PDB Afternoon Bulletin | September 4th, 2026: Putin’s Popularity Plunges to Wartime Low & Israel Seizes Key Hezbollah Stronghold

It's Friday, the 4th of September. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin, okay to be fair. It's more like the early evening bulletin today. I'm Mike Baker from your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First up, Nivlatimir Putin, you remember him, is facing signs of growing public frustration at home. As his approval ratings drop amid the intensifying attacks from Kiev. Could growing domestic pressure change his strategy in Ukraine? I'll have the details. Later in the show, Israel says it's clear to Hezbollah fighters from a major underground stronghold in southern Lebanon, despite warnings from Iran against attacking the position. But the operation is also exposing just how far the two sides remain from implementing the US-procored agreement that was reached in June. Now as we've noted repeatedly here on the PDB, that agreement was with the Lebanese government, not Hezbollah. So it's always been of limited utility. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. Earlier this week, we told you that frustration of the Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine appeared to be growing inside Russia's political and economic elite. Now there are signs that frustration may be spreading beyond the Kremlin and the countries elite. Putin's approval ratings have fallen dramatically in recent months, even according to polling organizations that are closely tied to the Russian government. The state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center, for example, recently put Putin's approval at just 65 percent. Now those are relatively poultry figures historically for the 73-year-old autocrat, down from levels approaching 90 percent before the invasion of Ukraine. And another polling organization that conducts surveys for the Kremlin, the Public Opinion Foundation, recorded an even more striking shift. According to their survey, in July, Putin's approval fell five points in a single week, from 71 percent to 66 percent. As the steepest drops and protests erupted over Russia's military mobilization back in 2022. And his trust numbers are slipping as well, what people are trusting Putin. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center found that confidence in Putin fell from nearly 77 percent in June to 71 percent in its latest polling. Now obviously, those are still numbers that most political leaders around the world would be thrilled to have. But the sharp drop in support in recent months does suggest Ukraine's summer assault on Russia's industrial engine may be shifting public sentiment against Putin and his handling of the war, after more than four years of fighting. Katarita Stepanenko, who leads the Russia team at the Institute for the Study of War, says that the real surprise is that Kremlin-aligned pollsters are acknowledging the decline at all. She told the New York Post that the numbers could reflect in the attempt by people inside the Russian government to warn Putin, saying, "Someone is going out there to show that interest in the war is waning." And there are other indications that Putin's support may be softer than the headline approval numbers suggest. A separate survey conducted in Russia's Krasnodar and Rostov regions asked respondents a different question. Which Russian politician or statesman they trusted most? Only 39 percent in Krasnodar named Putin. In Rostov, it was 37 percent. Now those figures should not be directly compared with Putin's approval rating, but taken together analysts say the numbers provide another indication that public frustration accelerated sharply this summer, particularly as the Kremlin struggled to shield ordinary Russians from the consequences of the war. You creating attacks on oil refineries and other infrastructure have contributed to fuel shortages and disruptions inside the country, while western sanctions continue weighing on parts of the economy. As we discussed Tuesday, there are also signs of growing frustration among Russia's political and economic elite over the cost of continuing a war that has still failed to deliver many of Putin's original objectives. That said, analysts caution that there's no indication that Putin is suddenly losing his kung-fu grip on power. John Hardy, deputy director of the Russia program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the post, quote, "There is a strong desire to end the war, but it's not likely that this trend will lead to major unrest or a palace coup." And there is a critical distinction we have to parse from the polling data regarding public sentiment towards the war. A majority of Russians may favor peace negotiations at this point, but the public also doesn't want Russia to accept defeat or make any major concessions to Ukraine. A recent poll captured that contradiction, with 68 percent of Russians continuing to support Russia's military operations in Ukraine. In other words, Putin's problem may not be that Russians are turning against the war so much as they're increasingly impatient with how long it's taking, and they want him to find a way to decisively end the conflict on terms that Moscow can still present as a victory. Now, if mounting pressure is changing Putin's calculations, there's little evidence of that change on the battlefield. Russia launched another major attack against Ukraine overnight, killing at least three people, and on Friday, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine's SBU Security Service in central Kiev. Ukraine, meanwhile, continues its assaults on Russian infrastructure, hitting the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, and the nearby Sirius District Friday, sparking a fire at an oil depot. Still, the Trump administration is reportedly preparing for another diplomatic push this weekend, hope does spring eternal. Axios reports that Steve Whitgolf and Jared Kushner, apparently it's not a deep bench of envoys, are scheduled to meet with Putin in Moscow on Saturday, before traveling to Kiev for talks with Zelensky on Sunday. However, Reuters reports those visits do remain uncertain as U.S. officials seek security assurances for both Russia and Ukraine. The Kremlin has so far declined to publicly confirm the Moscow meeting, although Putin said Thursday that he believes there may still be an opportunity for a peace agreement, which is a notable shift from just days ago when Putin described negotiations as essentially frozen. Coming up next, Israeli forces say they've cleared Hezbollah fighters from a sprawling tunnel complex beneath a strategic ridge in southern Lebanon near the Israeli border. