Norway Just DID Something BIG for Ukraine... As Russia's Economy TANKS

The Military Show

Become a Member Today and Unlock EXCLUSIVE Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKfak8fBm_Lhy4eX9UKxEpA/join  From Norway seizing a Russian state-owned vessel in Svalbard to enforce a $4.2 billion legal judgment, to Ukrainian forces liberating territory in Kupiansk and knocking out key oil refineries, Moscow is facing severe multi-front pressure. Meanwhile, the EU prepares new visa restrictions following sabotage attempts, and top Kremlin economists warn that Russia’s wartime economy is entering an unsustainable crisis. Discover the six major developments reshaping the war in Ukraine.  ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich Shot in Engels 01:45 - Varpakhovich's Role in Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital Missile Strike 04:46 - Details of the September 3 Motorcycle Ambush in Probuzhdeniye 07:19 - Kremlin Information Blackout & Zelenskyy's Coded Statements 09:50 - Engels Strategic Airbase Compromised by Drone & Direct Attacks 12:22 - The Pattern of Targeted Assassinations Against Russian Commanders 14:40 - Internal Purges & Suspicious Deaths of Russian Security Officials 15:33 - FSB Incompetence & Ineffective Kremlin Security Directives  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/wqwjnRmy

Transcript

00:01Russia has had a very bad week. From Norway doing something massive by seizing a Russian state-owned

00:07vessel, to Ukraine retaking land and carrying out devastating strikes in Russia and the occupied

00:12territories, Putin doesn't know where to turn. So he's saying some crazy stuff, as his own

00:18economists warn him that his Ukraine war tunnel vision is crippling the Russian economy.

00:23There's a lot to cover here, so we're going to go story by story as we cover the six tales

00:28of

00:28Russian ineptitude, Ukrainian brilliance and EU pain that have afflicted Russia.

00:33We start with Norway. Norwegian authorities have seized a Russian ship in the Arctic region.

00:39The Professor Molchanov was sailing off the Svalbard archipelago when the Norwegian Coast Guard decided

00:44to strike. After a 24-hour standoff, Norway got its way and the ship was taken. Norway hasn't done this

00:51randomly. The seizure was conducted to enforce a compensation claim won by the Ukrainian energy

00:57firm, Naftagas, related to the seizure of the company's assets when Putin illegally annexed Crimea

01:03back in 2014. Naftagas has been pursuing legal action against Russia since 2016 regarding the

01:09seizure of these assets and the $4.22 billion plus interest is part of a judgment made at a tribunal

01:16in The Hague in April 2023. Of course, Russia has made no attempt to pay this money. What's one more

01:23crime

01:23added to a litany for Putin? So, if Russia isn't going to pay, the judgment needs to be enforced.

01:29Before we continue, if you're enjoying the video, consider subscribing and let us know your thoughts

01:33below. You can also become a channel member for access to exclusive content we don't publish publicly.

01:39Norway stepped up as enforcer. The seizure comes as a result of Naftagas applying to the Norwegian court

01:45for the professor Molchanov to be claimed. Naftagas had anticipated the vessel's arrival in Svalbard

01:51on its way to the Russian mining settlement of Barentsburg. An application was submitted,

01:56the Norwegian court said yes, and now a Russian ship has been seized and is going to be held in

02:01Svalbard until further noticed. Russia is p***ed. Representatives from the Russian foreign ministry

02:07have already labeled Norway's move an act of piracy, with Putin also claiming that the act is tantamount to

02:13state terrorism. Even without The Hague judgment legitimizing the seizure, that claim coming out

02:18of the Russian leader's mouth is hypocrisy to agree that we can't even fathom. But there's a reason

02:23why Putin is so angry. The seizure of the professor Molchanov could open the door for other European

02:28powers to start holding Russian ships on behalf of Ukraine. After all, as the Kiev Post points out,

02:35Moscow isn't meeting its international obligations. Any country that recognizes The Hague's Naftagas decision

02:40as legitimate may follow suit now if Russian vessels enter their territory, turning European ports into a

02:46legal minefield for Moscow. The Molchanov isn't the only vessel Moscow has lost recently, because Russia's

02:52illicit Shadow Fleet has also taken a beating across Europe this year. Back in June, France seized a

02:59Russian Shadow Fleet tanker with help from the UK, and in the same month the UK got in on the

03:03action

03:04directly with a first-of-its-kind operation involving the Royal Marines, who seized a tanker named the

03:09Smyrtos. Russia is losing ships all over Europe, and it's all a direct consequence of Putin's aggression

03:16against Ukraine. Before we move on, there's an interesting coda to this story. According to Reuters,

03:22Norway is going to provide necessary assistance to Russians who are now stranded on the Svalbard Islands

03:27following this ship seizure. The country's foreign ministry has even confirmed this, stating,

