Ukraine war latest: Record Russian military budget for 2027 confirms no interest in ending war

Key developments on Sept. 29:

• Russia to raise military spending by 27% in 2027, highest level in war so far, media reports
• Russian military units allegedly involved in Oleshky humanitarian crisis identified
• Putin restricts publication of Russian refinery, energy data amid Ukrainian strikes
• Russian troops using civilians as 'human shields' to flee via Kupiansk pipeline, Khartiia Corps claims
• Tu-95 aircraft crashed in Russia's Amur Oblast during training, killing 6 crew members, Moscow says
• Belgium to transfer 3 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine by end of 2026, Zelensky says
• Putin signs latest decree increasing Russian military staff in wake of monster military budget, looming mobilization
• 3 children injured as Russia strikes Sumy school with glide bombs

Russia is planning to spend 17.1 trillion roubles ($202.58 billion) on its military in 2027, an increase of around 27% over the previously budgeted amount, Reuters reported on Sept. 28.

This will be the most Russia has spent on its armed forces since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

According to Reuters, Russian budgeting documents reveal that Moscow plans to spend 50 trillion roubles ($591 billion) over the next three years. Moscow planned to spend ​12.1 trillion roubles ($143 billion) on its military in 2026, though the precise amount is classified.

Russia's budget deficit for 2026 also increased from previous estimates, reported Reuters. Financial documents showed that Russia's budget deficit in 2026 grew to 3.2% of its GDP, up from the 1.6% listed in estimates earlier this year.

A draft budget is expected to be submitted by the Russian government by Oct. 1.

Russian military units allegedly involved in Oleshky humanitarian crisis identified

Ukrainian investigative outlet Slidstvo.Info has identified two Russian military units whose personnel have been present in or around occupied Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, and whose commanders may be linked to the humanitarian crisis in the city, the outlet reported on Sept. 29.

Oleshky has been under Russian occupation since the early days of the full-scale invasion. Residents face severe shortages of food, water, and electricity, while only a small number of residents have managed to evacuate.

Around 2,000 people, including nearly 50 children, remain in the city, according to the Foreign Ministry.

While Russian troops occupy Oleshky and the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast, the Ukrainian military controls the western bank. Russian troops use towns and villages on the eastern bank to launch attacks across the river, including on the liberated city of Kherson.

The first unit identified by Slidstvo.Info is the 126th Separate Coastal Defense Brigade of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which is currently deployed in the Kherson direction as part of Russia's Dnieper grouping.

Putin restricts publication of Russian refinery, energy data amid Ukrainian strikes

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Sept. 28 restricting access to data on the country's oil refineries and energy exports amid an intensifying Ukrainian campaign against Russia's oil infrastructure.

The decree, published on Russia's official legal information portal, restricts access to information on the volume of oil processed and products manufactured by individual Russian refineries.

It also covers a broad range of information related to Russian energy exports, including the refined product slate, export quantities, pricing, and the supply chain of sellers, buyers, and intermediaries, as well as transportation routes, terminals, and storage locations.

Information concerning vehicles used for transportation of raw materials and exports, delivery dates and export operations is also included in the restrictions.

The decree prohibits dissemination of the restricted information through the media or online unless it has been disclosed by the company involved.

Russian troops using civilians as 'human shields' to flee via Kupiansk pipeline, Khartiia Corps claims

Drone footage allegedly shows Russian troops using civilians, including children and elderly people, as human shields to flee via a gas pipeline in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast amid the Ukrainian push in the Kupiansk sector, Khartiia Corps said on Sept. 29.

Children, elderly people, and a person on crutches walked alongside draft-age men who were likely Russian soldiers wearing civilian clothes, according to Khartiia Corps' drone footage.

The group was allegedly led from Kupiansk to the Ostrogozhsk-Shebelinka Gas Pipeline through the contested village of Holubivka near Kupiansk, the unit added.

Khartiia Corps said the group of civilians would have to walk more than 10 kilometers (about six miles) through the pipeline before exiting into a forest, where they would likely be transported to Russian-occupied territory.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the claim.

"The occupiers use this gas pipeline to secretly smuggle their assault troops into (Kupiansk)," Khartiia Corps, part of the National Guard, said in its statement on Facebook.

"Now they are using that same pipeline to abduct civilians."

Khartiia Corps said Ukrainian forces did not strike the soldiers involved because doing so would have put civilians at risk.

Tu-95 aircraft crashed in Russia's Amur Oblast during training, killing 6 crew members, Moscow says

A Russian Tu-95 aircraft crashed in Russia's Amur Oblast while on a training flight, killing six crew members and injuring one, the Kremlin-controlled Interfax news agency news agency said on Sept. 29, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.

Moscow had not clarified the reason for the crash as of publication time. Located in the Russian Far East, Amur Oblast borders China to the south.

The preliminary cause of the nighttime crash is believed to be a fuel explosion on board, according to the Telegram channel Baza, which has ties to the Russian security services.

Baza said that the aircraft crashed near the village of Krasnoyarovo. It added that the aircraft belongs to Ukrainka, a Russian strategic aviation grouping based at Amur Oblast's Ukrainka Air Base. Facing heavy Ukrainian strikes on air bases in regions closer to Ukraine, Russia has relocated an undisclosed number of strategic bombers, such as the Tu-95, to rear hubs such as Ukrainka Air Base, according to media reports.

Belgium to transfer 3 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine by end of 2026, Zelensky says

Belgium will provide Ukraine with three U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets by the end of the year, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sept. 29, as Russia continues to intensify attacks on Kyiv.

Zelensky said that Ukraine has already received urgent shipments of ammunition for F-16s from Belgium and other Western allies, including Spain. F-16s are an integral part of Ukraine's layered air defense and are used to down Shahed-type drones and cruise missiles.

"As Russia escalates its aggression on a daily basis, we need to increase our capabilities to shoot down aerial targets and protect our people," Zelensky said after what he called "an important agreement" with Belgium regarding the F-16 transfer.

"I thank Belgium, Prime Minister Bart De Wever, and the entire government for their decisive steps in support of Ukraine in response to Russia's brutal attacks on civilian lives."

More than four years into the full-scale war, Ukraine has increasingly struggled to secure much-needed Western military aid despite the intensifying Russian ballistic and Shahed drone attacks across Ukraine.

Putin signs latest decree increasing Russian military staff in wake of monster military budget, looming mobilization

Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree raising the total personnel of Russia's armed forces on paper to 2,441,630, Russian state media reported on Sept. 28, citing the state legal acts website.

The decision comes as Russian forces struggle to advance on the front line in Ukraine, though a huge military budget for 2027, rumors of imminent mobilization, and increased "hybrid" aggression in Europe all point to Moscow's conviction to ramp up its military might.

Compared to the most recent figure from July 2026, the decree increases total staff by only around 15,500, but is the fourth such incremental raise announced this year.

The total number is to include 1,550,500 active "service members," the decree said.

3 children injured as Russia strikes Sumy school with glide bombs

Russian forces struck the northeastern city of Sumy on Sept. 29 with four glide bombs, killing two civilians and injuring three children sheltering in a school, regional authorities said.

The two people were killed in their homes in a low-density residential area, Sumy Oblast governor Oleh Hryhorov reported on social media.

The school's pupils were in the building's shelter at the time of the attack, the governor added.

"Russian terrorists are just complete bastards," President Zelensky wrote in reaction to the attack.

"To strike children, schools, ordinary houses like that. America, Europe, all our partners should not forget that Russia will not stop this madness without real pressure."