have been created, and what has happened is rather that we have increased our production and our welfare.

    That is of course true. The use of computers is probably the closest thing to AI, but it has not led to humans becoming redundant. It has made us more efficient, but it has also led to entirely new industries that have created growth and rather overall increased the number of jobs.

    The problem with AI is that it is general and will also be an expert in everything that can be done with computers and possess significantly more basic knowledge than most. Today, of course, an expert in a certain field often beats AI, but I am quite sure that this will change when it becomes easier to add expert knowledge to language models. In addition, of course, new forms of AI beyond language models etc. will be added.

    I myself am convinced that AI (if development continues at the same pace as now) will lead to major problems in the future. Especially when it is also combined with robots.

    It is therefore time to start thinking about how to address the problems if, or in my opinion when, they arise.

    “The US unemployment system is not ready if AI development leads to major job losses, economists assess according to the New York Times. The system is described as outdated and many gig workers, recent graduates, and part-time employees risk being left without a safety net.

    Many experts and politicians had hoped that Congress and state authorities would learn from the pandemic and reform the system to include more people.

    – If we had just built on it and fixed certain shortcomings, we would be better prepared for this AI apocalypse or whatever it is that will happen, says Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist at the think tank Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.”
    https://omni.se/usa-s-skyddsnat-illa-rustat-om-ai-slar-ut-jobben/a/aJGr34

    “AI companies should pay a kind of ‘minimum wage for robots’ to slow down job losses when AI takes over tasks. That is what Welsh tech entrepreneur Charles Radclyffe tells the BBC.

    In practice, Radclyffe’s proposal is about a kind of tax that companies would need to pay when AI replaces human labor.

    His own company develops software that can perform office jobs in seconds, tasks that otherwise can take humans weeks. According to Radclyffe, the change is happening faster than many politicians believe. According to him, it is ‘astonishing’ that there is no political plan ready to be implemented if ‘the worst predictions come true.'”
    https://omni.se/techentreprenor-vill-se-minimilon-for-robotar/a/QJrpEJ

      1. Jan W

        Well, one can hope that people are still needed for scripts!? However, AI can probably create virtual actors and environments. Acting, a profession of the past!?

        So, a clearance sale in the capital at a store in the Ur & Penn chain. Not quite in tune with the times.

        1. johan No.1

          Instead of 6000 extras in Viking clothes, three actors and AI are enough – that’s kind of how I thought.

          Or Hannibal’s elephants, D-day, Genghis Khan.

  30. johan No.1

    How is it going with the AI that is supposed to write comments in the threads under different names?

    I agreed to it because it was supposed to praise me but I don’t see anything 🧐

    1. iamwhoiam

      It quickly seemed to realize that it was more profitable to focus on advertising. Hence the incredibly mixed (and honestly often quite weird?) ads here on the site. Someone wasn’t specific enough in the prompting and gave it too much freedom, I think.

      1. johan No.1

        Yes, everything from osteoarthritis medicine to tricycles – my search history has completely missed that for zero about beer, chips, or new ways to make hamburgers

        1. MXT

          We mention chips, dip, and Mariestad here sometimes, strange that they still haven’t jumped on board!

          Maybe we should do alternative posts on completely different topics to attract good ads for things that are expensive and usually pay the most! 😂

           

      2. MXT

        Yes, Google Ads primarily bases itself on sites you have visited if any of them buy ads. Then it also tries to match the content on the site, and that’s probably where it goes wrong. There aren’t that many advertisers targeting Ukraine or global war, and many advertisers may have chosen topics they don’t want to appear in.

        It’s probably when Google doesn’t really know what to show that suspicious ads appear. How to cure diseases you’ve never heard of, pointless IQ tests, or how to get rid of sleep apnea.

        Sometimes it gets stuck and tries to show ads that hang. Then I usually visit Dustin, so I get to see some ads from them for a couple of days.

    2. MXT

      I’m waiting for you to send me an Nvidia Spark or an RTX 5090 so I can set up a local AI (to avoid ongoing costs).

      But if you prefer to take over the Open AI subscription and handle the payment for it, that’s fine too!

  31. 205

    Azerbaijan has begun delivering natural gas to Germany and Austria, President Ilham Aliyev announced.

