Category: Business

• Critical Role's new campaign arc, "Downfall," will be helmed by "Dimension 20's" Brennan Lee Mulligan.
• The three-chapter series is all about the fall of Aeor, an ancient civilization.
• The episodes, part of the CR crew's third campaign, will air on July 11, 18, and 25.

It looks like "Critical Role" is venturing into uncharted nerd world territory again, and it's bringing in the big guns.

The eight-member CR cast is on episode 98 of their third long-running "Dungeons & Dragons" campaign. For the uninitiated, this group has spent nine years creating everything from two Amazon-backed animated series to a board games publishing arm.

"Critical Role" is no stranger to guests taking over for the gang's regular game master, Matthew Mercer. The crew is now doubling down on experimentation and bringing game master Brennan Lee Mulligan to helm a full campaign arc. Mulligan is the regular game master for "Dimension 20," a tabletop role-playing game show that streams on Dropout, formerly CollegeHumor.

Titled "Downfall," the three-part series goes back in time to the fall of an ancient civilization, Aeor. It'll also allow Mulligan to flex his storytelling chops, perhaps reprising some elements of his first "EXU: Calamity" run with Critical Role from 2022.

The three chapters are integrated into "Critical Role's" main campaign as episodes 99 to 101 of the main storyline. Only three members of the regular CR cast — Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, and Ashley Johnson — will be playing in "Downfall." They'll be joined by a new slate of guests, including Abubakar Salim, Noshir Dalal, and Nick Marini.

Mulligan — whose own crew is scheduled to play "Dungeons & Dragons" at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in January — told this writer in May that he was excited about the "delightful" prospect of getting to work with "Critical Role" again. At the time, Mulligan had only been billed as an emcee for "Critical Role's" June live show.

"Without being overly sappy or sentimental about 'Critical Role' and its place in the pantheon of actual play: This was like 2017, and I'd been working at CollegeHumor for a couple of months," Mulligan recalled, referencing "Dimension 20's" beginnings as a CollegeHumor show. "And I came in with this little market research document of people that are doing work in this space that is exceptional and phenomenal, like 'Adventure Zone' and 'Critical Role.'"

"Maybe no one would have taken a chance on "Dimension 20" if the path forward was not paved by the incredible work of Matt Mercer and the whole gang over at CR, and it's just so exceptional," Mulligan added. "I just have so much respect and appreciation to even be a little, tiny part of that incredible world they've built."

The "Downfall" episodes drop on July 11, 18, and 25 on Twitch, YouTube, and CR's in-house subscription service, Beacon.

• Russian President Putin visited Vietnam, where the two countries signed a dozen agreements this week.
• Vietnam's warm welcome of Putin isn't a good look for the US after Washington and Hanoi elevated ties in 2023.
• Vietnam's relationship with Russia dates back to the Soviet era and holds sentimental value.

Wanted by the International Criminal Court, Russian President Vladimir Putin still traveled to Vietnam on a two-day visit, where he was warmly welcomed.

On Thursday, the Russian leader wrapped up his trip to Vietnam. The two countries inked about a dozen cooperation agreements covering a range of subjects, including education and plans for a nuclear science and technology center.

Vietnam is not a member of the ICC, so Putin was safe there. Russia and Vietnam also have a long history going back to the Soviet era, so his visit is also not surprising.

However, Putin's quick trip — which came less than a year after the US upgraded its ties with Vietnam — isn't a good look for Washington or the West, which have imposed sweeping restrictions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Vietnam is a strategic partner for US and its allies

The US is among Vietnam's largest trading partners, accounting for trade worth $111 billion last year. Russia's trade with Vietnam over the same period was just worth $3.6 billion.

Australia and Japan have also elevated their relationships with Vietnam over the past year, underscoring the Southeast Asian nation's strategic role in a changing geopolitical landscape.

Putin's visit could jeopardize these newly-forged partnerships because the optics are so stark, wrote Hoang Thi Ha, a senior fellow at the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, on Wednesday.

Western allies may rethink "Vietnam's reliability as a strategic partner in the region," Hoang wrote.

