Latest / The President's Daily Brief / PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 7th, 2026: Ukraine’s Drone War Costs Russia Billions & Kim Unveils Nuclear Destroyer

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PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 7th, 2026: Ukraine’s Drone War Costs Russia Billions & Kim Unveils Nuclear Destroyer · The President's Daily Brief

0:12
It's Monday,
0:12
the 7th of September.
0:14
Welcome to the PDB
0:15
afternoon bulletin.
0:16
I'm Mike Baker,
0:17
your eyes and ears on the world stage.
0:20
Alright.
0:21
Let's get briefed.
0:22
First up,
0:23
Ukraine's drone war is hitting Russia right in Putin's pocketbook.
0:27
New figures show the strikes are costing the
0:29
Kremlin billions and impacting everything from fuel supplies
0:33
to air travel.
0:34
Later in the show,
0:35
Kim Jong Un unveils a new destroyer that he says will be part of North Korea's
0:40
nuclear response system as Pyongyang
0:43
pushes to build a more dangerous navy.
0:46
But first,
0:47
today's afternoon spotlight.
0:49
As President Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner wrap
0:53
up a weekend of meetings with Moscow and Kiev,
0:56
part of the White House's renewed efforts to restart peace talks,
1:00
we're getting a clearer picture of the economic
1:03
pressure that Ukraine is putting on Russia.
1:06
The Wall Street Journal has pulled together new data
1:08
showing that the effects of Ukraine's long-range drone campaign
1:12
are now spreading through major parts of the Russian economy and increasingly
1:16
being felt by ordinary Russians.
1:18
The most striking acknowledgment has come from Vladimir Putin.
1:22
According to the journal,
1:23
Putin said last week that Ukrainian attacks on Russia's economic infrastructure
1:28
have caused losses equivalent to roughly 1%
1:31
of the country's gross domestic product.
1:33
And that works out to be around $25 billion.
1:38
Putin dismissed those losses,
1:40
well,
1:40
how cavalier,
1:41
as quote,
1:42
not critical for us,
1:43
end quote.
1:44
Well,
1:45
perhaps what he meant was
1:46
not critical for Putin.
1:47
He is,
1:47
after all,
1:48
after all these years,
1:50
one of the world's richest men.
1:52
But for the Russian population in general,
1:54
the damage is showing up in some unexpected places.
1:57
Let's start with energy.
1:59
Ukraine has spent months hammering Russian
2:00
oil refineries with long-range drones.
2:03
Those refineries processed about 3.8 million barrels of oil per day in August.
2:09
A year earlier
2:10
they were processing roughly 5 million.
2:13
The result has been fuel shortages and rationing in parts of the country.
2:17
Russia,
2:18
one of the world's largest crude oil producers,
2:20
has resorted to importing gasoline,
2:23
including from India.
2:25
Moscow has also loosened fuel quality standards
2:27
so older Soviet era refineries can increase supplies
2:31
while restricting diesel exports.
2:34
And according to official Russian statistics cited by the journal,
2:37
gasoline prices have risen by almost 20% since the beginning of the year.
2:42
That creates another headache for Moscow inflation.
2:45
Russia's central bank has been trying to bring inflation down toward its 4% target.
2:51
Instead,
2:51
it remains around 6%
2:53
with higher fuel costs adding additional pressure,
2:56
but the disruption goes well beyond energy.
2:59
Since July,
3:00
Ukraine has reportedly carried out more than 30 attacks against
3:04
logistics centers used by Wildberries and Ozone,
3:08
as Russia's two largest e-commerce companies.
3:10
Some of those attacks caused enormous warehouse fires,
3:13
destroying merchandise belonging to thousands of independent merchants.
3:18
A Moscow-based research firm
3:20
estimates that the strikes have caused more than $10 billion with a B
3:23
dollars in damage
3:25
to infrastructure and goods and could produce another $12 billion in lost sales
3:30
over the coming year.
3:32
Those losses are beginning to raise questions about Russia's banking sector,
3:36
as we've noted on the PDB before.