03:31Norwegian authorities are doing what we can to protect Russian citizens who have found themselves

03:36in a difficult situation in Svalbard now. It's seizure with a smile. If anything, that will only

03:41make Putin angrier, as Norway is doing more to help Russian people than the Kremlin. That anger isn't

03:46going to be made any better by our second story. The EU is likely to place new restrictions on Russian

03:52tourist visas following several attacks on Germany's Leipzig-Epp. In the wake of an informal meeting of EU

03:58foreign ministers in Ireland, the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaya Callas, says that there were

04:02discussions about a potential response, and it seems that a visa crackdown is something that has

04:07broad support across the bloc. There was broad support to move with an EU visa entry ban for

04:13Russian ex-combatants and tougher visa restrictions for Russian tourists, Callas said in the wake of the

04:19meeting. The move is actually a stripped-back version of the one proposed as part of the EU's 21st

04:24sanctions package, Euronews reports. The original proposal was that EU members should not issue visas

04:30to any Russian involved in the Ukraine invasion. France and Italy objected, both arguing that it

04:35would put immense pressure on consulates to carry out case-by-case investigations related to any

04:40assessment that could be exposed to litigation. So we get the move we see now. No ex-soldiers and a

04:45crackdown on tourism visas. Russia will be mad about this, but it has no right to be. Throughout August,

04:51several drones, some armed with explosives, were discovered loitering close to Ukrainian cargo

04:56planes at Leipzig airport. The first drone was discovered on August 4th, but it failed to explode

05:01due to a faulty detonate. A second drone collided with another aircraft on the same day, and German

05:06authorities found a third on August 14th. What we see here is Russia actively launching attacks

05:12against an EU nation. Some may dub this hybrid warfare, others a direct attack, and Russia of course

05:18has denied responsibility. However, German authorities say that Russia is behind this, and according

05:23to the Guardian, Germany is one of the main voices behind the push to stop Russians from

05:27entering the EU. There's a simple logic here. Fewer Russians also means fewer opportunities

05:33for Putin to insert foreign agents into EU countries.

05:36The move isn't official yet. It has broad support, but the EU needs to dot the I's and

05:41cross the T's before Russian tourists and former soldiers are banned. But with this and the ship

05:45seizure, we're starting to see EU nations take a tougher stance against Russia. Of course,

05:51Ukraine has been taking a tough stance for years, and that brings us to our third story,

05:55which is that Ukrainian forces have pulled off something remarkable in Kupyansk.

05:59On September 3rd, the New Voice of Ukraine reported that assault troops from Ukraine's

06:0423rd Assault Regiment have continued their push to remove Russian forces from the Kupyansk

06:09district, which is in Kharkiv. The latest push saw Ukraine liberate four square kilometers

06:14of territory as assault troops cleared areas between the settlements of Zapadny and Dvorichna,

06:19reports the Kartia Kor. The assault regiment worked alongside members of Ukraine's 35th

06:24Separate Marine Brigade to carry out the liberation, which comes on the back of several

06:28other assaults by the 23rd Assault Regiment. On August 25th, this same regiment cleared 7.5

06:34square kilometers of forest in Kupyansk, and it followed that up five days later by clearing

06:38another two square kilometers, bringing the total for the last week or so to 13.5 square kilometers

06:44claimed back from the Russian invaders. Footage has been released of the clearing

06:47operations showing assault troops sneaking through woodland and advancing on Russian positions.

06:52This is Ukraine's search-and-destroy strategy in action. Under the constant watchful eye of

06:57reconnaissance drones, Ukraine's forces hunt down Russian infiltrators as they attempt to hide out.

07:03Drones are also used to conduct strikes and soften fortifications.

07:07Ukraine's latest liberations come as another blow to Russia, which has been attempting to take

07:11Kupyansk for much of the war. Russia has even claimed to hold the city as it did back in December

07:16ahead of peace negotiations. That was soon proven to be a load of nonsense. Not only did Ukraine's

07:22President Volodymyr Zelensky visit Kupyansk to prove that Russia didn't hold the city, but Ukraine

07:27also carried out lightning-fast counter-attacks to push out the Russian troops that had managed to

07:32infiltrate their way inside. By mid-December, Ukraine had totally liberated the city,

07:37breaking through to the Oskil River to cut off Russian supply routes into Kupyansk in the process.

07:43Russia hasn't made much progress since. All it can do is send infiltration units and hold the

07:47surrounding land as best it can. Piece by piece, Ukraine is reclaiming what always belonged to the

07:53country. The latest liberations mean that Ukraine is now starting to form a buffer around Kupyansk itself,

07:58and it's also likely that Ukraine will use the ground that it's captured as a launching pad for

08:03future assaults to reclaim territory and settlements. So a ship seized, the EU biting back, and Ukraine

08:09doing what it's been doing throughout 2026 by liberating portions of territory when Russia claims

08:14that it's making massive advances. Not a great week for Putin, but it gets so much worse, as we still

08:20have three more stories to cover, including Ukraine conducting more devastating strikes and Russia's

08:25economy taking more blows. But before we get into all of that, this is a reminder that you're

08:30watching the military show. If you haven't subscribed yet, now's the perfect time to publish videos

08:35covering the Ukraine war and other major military events every single day.