"While Vietnam is not directly aiding Russia's war efforts, its warm reception of Putin could be perceived as ending foreign legitimacy to his regime and undermining US-led international efforts to oppose Russia's war in Ukraine," wrote Hoang, who is also a co-coordinator of the Regional Strategic and Political Studies Programme at ISEAS.

Vietnam is a manufacturing hotspot for many multinational companies diversifying their operations outside China — the world's factory floor for the last 40 years — to diversify their supply chain risks.

The US is playing it cool — but really isn't

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen played it cool, saying on Thursday that America's elevated relationship with Vietnam doesn't mean Hanoi has to break up with Moscow or Beijing.

"Vietnam has a policy and strategy of working collaboratively with many different countries, and it is not a condition of our partnership that they sever their ties to Russia or to China," Yellen told a news conference in Atlanta.

Still, the US embassy in Vietnam issued a sharp criticism of the visit, saying that "no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalize his atrocities."

Hot on the heels of Putin's trip, Washington is sending Daniel Kritenbrink, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs, to Vietnam, the State Department said on Thursday.

Kritenbrink will meet senior Vietnamese officials on Friday and Saturday to underscore "strong US commitment" to Washington and Hanoi's strategic partnership, said the State Department.

Hanoi's sentimental attachment to the past influences pragmatism

While Hanoi has a much-touted "bamboo diplomacy" policy of flexibility and balanced relations with diverse powers, it is still attached to its past.

This sentimentalism can influence the pragmatism that marked Hanoi's foreign policy for the last two decades, wrote Hoang at the ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.

It's also a smart political move, as a segment of Vietnamese still holds "a deep fondness for Russia," wrote Hoang.

"Many still feel nostalgic for the Soviet Union and grateful for its support to Vietnam during the wars against the French and Americans," Hoang added. "Some are extremely enamored with Putin as an anti-Western symbol and a strongman leader, a phenomenon coined locally as 'Putin-mania.'"

• China's 618 shopping festival faced challenges, despite creative strategies to attract shoppers.
• Alibaba, ByteDance, and JD.com offered large discounts amid an uncertain economic environment.
• By one measure, 618 sales — a barometer of consumer health — fell nearly 7% year-on-year.

China's e-commerce platforms worked hard to attract shoppers during the country's annual 618 shopping festival. But economic troubles got in the way of big sales.

The 618 promotion is a weeks-long event from late May to June 18, during which online platforms launch flash sales. This year saw internet companies like Alibaba, ByteDance, and JD.com offering steep discounts to woo Chinese consumers hit by persistent deflation, youth unemployment, and the property crisis.

It's is the second-biggest sale after Singles Day, which takes place in November and is likened to Black Friday in the US. The summer shopping festival is seen as a key indicator of China's general retail temperature — and signs so far this year show that consumer spending is still muted.

In recent weeks, Alibaba offered a 50% discount on Lululemon clothing, JD.com sold some Apple iPhones at discounts as high as 20%, and TikTok's sister company Douyin cut prices aggressively.

Luxury brands, which are seeing a purchase slowdown in China, joined the festival, too. Burberry livestreamed its 618 discounts, while Louis Vuitton offered shoppers a 30-minute virtual personalized shopping experience on WeChat.

After the end of 618, Alibaba and JD.com said sales grew, but neither reported specific figures.

According to figures from Syntun, a Chinese third-party data agency, total sales on Alibaba's Tmall, JD.com, and Pinduoduo fell 6.9% year-on-year. Total sales during the festival were 742.8 billion yuan, or $102.3 billion, the first time sales dropped in the eight years since Syntun started collecting data.

Home appliances, skincare, cosmetics and perfume, and personal care products were the top three categories in terms of sales, according to the data company.

The drop comes amid China's slow post-pandemic recovery, as people exercise caution with their discretionary spending. According to a research note from Dutch bank ING published in May, Chinese consumers are cutting spending on clothing, cosmetics, and jewelry and instead choosing to spend their money on experiences like dining and sports. They are also flocking to safe haven investments like gold and supporting local manufacturers, instead of spending on overseas luxury brands like Gucci, Apple, and Starbucks.

The slowdown may also stem from a plethora of year-round sales and discounts.

"The promotional period is too long, and all the marketing has gotten confusing," said Constance Zhou, a 31-year-old who told the Financial Times she did not buy anything this year. "The platforms are always doing promotions. Regular shoppers don't have any motivation to participate."

