Centers" of Ukraine - https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/zelensky-claims-leaked-russian-intel

Uh-oh...

*****

Zelensky Claims Leaked Russian Intel Docs Show Russia Preparing to Take Out "Decision-Making Centers" of Ukraine

Simplicius
May 16, 2026

To continue on a line of thought from yesterday’s article, regarding Russia’s future direction, there are a few interesting developments. Zelensky has just announced that Russia is considering a new mass assault—possibly on Kiev—from Belarus, a la 2022:

Of course, we have heard such things for a long time. But it must be admitted that Russia has given us some food for thought with recent incursions over the border into those very regions. Particularly, incursions into Chernigov led to territory being captured there toward the Kiev direction for the first time since 2022, and this has been happening over the last few months, albeit it was a very tiny slice of land for now.

Most likely this is speculative or simple nonsense from Zelensky, but it does give one pause particularly in relation to other parallel developments.

Zelensky has also now announced that Russia is making preparations to take out the Ukrainian leadership for the first time in the war, via direct strikes on “decision-making centers” in Kiev. He published documents reportedly obtained by his intelligence services that show Russian target lists for these very HQs:
Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський@ZelenskyyUa
Today, I held a meeting with the heads of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Defense Intelligence, the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the Security Service of Ukraine. Three key areas were discussed.

First, we are defining targets for our next long-range
2:20 PM · May 15, 2026 · 252K Views
247 Replies · 867 Reposts · 3.96K Likes

Third, specialists from the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine obtained documents indicating that the Russians are preparing new missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, including, as they describe them, against “decision-making centers.” Among these are nearly two dozen political centers and military command posts. Of course, we have taken this information into account. But it is worth emphasizing specifically for the Russian leadership that Ukraine is – after all – not Russia. And unlike the aggressor state, where there is a clear author of this war and a long-standing circle around him that sustains his detachment from reality, the source of Ukraine’s defense is the readiness of the Ukrainian people to fight for their independence and for their own sovereign state. Ukrainians deserve their sovereignty just like any other nation. The people cannot be defeated. Russia must end its war and negotiate a dignified peace, rather than searching for new ways to intimidate Ukraine. I thank everyone who is helping. Glory to Ukraine!

The first image shows the office of the president of Ukraine on Bankova Street in Kiev, not far from Maidan Square, and mentions an “underground tunnel at 95.2 meter depth”:

A Ukrainian officer made headlines rebutting the plan with claims that Russian strikes would never breach these 95+ meter bunkers:

The second of Zelensky’s image appears to show a “dacha” belonging to the Ukrainian president:

And the third, a list of other targets:

At first glance, many will dismiss this as further agitprop from Zelensky. But I beg to differ, given that Russia itself, via the MOD, had just released a series of European targets of drone manufacturers for Ukraine, hinting very strongly that Russia could soon begin striking Europe.

Recall that Medvedev had warned several times that Russia is losing its patience in regard to this.

Now, the Russian ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy has confirmed to Daniel Davis in an interview that Russia does appear to be reaching a point of no return of this very nature:
Daniel Davis Deep Dive@DanielLDavis1
Russian Ambassador: It might already be "too late" to avert a Russian missile strike into Europe. @Dpol_un
This morning on our Deep Dive show, I interviewed Russia's ambassador to the OSCE in Vienna and asked him point-blank whether Russia would strike *European* targets and
8:26 PM · May 15, 2026 · 15.9K Views
29 Replies · 191 Reposts · 458 Likes

This morning on our Deep Dive show, I interviewed Russia's ambassador to the OSCE in Vienna and asked him point-blank whether Russia would strike *European* targets and expand the war. I expected a diplomatically diffused answer from which I would have to read between the lines. Instead, he was about as direct as any diplomat I've ever heard:

It might already be "too late" to avert a Russian direct strike against European targets.

Granted, I think Colonel Davis exaggerated a tad with his paraphrasing of what Polyanskiy stated. He didn’t say it may “already be too late” to avert Russian strikes on Europe, he floated a hypothetical: that should Russia strike in the future, people will wonder why it happened, and by then it will have been too late.

Nevertheless, Polyanskiy does strongly imply that striking European targets may not be off the table for Russia should this continue because as he states, Europe and NATO themselves are now involved in striking targets in Russia. Not only in providing the coordinates and specialists to launch European weapons like the Storm Shadow, but also the recent initiatives like for instance with Germany launching a cooperative development track with Ukraine’s FirePoint to build Flamingo-like missiles for deep strikes on Russia. And then there’s the direct aiding and abetting of Ukrainian attacks via European airspace, as we’ve now seen come to a head with the Baltic debacle.

The other consideration is that Russia may have ignored such provocations for a long time because they had not done serious damage to Russia’s “rear”. But recently these Western-aided attacks via Ukrainian drones have struck several sensitive Russian sites, from electronics and key military-industrial facilities, to of course nationally strategic oil infrastructure. At a certain point, if the pain from these strikes begins to feel critical or rattles the Kremlin, then Russia may have no choice than to take the gloves off.

More and more Russian political scientists, figures, and military influencers are calling for such attacks, particularly of a nuclear nature.

But the other more interesting aspect ties into what I wrote in the last piece apropos Medvedev’s comments and the theory that Russia could be awaiting Zelensky’s removal to force a ceasefire that could quickly gain the Donbass region. Now with recent news that Russia may be preparing to take out decision-making centers, which presumably includes their actual inhabitants as well, this brings the theory into a new light.

Russia may choose to finally “speed up” Zelensky’s “ascension” by forcible removal after losing patience. Zelensky has now promised to retaliate to the latest strikes with some “sensitive” hits of his own. Rumors abound that Ukraine will again make attempts to strike the Kremlin directly, and it’s true that recently Ukraine’s preponderance of drones and the aiding of neighboring countries has allowed Ukraine to uncharacteristically bypass Russian defenses, to an extent.

The Kremlin may be preparing for these very provocations and is ready to strike ‘decision-making centers’ as reprisal for this. There was word about Ukraine seeking a mutual agreement to stop such attacks, including energy-related infrastructure, which does suggest the possibility that a secret ‘handshake’ agreement had previously existed to not target each other’s decision-making centers.

Why would Russia make such an agreement? For Russia, the threat is not that Ukraine could actually take out or decapitate important Russian military or political leadership—that’s not plausible. What’s plausible is such strikes creating a major political humiliation for Russia, which would be uncomfortable. For Ukraine, the threat of its leadership actually being taken out is however real.

As such, the latest threats from both sides could merely be posturing to warn off any further escalation from the other. But it’s likely that the voices inside Russian elite circles for major reprisals against Europe are growing louder in light of the successful strikes that Ukraine has been accumulating on Russian energy infrastructure.

In this case, we can say that Putin likely remains one of the last ‘fail-safes’ holding back the rising tide of angry turbo-patriot nationalists who’d love to exact revenge on Europe. One would think this should terrify European leaders into making sure Putin stays in power as a levee holding this back. But in reality, there are likely many at the top echelons of the Euro-cabal and Brussels mafia that would love for Russian hardliners to take charge and attack Europe because it would give the dying EU and NATO the casus belli it needs to sell war to the stupefied population, and allow them that great reset of the financial system they’ve been seeking for so long now.