Our former student writes about the retreat of his brigade from Vuhledar this week. It is a heavy but honest reading
“The 72nd Brigade left Vuhledar battered, with heavy losses. 1/
Before that, the Russians had already reached the areas through which the brigade would retreat and set up firing positions in garages behind the cemetery. 2/
The 72nd’s withdrawal was brutal. Vehicles, armored carriers were hit and burned. After days of agony in the besieged city before that, the soldiers were drained. By the dawn of retreat, not all had the strength to move to try break through 3/
Some stayed behind, committing themselves to death to cover the retreat 4/
By a cruel twist, while my brigade was clawing its way out of Vuhledar, people across the country were sipping coffee, going to cinemas, and strolling to street music 5/
Well-wishes, both genuine and routine, were offered to the soldiers – even as they were dying, abandoned to their fate 6/
I have no way to bridge these two worlds - the peaceful Ukraine and the military, each marching relentlessly on its path 7/
We were reborn there in the war in the East. Born in Kyiv, we were forged again in the fields and basements of Vuhledar. Now those empty, iron-pierced spaces are our homeland, and we are strangers on the Kyiv’s streets 8/
In these three years of the war, unfamiliar faces have filled the sidewalks and metro, with new expressions I don’t recognize or can comprehend 9/
They seem light, translucent; we are grim and dirty, stained by a darkness that no bath or barbershop [a reference to the hipster culture of Kyiv] can wash away 10/
Now, the 72nd, driven from its den, risks annihilation in the open fields under artillery and FPV drones. The Russians’ control from Vuhledar’s heights stretches 15 kilometers, nearly to Kurakhove 11/
Pray, to anyone you can, that the 72nd – my first and forever brigade (though I left long ago) – isn’t ground into dust beyond Vuhledar 12/
Pray the remnants of this once-mighty force aren’t destroyed, that it has a chance to rise again, to carry its hard-won experience and pain into future victories (Igor Lutsenko) 13X
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Ukraine and the U.S. moved close to NATO Article 5–style security guarantees, but they fight over territory — especially Donbas, write Axios and Reuters.
Russia has blown off every US-led peace proposal since 2022. Kyiv agreed to ceasefires and talks. Moscow answered with missiles and new territorial demands.
In 2025 alone, Washington put forward 6 ceasefire initiatives. Russia refused all six. Here's a timeline — United24. 1/
March 2025: The US proposed a 30-day ceasefire. Zelenskyy agreed and publicly backed the plan. Putin refused to sign and kept Russian strikes going. 2/
April 2025: Washington pushed another ceasefire proposal. Russia responded with a wave of large-scale attacks across Ukraine.
Kyiv said talks could start after Russia stopped firing. Moscow said no. 3/
That is how a Ukrainian soldier remembers the last days of journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna in Russian captivity — a witness account that finally puts a human face on how she died, The Guardian. 1/
Roshchyna was 27 when she disappeared in the summer of 2022, reporting from occupied Ukraine.
She became one of an estimated 16,000 Ukrainian civilians detained by Russia. For 2 years, her fate was unknown. Now, a fellow prisoner has described her final journey. 2/
Mykyta Semenov, an Azov soldier released this summer, travelled with her by train and truck to Sizo-3 prison in Kizel, deep inside Russia near the Urals.
Semenov: I saw her walking down the corridor. Light blue summer dress with flowers. Sporty sneakers. A small makeup mirror. 3/
Zelenskyy is not rejecting Trump’s peace plan — he’s rewriting it from the inside.
Kyiv’s strategy is “yes, but”: stay constructive with Washington while stripping out political landmines that would destroy domestic legitimacy — WSJ. 1/
Zelenskyy is open to elections, but only after a ceasefire guaranteed by partners.
He accepts a cap on the army, but only at current force levels — 800k. He allows discussion on Zaporizhzhia, but rejects Russian control — insisting on US-Ukraine oversight. 2/
Instead of rejecting a Donbas “demilitarized/free economic zone,” Zelenskyy asks implementation questions the US plan can’t answer:
– Who enforces withdrawals?
– What stops Russian infiltration?
– What prevents Moscow from advancing once Ukraine pulls back? 3/
Russia has killed at least 167 Ukrainian scientists — professors, engineers, PhD students, museum researchers as of November 2025, writes Moya Nauka.
Russia kills the people who teach Ukraine how to exist as a modern country.
1/
Among the first victims of the full-scale invasion was Vasyl Kladko — physicist, State Prize laureate, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Russian troops executed him in occupied Vorzel in March 2022.
2/
Ihor Zyma, neuroscientist and associate professor at Kyiv National University, died together with his wife during a Russian missile strike on Kyiv on January 1, 2025.
Russia opened the year by killing a family of scientists in their home.
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