• Melinda French Gates endorsed President Joe Biden on Thursday and Elon Musk isn't happy about it.
• "Might be the downfall of Western civilization," the mercurial billionaire said in response.
• Back in March, Musk criticized another billionaire's ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, for her charity work.

Melinda French Gates has given her first-ever presidential endorsement, and Elon Musk isn't too happy about it.

"Might be the downfall of western civilization," Musk said in response to an X post by The Babylon Bee staffer Ashley St. Clair on Gates' endorsement of Biden.

Gates formally endorsed Biden in an X post published Thursday.

"I've never endorsed a presidential candidate before. But this year's election stands to be so enormously consequential for women and families that, this time, I can't stay quiet," Gates wrote.

In March, Musk similarly criticized Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, for her charitable giving.

"'Super rich ex-wives who hate their former spouse' should filed be listed among 'Reasons that Western Civilization died,'" Musk said in a now-deleted X post on March 6.

And it sure looks like endorsing Biden has earned Gates a spot on Musk's list of bad billionaire exes.

"Many super villain arcs being pursued under the guise of philanthropy," St. Clair said in a follow-up post.

"Yeah," Musk replied.

For what it's worth, Musk isn't a fan of Gates' ex-husband, Bill Gates either.

According to Musk's biography, the Tesla CEO was furious that the Microsoft founder had shorted his company's stock.

"How can someone say they are passionate about fighting climate change and then do something that reduced the overall investment in the company doing the most? It's pure hypocrisy," Musk told his biographer Walter Isaacson.

To be sure, Musk's contempt for Gates' former spouse may also stem from his own distaste for President Joe Biden.

Musk has repeatedly criticized Biden after Tesla was excluded from the president's 2021 electric-vehicle summit.

"Biden held this EV summit, didn't invite Tesla. Invited GM, Ford, Chrysler, and UAW [United Auto Workers Union]. An EV summit at the White House," Musk told journalist Kara Swisher in September 2021. "Didn't mention Tesla once, and praised GM and Ford for leading the EV revolution."

The mercurial billionaire has also criticized Biden's handling of the Southern border crisis and accused the Democratic Party of being "controlled by unions."

In November, Musk told journalist Aaron Ross Sorkin at The New York Times DealBook Summit that he was unlikely to vote for Biden. Musk has, however, stopped short of endorsing former President Donald Trump.

That said, Musk does seem to have grown increasingly closer to Trump.

Last week, Musk revealed in a Tesla shareholder meeting that he receives random phone calls from Trump. The former president, Musk said, was "very nice" on the phone.

"I have had some conversations with him, and he does call me out of the blue for no reason. I don't know why, but he does," Musk said.

Representatives for Musk and Gates did not respond to requests for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

• A United Airlines Airbus A320 flight bound for Denver had to turn back after takeoff. 
• A piece of its engine's sound-dampening outer liner fell off, causing an "abnormal noise."
• No injuries were reported from the incident.

A United Airlines flight from Connecticut to Colorado had to turn back shortly after takeoff after a piece of its engine cover fell off.

The Airbus A320 flight left Bradley International Airport in Hartford at around 8:45 a.m. local time on Thursday, per a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Crew members heard an "abnormal sound" coming from the aircraft, after which the flight turned around, per the FAA.

A United spokesperson told Business Insider the flight returned to Bradley "to address an issue with one engine." They added that "a portion of the engine's sound-dampening outer liner was found on the runway."

The flight carried 124 passengers and five crew members, all of whom "deplaned normally" after reaching Hartford, per the airline's statement.

The spokesperson added that United Airlines arranged alternative flights for the affected passengers to reach Denver.

While there's been plenty of Boeing plane drama, some flights on Airbus planes have also run into trouble of late.

On Tuesday, an Air New Zealand A320 flight faced severe turbulence, causing one passenger to be scalded by hot coffee and a crew member to hit the cabin ceiling.

And in April, an Austrian Airlines A320neo flight collided with a jet bridge and lost a big chunk of of its tail. Its right horizontal stabilizer, a crucial part of its tail, was completely torn off.

