Putin and Zelenskyy are both losing faith in Trump’s peace talks — but for opposite reasons.
Russia believes it can still win militarily. Ukraine believes it no longer has to accept a bad deal under US pressure after stabilizing the front, FT. 1/
Putin is shifting from negotiations back to territorial expansion.
Russian commanders told him they could seize all of Donbas by autumn, after which Moscow plans to raise demands further. 2/
Ukraine says the talks stalled months ago.
“There has been zero progress secured by the American side from Russia,” a Ukrainian official says. Kyiv believes Washington failed to pressure Moscow to moderate demands. 3/
McFaul: Iran has a good reason to think it did not lose.
Trump team declared Epic Fury over without achieving its major goals: no nuclear deal, no missile limits, no end to terror funding, no regime change. 1/
McFaul: If the Americans have already quit, Iran is in a strong negotiating position.
Now the whole discussion is about reopening Hormuz — something that was open before Epic Fury even started. That is perfect for Tehran. 2/
McFaul: Trump never clearly explained why America needed this war.
That makes it almost impossible to explain how he is ending it — especially when none of the goals he used to justify the war are being achieved. 3/
Last night Russia bombed Kyiv for 8 hours and killed 24 people.
Today it forced the city into air raid sirens again. KSE students ran to shelters four times during classes and came back to continue studying each time.
This is what university life in Kyiv looks like now. 1/
On May 14 Russia launched 1,560 drones at Ukraine in 24 hours — one of the largest drone attack since the start of the full-scale war.
Most of them hit Kyiv. Air raid sirens lasted from 00:50 until 8:43 a.m. 2/
Nobody forced students to return to classrooms after a night like that. They came anyway. And nobody will stop them. Not Putin. Not drones or missiles. Not exhaustion.
KSE students keep studying, working, and supporting each other because they refuse to live in survival mode. 3/
His latest nuclear threats is attempt to convince Russians that he still holds cards.
After 4 years of war, much of its Black Sea Fleet damaged, territorial gains limited, so Moscow relies on nuclear rhetoric to project strength. 1/
Kremlin’s latest showpiece is the RS-28 Sarmat, branded “Satan II.”
Putin claims it can strike targets 21,750 miles away and bypass Western missile defenses — but the program suffered repeated delays and failed tests. 2/
Sarmat is liquid-fueled, requiring lengthy launch preparation from fixed silos — a vulnerability against modern precision-strike systems used by NATO countries. 3/