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, we have all heard those radio ads about the IRS. You know the ones I'm talking about. They tell you to be afraid, be very afraid, and they try to frighten you into calling. Well, tax relief advocates is different. Look, if you owe money to the IRS, whether it's $5,000 or $50,000 or $500,000, TRA has a solution to your tax problem. Don't lose hope. TRA could reduce or even eliminate what you owe to the IRS. Their passion is taxes and helping individuals and businesses fix their IRS problems. They've got over 1,000 five-star Google reviews and an A+ with a better business bureau. Here's the thing. You do not need to be afraid of the IRS any longer. Generous tax relief programs are now available that can give you a fresh start. So don't wait. Simply visit tra.com. 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That's promo code PDB at mod.com. See their website for important safety information and I want to thank mod for sponsoring the PDB. Welcome back to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I want to turn now to Lebanon where Israel sets its military as taking control of one of Chesbala's most strategically important remaining strongholds in the south. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Friday that Israeli forces had cleared Chesbala fighters from a network of tunnels beneath the Ali Al-Tahar Ridge. No, that's following months of fighting over that area. The Ridge had emerged as a strategic area in the conflict as it sits roughly 10 miles from the Israeli border and rises about 2000 feet above sea level giving it a commanding view across a broad stretch of southern Lebanon. Critically, it also connects Chesbala's positions closer to the Israeli border with the Eccleum Al-Tufa region. That's farther north, which has long served as an important logistical and operational hub for the Iranian proxy. And perhaps most importantly, Lebanese security officials, believe Chesbala, had built an underground command center and weapon storage facility inside the Ridge. Given the security threat that it represents near Israel's northern border, officials in Jerusalem had long identified Ali Al-Tahar as one of its primary military objectives in sub. and Lebanon. While details of the operation to clear the tunnel complex are scant at this time, the Israeli military said a number of Hezbollah fighters inside the tunnels were killed, while others fled. Lebanese military officer confirmed that Israeli troops had seized the southern entrances to the complex, and were using drones to monitor entrances further north. However, the officers said it remained unclear how deeply Israeli forces had penetrated the tunnels, while whether Hezbollah fighters might still be inside. Hezbollah, meanwhile, has not commented on Israel's announcement, and Reuters has not independently verified that the entire complex has been cleared. But the operation is particularly significant, because Iran had explicitly warned against an Israeli assault on the ridge, threatening last month, to respond forcefully if Israel attacked Hezbollah's positions there. And the battle highlights just out of our conditions on the ground remained from the agreement that Israel and the Lebanese government reached back in June. As we've previously discussed on the PDB, under that US-Broken Framework, the Lebanese military is supposedly to gradually restore government control across the country and disarm Hezbollah, while Israel progressively withdraws from territory that it occupies in southern Lebanon. But as we know, the Lebanese government has repeatedly struggled to demonstrate that it has any ability to rein in or control or otherwise dictate conditions to the Iranian-backed proxy. The process was supposed to begin with so-called pilot zones where Israeli forces would pull back as Lebanese troops moved in, and Hezbollah's weapons were removed. But Hezbollah was not a party to the agreement and continues to reject demands that it surrender its weapons. Israel, meanwhile, says it will not fully withdraw until Hezbollah is disarmed and no longer poses a threat. In fact, Ali Al-Tahair had become one of the major obstacles to expanding those pilot zones. With Hezbollah maintaining its fortified presence beneath the ridge, while Israeli forces controlled the territory around it. Still, there was at least one small sign of diplomatic progress this week. Israel released five Lebanese detainees as part of confidence-building measures agreed during US-Broken negotiations. And Lebanese President Joseph Allen suggested additional releases could follow. But the larger security dispute remains unresolved. More than two months after Israel and Lebanon agreed on a process designed to replace Hezbollah's armed presence with Lebanese state control, Israeli troops are still fighting to clear Hezbollah militants from fortified tunnel complexes. Hezbollah still refuses to disarm, and the Lebanese government appears unable to control the Iranian proxy. Now to listen to the show ad-free, it's simple, just become a premium member of the President's movement.