Azov fighter “Rusty” spent 2.5 years in Russian captivity — Olenivka, Taganrog, Donetsk, Makiivka.
At 26, he survived torture, starvation, a 29-year sham sentence and returned to fight. This is his story, as reported by ArmyInform. 1/
When Mariupol fell, he was in a mobile recon group changing 5-15 positions a day, reacting to tank breakthroughs, spotting artillery, raiding Russian units.
In the final days at Azovstal, Russian aviation carried out 110 bombing sorties a day on one plant. 2/
After capture, he became the only prisoner on his floor tortured daily. Interrogations lasted 12 hours. Russians beat his 50 kg body until an FSB officer broke his own finger on him.
They forced Rusty to “confess” to killing civilians after seizures. 3/
If Satan has a residence on earth, it is in Russia, — former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko.
He survived Russian captivity, tells UP that Ukrainians have no second homeland — no spare country, only Ukraine and warns that part of the elite still behaves as if they do. 1/
The war wasn’t caused by abstract “mistakes,” but by geography and responsibility.
Ukrainians could not defend Russia’s media or constitution for Russians. Russians accepted Putin and many still do.
Endless “what ifs” change nothing when the front is 1,000 km long. 2/
His harshest criticism is for part of Ukraine’s elite. Too many act as if they have a “backup country” — Paris, Prague, New York, where they can flee and blame “the people who failed.”
But most Ukrainians have no exit. No spare country. Only Ukraine. 3/
Trump has again pulled his son-in-law back into high-stakes diplomacy. This time on Ukraine.
FT: Jared Kushner helped draft the early peace text after the Gaza deal and fed in Russian input from Dmitriev’s side. Trump is now considering sending him to Moscow with Witkoff. 1/
Ukrainian officials noticed Kushner sitting directly at the table in Geneva, typing notes as ministers debated each clause.
Sergiy Kyslytsia said he was surprised to see him, but noted that Kushner “tracked every detail” of the talks. 2/
Kushner’s involvement mirrors Trump’s previous use of him in Middle East diplomacy: pushing the Abraham Accords, handling Gulf negotiations, and helping structure the Gaza ceasefire.
Trump now treats him as a go-to fixer for written peace frameworks. 3/
Germany’s secret plan shows Berlin preparing for a real war with Russia.
With a continent-wide logistics machine moving up to 800,000 NATO soldiers on the East flank through German ports, rails, and autobahns. All-of-society shift back to Cold War logic, WSJ. 1/
Urgency stems from intel Russia could strike NATO by 2029 or earlier, amid growing sabotage and airspace intrusions.
A Ukraine armistice might free Moscow’s forces, so plan’s core aim is deterrence: make clear an attack won’t be successful. 2/
Exercises reveal gaps: Rheinmetall’s 500-soldier camp hit land and traffic issues, while a Hamburg convoy was delayed two hours because police lacked solvent to remove mock protesters — exposing fragile coordination. 3/
Trump’s Ukraine “peace” push swings like a pendulum, writes The Atlantic.
This month it swung hard to Moscow: a 28-point plan packed with Kremlin demands and Ukraine got 5 days to accept it.
1/
Army Sec. Dan Driscoll brought the ultimatum to Kyiv just as it leaked.
Streets swore, headlines screamed “capitulation”, but Zelenskyy did not slam the door. He agreed to talk and the U.S. quietly dropped the Thanksgiving deadline.
2/
In Geneva, negotiators cut the plan from 28 to 19 points.
They removed the worst parts: the war-crimes amnesty, the harshest limits on Ukraine’s army, and the clearest grabs for Russian frozen assets.