Kapustin, commander of Ukraine's Russian Volunteer Corps: What breaks a captured Russian soldier isn't our gear. It's that after four days drinking from puddles, we hand him water from our own hands.
That's when something cracks. 1/
Kapustin: Russian POWs from Vovchansk arrive with frostbitten feet, some missing toes.
Sent out for weeks without winter gear, they wrap their feet in foil thermal blankets, thinking it's waterproof. One captured 18-year-old lost several toes after being sent to fetch snow. 2/
Kapustin: Russian soldiers infiltrating near our lines dropped radios for phones rigged with Starlink, reporting coordinates by Telegram.
Once Starlink access was cut, they lost their only link to command. We took many of them prisoner, frostbitten and starving. 3/
Kasparov: Ukrainians live in a true democracy because they trust it depends on them. When Zelenskyy fired Fedorov, public protests forced him to backtrack.
Trump is undermining Americans' faith in their own elections. To see where that leads, look at Russia - The WP. 1/
Kasparov: Ukraine and Russia work as a natural experiment. They share a language, media, and a tangled history, so governance is what pulls them apart.
After the Soviet collapse in 1991, the Donbas border barely existed, and the region lived in the same Russian-speaking world as Russia. 2/
Kasparov: In Ukraine's first presidential election in 1994, Donbas voters backed a pro-Russian candidate, like much of the country.
The defeated nationalist then conceded and walked away. He set a template of respect for the result that Ukraine's later leaders kept. 3/
Zelenskyy: I respect Fedorov and Syrskyi. But deep-strike success was never about one person.
Credit goes to our army, our secret service, and our special forces, especially sea-drone operations. Soldiers carry out operations, not somebody else.
1/
Zelenskyy: I had a big problem, not for days or weeks, for months, in the dialogue between the chief of the army and the chief of the ministry of defense.
The challenge was mobilization: Russia could have 500,000-plus people by October, and I needed unanimity between them. 2/
Zelenskyy: With all respect to Syrskyi and to Fedorov, they still have to work together, or they can't send the right message to the army, our team, or our partners.
Whether they choose to keep doing that now is up to them. 3X
Tokayev to Putin: Russia-Ukraine conflict should be frozen.
Kazakhstan does not understand the nature of Russia’s war against Ukraine, — FT. 1/
Kazakhstan is one of Russia’s few close partners and shares a 7,600 km border with it. Tokayev has avoided direct condemnation of Putin, but repeatedly refused to recognize Russian-backed separatists and recognized Ukraine as sovereign. 2/
Tokayev said it is tragic that young people are dying, calling them “the gene pool of the brotherly peoples of Russia and Ukraine.” 3/
Interceptor drones allow Ukraine to destroy up to 90–95% of aerial targets at a very low cost. They are a genuine game changer. Every interceptor can save lives, making it vital for Ukraine’s future.
WSJ with Lasar’s Group, a Ukrainian drone unit. 1/
«AI works in two stages. First, it identifies a likely target and alerts the crew. After the pilot confirms it, autonomous mode takes over. The drone’s computer controls the motors, accelerates and closes in on the target». 2/
«Interceptor drones are panacea from Russian Shaheds. A mobile fire group covers only 2 kilometers. My official range is 15 kilometers, and in practice I can fly farther — as long as the drone has power». 3/