    Azerbaijan 🇦🇿

    The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) confirmed that supplies to buyers in both countries started in January 2026 via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), expanding Azerbaijani gas exports to 16 countries total, including 10 EU members.

    https://x.com/visionergeo/status/2051752945809801727?s=46

  32. johan No.1

    The USA has already tried to broker a ceasefire but Zelensky brushed it off with “they never asked us directly” or something like that.

    Now, according to the above, Russia is calling the USA.

    Let’s see what Trump says soon 🤣🤣🤣

  35. johan No.1

    USA is probably starting to get a bit worried, UA is no longer playing along.

    UK long-term interest rates have skyrocketed – did you see that?

  37. johan No.1

    I think the USA is trying to bribe UA with equipment.

    UA already knows that on May 10, RU will go crazy bombing Ukraine; they see the preparations.

    So endlessly tired of everyone letting RU get away with it.

  39. MXT

    Off-Topic, the dollar against the Euro

    Since the turn of the year, the dollar is currently basically at +- 0.
    Considering that the USA has high inflation, I doubt that Trump and others are really satisfied with that, even though he has previously said that it is only good.
    Import costs are increasing, but of course some companies can benefit from it becoming easier to export, but at the same time you get paid less.

    Johan, maybe you can ask to be paid in chips and dip?

    Just today, if you look back as far as Google shows the currency (1986), it looks bleak in the long term, but that is probably mostly because the dollar was high at that time.

    1. MXT

      Speaking of inflation in the USA… (although it looks roughly the same everywhere).

      “The Iran war and the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz continue to drive up fuel prices in the USA, according to Bloomberg. According to the latest figures from the American Automobile Association, the average price of gasoline has surged to $4.54 per gallon.

      In Swedish terms, that corresponds to just over 11 kronor per liter. A year ago, the average price was $3.30 per gallon.

      Today’s level is also the highest since July 2022. In June of the same year, the historic peak of $5.01 per gallon was reached.

      Fuel prices are a politically sensitive issue in the USA. Donald Trump has on several occasions promised that prices will fall back when the war ends. But with each passing day, the risk increases for the Republicans ahead of the autumn midterm elections, writes Bloomberg.”
      https://omni.se/bensinpriset-i-usa-stiger-narmar-sig-all-time-high/a/7pP9e4

    2. johan No.1

      THANK you thank you, a new contract at the turn of the year just when they need me the most so I will ask for an adjustment.

      But until then, it’s just tears

  41. MXT

    Off-Topic, nonsense

    Old man, go immediately and fetch your walker!!

    That jet engine you put on makes people think it’s a Russian cruise missile.
    That is partly true, actually, since you brought the engine home after one of your excursions in Belgorod, sanctioned by Budanov, but it’s not easy for people to understand that it no longer has any explosive parts and that the bangs come from it backfiring.

    “Suspicious dangerous object in central Stockholm
    The police have cordoned off an area in central Stockholm after a suspicious dangerous object was discovered.

    Ola Åström, team leader at SOS Alarm, tells Aftonbladet that they received a report of a loud bang.

    – It is police-related, he says.

    The alarm came at 13:41 on Wednesday.”
    https://omni.se/misstankt-farligt-foremal-i-centrala-stockholm/a/d4v5wX

  42. Masja_13

    I thought the proposed ceasefire from Ukraine’s side started last night/tonight? And only for one day. Saw something about May 5-6, nothing about May 7.

    Not that it matters. Russia isn’t going to keep it anyway!

    Besides, the information needs to reach everyone… without communication networks or telegrams, which is what they used before.
    Things are going well now, Russia!

    1. DenGamle

      I believe that no end was set on Zelensky’s ceasefire.
      But it has already been broken by the Russians, as you wrote.
      However, Russia has ONLY broken the ceasefire 1,820 times up until 10:00 AM this morning according to Zelensky.

  43. MXT

    Good, then it has been resolved as well!

    “Hungary has returned the money and valuables belonging to the Ukrainian Oschadbank that were seized in March, writes Ukraine’s President Zelensky on X.

    ‘I am grateful to Hungary for its constructive and civilized actions,’ he continues, calling it an important step towards improved relations with Hungary.

    On March 5, several armored vehicles belonging to Oschadbank were stopped by Hungarian special forces while passing through Hungary. A large amount of cash and gold bars were seized.

    Ukraine stated that it was a normal transport of state assets, while Hungarian authorities claimed it was money for the ‘Ukrainian war mafia.'”
    https://omni.se/zelenskyj-ungern-har-gett-oss-pengarna-tillbaka/a/0p9jQM

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