08:40As Ukraine's assault troops made mincemeat of Russian infiltrators in Kupyansk, its drone teams were

08:45wreaking havoc inside Russia and the occupied territories. A one-two punch of long-range strikes has

08:51crippled a refinery and taken an expensive air defense radar out of the game. On September 3rd,

08:57the news broke that Ukraine's drones had scored a direct hit against a Castor 2E2 radar in occupied

09:02Zaporizhia. This radar station was located near the settlement of Vishneva, and it's been confirmed

09:08by the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces. The strike itself took place two days before Ukraine

09:13broke the news, with a general staff telegram post stating that Ukraine scored hits on the

09:17radar antenna and the hardware station of the radar machine. Score another shot against Russia's air

09:23defenses in the occupied territories for Ukraine. The Castor 2E2 is a mobile, three-coordinate radar

09:29that is used to track air targets at both low and extremely low altitudes. That means it's meant to

09:35specialize in seeing cruise missiles and drones coming long before they reach their targets. The data

09:41collected by the radar is then distributed to air defense control points, which are supposed to use

09:45that data to shoot down the incoming threat. The radar has a viewing range of up to 150 kilometers.

09:51It's also expensive. This is a 60 million dollar piece of kit that has just been rendered useless

09:56by mid-range drones that would have cost a tiny fraction of the price. The United24 media confirms

10:01that Ukraine also struck several other Russian targets in the border region of Bryansk and the

10:06occupied Donetsk region on the same night the radar went down. However, the second strike we're going to

10:12cover before we move on to our next story took place much deeper inside Russia. In the Russian city

10:16of Kostovo, more of Ukraine's drones were flying. Their target was the Lukoil Nizhgorod-Neftyorg-Syntez.

10:24Ukraine's drones scored direct hits in an attack that took place on August 26th and involved FP1 drones.

10:30So why are we reporting it as news in the week that followed? New satellite images have emerged

10:35showing that Ukraine's drones did a ton of damage, causing several massive fires at the refinery.

10:41Process pipe racks and columns in several crude oil distillation units took serious damage,

10:46as did a vacuum gas oil hydro-treating unit. By September 3rd, none of this damage had been

10:52repaired and it was confirmed that the Lukoil facility is still completely offline, as all operations have

10:57been halted. The Kostovo refinery has an annual processing capacity of 17 million tons of crude oil,

11:03and it's responsible for 11% of Russia's entire gasoline production,

11:08as well as a large portion of the country's diesel production. This is one of the most important

11:13fuel-generating refineries in all of Russia, and it will have been offline for close to two weeks by

11:18the time you're watching this video. This is just the latest refinery to go down. Ukraine's long-range

11:23campaign has crippled Russian oil infrastructure, the point where Fortune says an estimated 40% of the

11:29country's refining capacity is now believed to be offline. Russia has had to halt gasoline and diesel

11:35exports as it grapples with domestic shortages that have led to empty pumps at gas stations and massive

11:41queues at the stations that do have a little fuel available. According to Reuters, Russia's gasoline

11:46production has dropped to 70% of domestic demand, meaning the fuel shortages aren't going to go away

11:52anytime soon. The Kostovo strike only makes all of this worse for Russia, and more will be coming.

11:58But as the pain at the pumps is being felt all over Russia, the economic impact of these strikes,

12:03which are limiting Russian fuel exports, is really starting to take hold. With that we come to our

12:08fifth story, which is that some key economists are now saying that Russia's economy is rapidly spiraling

12:13out of control, and it's not being helped one bit by Putin's insistence on focusing everything that

12:19Russia has on the Ukraine war effort. On September 1, the New Voice of Ukraine reported that Boris Titov,

12:25who is Putin's representative for international development, warned that the Russian economy is

12:29on the verge of going berserk if Putin continues his incessant focus on the military-industrial complex.

12:36Appointed to his role in 2024, Titov has just taken a massive risk by exposing how Putin's poor

12:42decision-making has led to Russia's economy crumbling, but it's a risk that needs to be taken as Russia's

12:48leader doesn't seem to be listening to anybody, right?