Airbus didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• Darden Restaurants CEO Rick Cardenas said there's been a small shift from fast food to casual dining.
• American fast-food consumers have expressed frustration with rising prices.
• Several casual chains now offer discounted combo deals to attract diners seeking better value.

Customers fed up with increasingly high prices at fast-food restaurants are taking action, and they may be turning to places like Chili's and Applebee's instead.

Rick Cardenas, the CEO of Darden Restaurants, said as much during a quarterly earnings call on Thursday. Darden is the parent company of several casual-dining chains, including Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and Yard House, as well as fine-dining chains Ruth's Chris Steak House and The Capital Grille, among others.

Cardenas said on the call that there's been "a little bit of a shift" from fast-food spots to competitors in the casual dining space, according to CNBC. While Darden hasn't necessarily seen that boost yet, the parent companies of Chili's and Applebee's have leaned into taking on fast food, CNBC reported.

Business Insider's Erin McDowell previously reported that casual chain restaurants like Chili's and Applebee's had instituted discounted combo deals that compete with the value meals customers are used to getting at places like McDonald's and Burger King.

Chili's even launched a Big Smasher burger in April that has just about the same ingredients as a McDonald's Big Mac.

"We know diners are experiencing sticker shock from the rising cost of fast food, with little change to the actual quantity or quality of fast food combo meals," George Felix, Chili's CMO, told Restaurant Business Magazine in a statement at the time, adding that Chili's combo meal lineup "offers better value than you'll find in any drive-thru."

Fast food prices have increased and exceptionally high rates in recent years.

An industry analyst previously told BI's Grace Dean that while fast-food prices used to rise around 2% each year, price hikes at some restaurants in 2022 and 2023 were in the double digits.

Fast-food diners told BI they were actively cutting back as the restaurants' prices have risen. Others said that if they're going to pay a certain amount anyway, they'd rather skip the drive-thru and have a sit-down meal at places like Chili's or Applebee's, even if it costs a bit more.

Fast food companies, like McDonald's, meanwhile, have introduced limited-time value meals for customers who are feeling the bite from inflation.

• Companies are increasingly turning to AI to see if it can improve the customer service experience.
• CVS plans to use AI so that pharmacy customers don't have to go through a menu option, per The Wall Street Journal.
• They'll be able to talk to the AI before being directed to a live agent, CVS Health CTO told The Journal.

CVS plans to use artificial intelligence in an effort to improve the customer-service experience, CVS Health Chief Technology Officer Tilak Mandadi told The Wall Street Journal.

Mandadi told the publication that the retail giant's health division plans to roll out an app so that customers don't have to get on the phone to reach a pharmacist or a live agent at a call center — a practice that's less favored by Gen Z.

The app will rely on AI so that customers can get text-based answers in a "natural language," Mandadi said.

But for those who still want to call, Mandadi said that CVS will also use AI so that customers don't have to go through a tedious menu option on the phone and can immediately ask their questions.

"For calls, we want to move away from the traditional, incredibly annoying menu-based options—such as press 1 for this, press 2 for this, etc.," Mandadi told The Journal. "Instead, you will just say what you are calling about, and AI will respond if it can answer the question."

The CTO added that customers will be directed to a live customer representative if the AI cannot answer their questions.

CVS is the latest retail giant to rely on AI to assist customers.

For a few years, McDonald's was testing an AI-powered drive-through service at 100 locations. The restaurant recently ended the program after viral videos online showed the technology screwing up customer orders.

But for call centers, AI is already being tested in pivotal roles in assisting employees.

The technology, for example, could help emergency dispatchers get real-time translation of a caller's speech, Business Insider previously reported. AI could also help prioritize those calls during high-volume periods, which can be crucial for a field that is understaffed.

SoftBank Corp. is also testing an AI that can soften the tone of a caller's voice to reduce the stress of a customer service representative.

AI chatbots have also started to replace some need for a live representative, especially for the phone-call-averse generation.

Affirm, the buy-now, pay-later provider, found that less than 40% of customers needed to speak with a person after using its AI chatbot, according to the company's CEO Max Levchin.

One study by Gartner, a tech research firm, showed that AI could replace 20 to 30% of customer service agents by 2026.

It's unclear when CVS will roll out its new app and AI-powered service.

A CVS spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment sent outside business hours.

• Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un signed a partnership agreement on Wednesday.
• The two allied countries — and global pariahs — have several overlapping interests.
• The agreement officializes several informal aspects of Russia and North Korea's relationship. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a strategic partnership agreement this week, capitalizing on the two autocratic leaders' overlapping interests — chief among them the desire for a more authoritarian world.

For the first time in 24 years, Putin visited North Korea on Wednesday, where he and Kim signed an agreement that requires the allied countries to defend each other in the event of aggression, according to Russian state media outlet TASS news.

The political pact also deepens the "political, trade, investment, cultural, and humanitarian" ties between Russia and North Korea, as well as their shared security sphere, the outlet reported.

"Moscow and Pyongyang are authoritarians and want to live in a world safe for authoritarians," said Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and a historian of the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations.

While the agreement's text has not been made public yet, the pact appears to officialize several already-existing, informal aspects of Russia and North Korea's relationship, Miles said.

Since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has been a major beneficiary of North Korea's defense sector, buying up millions of Pyongyang's cheap shells, according to Ukraine, the US, and the UN. North Korean ammunition is typically lower quality, but the sheer number of shells the country has reportedly provided continues to make a massive difference for Russia in the current positional warfare phase of the battle, Miles said.

That informal partnership goes both ways. North Koreans have happily consumed discounted Russian oil — even in the face of UN sanctions on the commodity. The nuclear nation would also be "very happy" with access to Russia's more sophisticated military technology, which could help enhance North Korea's arsenal, according to Miles.

The two global outcasts staged a full spectacle to celebrate the agreement — which included Putin gifting Kim yet another luxury vehicle — in a clear attempt at controlling the narrative.

"Both want to show that they are not diplomatic pariahs," Miles said. "The way this has been propagandized by both sides as proof their respective leader is an international statesman is not surprising, even if it is bizarre."

Though Russia and North Korea remain on the outskirts of global diplomacy, the pact appears to have Western officials at least somewhat concerned.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday accused Russia of trying "in desperation, to develop and to strengthen relations" with countries like North Korea that will help fuel its war effort.

Meanwhile, US intelligence officials told NBC News that the Biden administration is worried North Korea could soon develop its first nuclear-armed submarine with Russia's help.

• My kids are 15 months apart and I was very sleep deprived when they were little. 
• I started writing snippets of our days together to remember all the memories. 
• It's not anything fancy, but the memories are priceless. 

It took me almost a year to calculate that my kids, Sylvia and Nico, were 15 months apart. When Nico was a newborn, people regularly commented on my "full hands" and asked me how close the kids were in age. My response was well-rehearsed but vague: "She's just about a year older than him." I was too sleep-deprived to do the math.

Life with little kids is as overwhelming as it is glorious. Amazing, hilarious, ridiculous things happen constantly. It takes over the household and almost creates a new language — words assume unique pronunciations. Everything gets a nickname or a song.

Because it's so rich, real, and encompassing, it's tempting to assume it's unforgettable. But the details disappear like the baby toys that get boxed up and socked away as the kids outgrow them.

I found my own way to capture memories

I am not a good photographer. I am not crafty. I had a hard time committing to baby books and scrapbooks, but I share the urgency that these devices address. I wanted to capture the details of this stage of our lives, but it had to be easy and accessible if I was going to stick to it while juggling the demands of full-time work and raising babies.

I bought a little notebook for each kid, and I started writing short snippets about them whenever I could steal a minute. Early in the morning, right before bed, during screen or naptime, I would jot down the date and a few details from their day: What was the weather like, and how did that impact our activities? What did they seem to think of our adventures? What new foods did they try? What did they learn? What did they say? Who did they meet?

I captured some big milestones: sitting up, rolling over, and first steps. Writing in a free format also gave me room to chronicle smaller developments, like the first time the kids saw a fireworks display, had an argument, went to a birthday party, took a solo trip down the slide, caught a ball, or got a time out.

It's not tidy at all, but that's not the point

I didn't write every day. I only wrote when I had time and material. Sometimes, my husband Greg wrote a snippet. If a grandparent, aunt, or uncle was over, I invited them to note what they observed about the kids or to detail what they did with Sylvia and Nico during their visit.