3:38
Wildberry's reportedly owes billions of dollars to state-controlled VTB Bank.
3:43
VTB shares have fallen more than 25% this year,
3:47
while Russians themselves are showing a growing preference for
3:50
keeping cash outside of the Russian banking system.
3:54
One reason is another second order effect of the drone campaign.
3:58
When Ukrainian drones approach Russian cities,
4:01
authorities frequently shut down mobile internet services as a defensive measure
4:06
that can disrupt online banking
4:08
and electronic payments.
4:10
Russia's central bank says individuals withdrew more money from banks
4:14
than they deposited during the 2nd quarter of this year,
4:16
and that's a reversal of the usual pattern.
4:19
And then there's agriculture.
4:21
Ukrainian attacks on Russian ports,
4:23
export terminals,
4:24
and commercial vessels
4:25
have badly disrupted grain shipments through the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
4:30
Russian wheat exports fell by more than 50% in August
4:34
compared with the same month last year.
4:36
That's according to the agricultural consultancy Sovicon,
4:39
the lowest level
4:41
since 2010.
4:43
That's left more grain trapped inside Russia,
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pushing down prices for farmers.
4:48
The governor of the Rostov region declared an
4:49
agricultural state of emergency in late August,
4:52
while one Russian analyst warned that a wave of farm bankruptcies could follow.
4:58
Commercial ships operating around the Black Sea are now even adopting
5:01
improvised defenses against drones as attacks on maritime traffic intensify.
5:07
And perhaps nowhere is the disruption
5:10
more visible to ordinary Russians than at the airport.
5:13
There were close to 1000 temporary airport closures across Russia in August
5:18
as authorities responded to drone threats,
5:20
roughly 5 times the number
5:22
recorded 6 months earlier.
5:24
That is a lot of canceled flights
5:27
and stranded travelers.
5:29
Now this isn't a story about Ukraine suddenly collapsing the Russian economy.
5:33
Russia does remain capable of absorbing.
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Enormous costs and Putin insists the attacks will not
5:39
change his military objectives.
5:41
It's more a story about Ukraine finding ways to make relatively inexpensive drones
5:47
create economic damage far beyond the targets they actually destroy.
5:51
Refinery strikes produce
5:53
fuel shortages.
5:54
Drone warnings close airports.
5:56
Internet shutdowns interfere with banking.
5:58
Warehouse fires hit thousands of merchants,
6:00
and
6:01
port attacks leave Russian farmers unable to sell their grain.
6:05
And all of this is becoming measurable just as Washington
6:09
makes another attempt to get Moscow and Kiev back to the negotiating table.
6:13
The Kremlin said today that it does not rule out talks with Ukraine
6:17
and the US following the Witkoff-Kushner mission,
6:20
calling the latest diplomacy
6:22
a small step toward peace.
6:24
The question is whether billions of dollars in
6:26
losses and the growing disruption being felt across Russia
6:30
will eventually become enough to influence Putin.
6:33
To date,
6:33
he's shown no signs of compromise
6:36
or legitimately looking for an off-ramp
6:39
from his 4-year plus invasion,
6:42
and there are indications
6:43
that after the upcoming September Duma elections,
6:46
Putin may well move for another mass mobilization to add some 300,000 or more troops
6:52
to his war machine.
6:55
All right.
6:55
Coming up next,
6:56
North Korea is taking another step toward a nuclear-capable navy with Kim Jong Un
7:01
unveiling a new destroyer built for what he calls,
7:04
quote,
7:04
annihilating retaliation,
7:06
end quote.
7:07
How about that?
7:08
I'll be right back.
7:10
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Welcome back to the PDB
9:39
afternoon bulletin.
9:41
Now,
9:41
typically over the years,
9:43
anytime North Korea's Kim Jong Un feels
9:45
like he's not getting enough attention on the world stage,
9:48
well,
9:48
he tosses his teddy out of the crib,
9:50
usually in the form of a missile test or launch.
