Former Swedish PM, Carl Bildt: Since Alaska, Trump has essentially endorsed the Russian demand.
He wants Ukraine to give up territory Putin failed to conquer despite throwing his entire might against it for three and a half years. 1/
Carl Bildt: I don't think there are any paper security guarantees that can replace what we need to do.
Real security is not documents, but Ukraine's own defensive capabilities supported by European finance. 2/
Carl Bildt: It's a fairly bizarre document [US NSS]. It has an extremely distorted view of what's happening in Europe.
It expresses concern about the fate of democracy in Europe, but not the fate of democracy in Russia or China. It sees Russia as effective for stability. 3/
“Just ten metres — but f*ck, the pain. I thought I might die there.”
Ania, a 34-year-old Ukrainian marine born with one leg, remembers dragging herself through mud toward help after her Jeep slammed into a tree near the front line — The Times. 1/
Russian drones had shut the skies. No air ambulance. The nearest hospital was almost an hour away — an eternity in a war where minutes decide survival.
What saved her was an 8-foot-wide metal box on wheels, hidden under camouflage: a Stabnet. 2/
Inside that narrow container was something Ukraine’s war increasingly lacks: time.
Warmth. Sterility. Blood. Ultrasound. Oxygen.
“Being treated there,” Ania said, “gave me the feeling that everything was going to be OK.” 3/
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/