The snippets aren't tidy. My handwriting is terrible, and I was usually in a hurry. Plus, with a slew of guest contributors, the entries are far from uniform. Still, the narratives offer vivid accounts of our daily lives and the wonderful personalities that were taking shape during those hectic days.

I stopped writing in their notebooks when the kids started school. More of their experiences were happening outside our house, and school projects and events offered new ways to chronicle those.

Greg and I would pull the notebooks off the shelf and read them when we felt nostalgic, but my kids were not interested in their recent past. I think they found it embarrassing to hear how thunder once scared them, what they thought about popcorn the first time they tried it or the details of some random rainy afternoon we all spent doing puzzles in our pajamas.

The snippets remind us of what life used to be like

Sylvia and Nico are now in the early stages of young adulthood, and they've developed a capacity for nostalgia. They have their own memories, perspectives, and interests in their past.

We live in a different house now, and the one the kids grew up in has changed hands twice. But these little snippets offer us a glimpse of what it felt like to be there early in the morning, at dinner time, and in the middle of the night. Our little paper notebooks are an ever-open window into our past. They capture granular details of the babies, toddlers, and new parents who started a life together there.

• Ukraine faces restrictions on using US-made, long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia.
• To work around this, Kyiv has modified its Neptune anti-ship missile for land attack.
• Ukraine has used this weapon to strike energy facilities inside Russia in recent weeks.

The US has outfitted Ukraine with an arsenal of long-range missiles but continues to put restrictions on how it can use them, limiting its ability to strike Russia the way it wants. As a workaround in this dilemma, Kyiv has turned to a homemade weapon first used to sink ships.

American-made MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, also known as ATACMS, are one of the more vaunted weapons that Ukraine has in its arsenal. The Biden administration, however, has barred the country from firing them into Russia's sovereign territory; instead limiting their use solely to occupied regions of Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Zelenskyy expressed his frustration with the continued prohibition on striking into Russia with these US-provided weapons. But Ukraine isn't completely without options.

Multiple times in recent weeks, Ukraine has turned to domestically produced Neptune anti-ship missiles, modified for land attack, to strike ground targets inside Russia, specifically going after Moscow's vulnerable energy facilities.

The R-360 Neptune is a subsonic, long-range cruise missile that was developed by Luch Design Bureau, a Kyiv-based defense manufacturer. Ukraine has used this munition in the past to strike high-value Russian targets. Early in the war, Ukraine used the Neptune to sink the guided-missile cruiser Moskva, once the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

But Ukraine has also been working to modify the Neptune missile so that it can be used to strike land targets. There are indications Ukraine previously used the modified version of this weapon against Russian air defenses, including its S-400s, stationed on the occupied Crimean peninsula, per officials and media reports.

In late May, Ukrainian forces used Neptune missiles to strike an oil depot near Kavkaz, a port along the Black Sea in Russia's Krasnodar Krai region.

Several weeks later, on Monday, Ukraine again used its Neptune missiles on a ground target, this time striking an oil terminal in nearby Chushka, just over the Kerch Straight from Crimea.

Analysts at the Washington, DC-based Institute for the Study of War think tank noted that both Neptune missile strikes have occurred in areas of Russian territory that are within the range of Ukraine's ATACMS.

The locations of both strikes are some 150 miles from the front lines and within the range of the 190-mile long-range ATACMS variant. But the US has prohibited Ukraine from using these powerful missiles to strike military targets inside Russia, thus awarding Moscow what experts and officials have described as sanctuary space.

"The US has not allowed Ukrainian forces to use existing US-provided weapons to strike legitimate targets in Russian territory for much of the full-scale invasion thus far and still prohibits Ukraine from using ATACMS anywhere in Russia," the analysts wrote in a Tuesday assessment.

"Ukraine first debuted Neptune anti-ship missiles against Russian naval targets in April 2022 and has had to further develop and modify these missiles to conduct deep strikes against Russian territory," the analysts said.

The modified Neptune missiles is one of a number of Ukrainian innovations of the war made out of necessity and a notable lack of other options. Kyiv has, for example, turned to exploding naval drones to make up for a lack of a proper navy and has developed cheap, long-range drones to strike military and energy targets deep inside Russia where it is prohibited from using Western-made weaponry.