9:53
In this case,
9:55
Kim is showing off a new warship,
9:56
and the regime's newest destroyer,
9:58
he says,
9:59
has a role to play in Pyongyang's nuclear response system.
10:03
On Sunday,
10:04
Kim traveled to the eastern port city of Wonsan
10:07
for the commissioning of North Korea's newest 5000 ton destroyer
10:11
known as the Ekon Gun.
10:13
North Korean state media announced the commissioning today,
10:16
showing Kim aboard the warship and addressing the ceremony.
10:20
His daughter Juue was also given an unusually prominent role.
10:24
She stood beside her father to receive salutes and
10:27
accompanied Kim aboard the new destroyer.
10:29
Now that's an important detail
10:31
considering what South Korean intelligence has been saying about her.
10:35
Seoul believes the regime is continuing to take steps to position Juue
10:39
as Kim's eventual successor,
10:41
so another prominent appearance at a major military event
10:44
only adds to that speculation.
10:47
But it was what Kim said about the Khan gun that
10:49
carried more immediate messaging for the US and its allies.
10:54
According to KCNA,
10:56
he said the destroyer will form part of North Korea's state nuclear response system
11:01
capable of delivering what he called quote
11:03
annihilating retaliatory strikes,
11:06
end quote.
11:07
Kim is essentially declaring that these new destroyers will
11:10
serve as platforms for what he calls sea-based nuclear deterrence.
11:15
So,
11:16
you say,
11:16
what could that actually look like?
11:18
Well,
11:18
good question.
11:19
The Kangan is the 2nd destroyer of its class to enter service.
11:23
Its sister ship,
11:24
the Chuiyun,
11:25
was commissioned roughly 3 months ago.
11:28
Now Pyongyang hasn't disclosed exactly what weapons will be aboard the Khangun,
11:32
but state media says it
11:33
carries the same weapons systems as the Choiyun.
11:36
Previous North Korean reporting has shown that Choiyun class destroyers
11:41
can carry a range of missiles,
11:43
including weapons capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
11:46
So Kim is publicly bringing a class of warship
11:49
capable of carrying nuclear-capable missiles
11:52
into his regime's broader deterrence strategy.
11:55
And where he's sending the Khan gun is also of significance.
11:59
The destroyer is being deployed to waters east of the Korean Peninsula,
12:02
putting it on the side of North Korea facing South Korea and Japan,
12:06
where American and allied forces regularly operate.
12:10
The timing is notable.
12:12
The US,
12:13
South Korea,
12:14
and Japan began their annual Freedom Edge military
12:17
exercise today in international waters southeast and south
12:21
of South Korea's Jeju Island.
12:24
Those drills will run through Friday and involve major
12:26
naval and air assets from all three countries.
12:29
They're specifically intended to strengthen the allies' ability to deter
12:33
and respond to North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats.
12:38
Kim also made clear that the Khan gun is only one piece of a much larger naval buildup.
12:43
North Korea is constructing new naval bases along its eastern coast,
12:47
creating additional naval units and developing
12:50
several different classes of warships.
12:52
Kim says his regime will demonstrate another stage of that
12:55
naval buildup in roughly 8 months,
12:58
though he offered no details about exactly what Pyongyang plans to unveil.
13:03
He's such a tease.
13:04
Of course.
13:05
South Korea is watching closely,
13:07
and Seoul's Unification Ministry says
13:09
it will monitor the buildup,
13:10
noting that North Korea
13:12
has been discussing the nuclear armament of its navy
13:15
ever since the regime's 9th Party Congress back in February of this year.
13:20
And on that cheery note.
13:22
That my friends is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Monday,
13:25
the 7th of September.
13:26
Now,
13:26
if you have any questions or comments,
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and I hope you do,
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just reach out to me at PDB@tv.com
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and to listen to the show ad-free,
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I'm Mike Baker and I'll be back tomorrow.
13:42
Until then,
13:44
stay informed,
13:45
stay safe,
13:46
stay cool.
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