12:51This is not an economy at all. It's a kind of berserk mode that can only exist for a very

12:56limited

12:56time and the necessity of which should be considered very carefully, Titov said, ahead of a major economic

13:01forum in the Far East that Putin is set to visit. And he's right. The growth that Russia experienced

13:06during the first few years of the Ukraine invasion, which was bolstered by the switch to a war economy,

13:11has disappeared. Reuters reports that the Russian economy is now only projected to grow by 0.4% in 2026,

13:17which basically makes it stagnant. Ukraine isn't helping anything. The refinery strikes we've

13:22already mentioned are ruining Russia's ability to make money from some of its most important products.

13:27Exports have all but dried up when it comes to refined oil, leading Russia to lean more heavily

13:31into selling crude oil at a discount. Balance is needed, Titov has warned, but balance isn't what

13:37Russia is getting. Russia's budget deficit is now 2.8% of its gross domestic product or GDP,

13:43GDP, which is twice the country's original target for 2026. And there are still about

13:48four months of the year to go for it to get worse. Putin claims that Russia can handle this deficit

13:53as his war spending spirals out of control. One of his top economists is saying the opposite,

13:59especially as Russia seems to have no answer for the balance problem that Titov highlights.

14:03And it's not just Titov pointing to these problems. Russia's central bank has been forced to admit that

14:09Ukraine's long-range strikes are slowing the Russian economy, followed by second-quarter

14:14GDP growth of 1.3%, which was made possible by higher oil prices in the wake of Operation Epic

14:19Fury in Iran. The third quarter will see Russia's economy slow down again, the bank says.

14:24In the third quarter, growth in the Russian economy may slow. This could occur primarily due to a

14:29temporary loss of production and logistics capacity, that is, the supply of goods and services,

14:34rather than as a result of demand restraint. This is a nice way of saying that Ukraine keeps

14:39destroying Russian refineries and, more recently, its online shopping platforms,

14:43including Wild Berries and Ozon. Everybody is telling Putin that he is tanking the Russian economy.

14:49But Putin doesn't listen to anybody anymore, and that's been made clear with our sixth and final

14:54story, which is that Putin has just made the ridiculous claim that the war in Ukraine is not

14:58the main reason for the declining birth rate in Russia. Putin made this claim during a plenary session of the

15:04Eastern Economic Forum, citing Japan and South Korea's low birth rates as an example of countries

15:09struggling with the same issue as Russia, only without war. Russia certainly has a birth rate

15:14problem. In 2025, the country's birth rate fell to its lowest point since 2006, hitting 1.305

15:21children per woman. It looks like 2026 is going to continue the downward swing, UA.News reports.

15:28272,000 children were born during the first quarter of the year, which is 17,000 fewer than the same

15:33period in 2025. Putin doesn't appear to have given any alternative reasons for why Russians are having

15:39fewer children, not that he could. If Putin tried to point to the economy, then that would be a result

15:43of the war. If he tried to claim that Russian people don't feel certain about bringing children

15:47into the world right now, this could be countered by saying, of course they don't. Their country is at war,

15:53their leader is cracking down on everything as he descends into isolationist madness,

15:57and there seems to be no real hope for the future in Russia.

16:00But beyond any of this, let's look at the obvious. Russia needs alive men to father children,

16:06and Putin's invasion has been sapping the population of men capable of having children

16:09by an astonishing degree. As of September 6th, Russia has suffered 1,496,440 casualties in Ukraine.

16:18It will only be a couple more days before Russia breaks past the 1.5 million casualty milestone,

16:24which is a figure that tells us everything that we really need to know about Russia's

16:28declining birth rate. Women can't have children when men are being blown to pieces by the thousands

16:33every single week in Ukraine. It's not a hard concept to grasp, but Putin just can't seem to get

16:38hold of it. Russia is doing what it can to counter this problem. There are active programs all over the

16:44country encouraging women to have children. France 24 reports that Russia's health ministry has even

16:49approved guidelines that allow health professionals to send women to see psychotherapists with the aim

16:54of fostering a positive attitude toward motherhood. It's a tone deaf approach that sees Putin and his

17:00cronies treat the women of Russia as little more than baby machines who exist to serve whatever the

17:04Kremlin's needs might be. But it isn't working. Not that this has anything to do with the war,

17:09Putin claims. He's wrong, of course. With that, we end our recap of a terrible week for Russia.

17:15The ship has been seized, the EU is gearing up to take a hard stance on visas, Ukraine has liberated

17:20territory and conducted more lethal strikes, Russia's economy is heading down the toilet,

17:25and Putin still swims in his sea of delusion. Could it get any worse? Of course it could. At the

17:30Kinburn Spit, 2,500 Russian soldiers have been isolated as Ukraine takes a step closer to liberating

17:37a small piece of land that has big ramifications in the Black Sea. Find out more by watching our video.

17:43But before you go, are you enjoying our reporting? Subscribe and share your thoughts below. And if

17:48you'd like to support the real people behind the channel, consider becoming a member for exclusive

17:52content. And thank you, as always, for watching.

Category

Transcript

Recommended