At the end of Ukraine conflict, we'll have a very big Russia problem
Russia will be reconstituting its force on NATO borders, led by the same people, convinced we're the adversary, and very angry. Putin taking on Baltic republics might be a gamble he's willing to take, Times 1/
Russia maintains the world's biggest nuclear stockpile: ~5,000 warheads on 324 ballistic missiles, 71 bombers, and 12 missile launching submarines.
Much of its arsenal, including strategic weapons, has not been damaged in Ukraine. 2/
Russia produces more than 200 Shahed drones a day.
If there was a ceasefire with Ukraine and production continued at the same rate, they would soon have stockpiled thousands for possible use against NATO countries. Russia's arms industry is running hot. 3/
Sarah Paine: Putin is fixated on Ukraine, Xi on Taiwan — opposite ends of Eurasia. Their main theaters don’t align.
The West should avoid hot war, avoid trade wars, grow stronger. While Putin burns through Russia’s assets in Ukraine. That’s how the last Cold War was won.
1/
Sarah Paine: Putin is trying to build an empire in the age of nationalism. It’s a non-starter.
He’s burning Russia’s military in Ukraine while China expands into Central Asia.
Moscow chose a hot war while weak, and Beijing is strong. That’s what makes this so damaging.
2/
Sarah Paine: Siberia has exactly what China needs — resources and, above all, water.
Lake Baikal holds over 20% of the world’s surface freshwater.
China is famous for massive water projects, and Siberia is the nearest ‘quick fix.’
In a Kyiv suburb a Shahed strike erased a family in minutes.
Svitlana Blatova and her partner Maksym were killed instantly. Their 4-year-old daughter survived.
“A child screaming, ‘Mama, mama, mama.’ And her mother wasn’t answering. The upper floor was burning,” — Hromadske. 1/
Hours before the hit, Svitlana posted plans for the next day — errands, work, preparations for her eldest son’s 20th birthday. She went to sleep smiling. 2/
At 1:30 am, a Russian Shahed hit her apartment in Bilohorodka.
The duplex they had nearly finished paying off burned out completely. Svitlana and her partner Maksym were killed instantly. Their 4-year-old daughter survived. 3/
At 22, Ukrainian Viktoriia Honcharuk had a Manhattan banking job, Midtown apartment. Two weeks later, she was evacuating wounded soldiers under Russian fire, NY Post. 1/
Viktoriia quit her investment banking role in Dec 2022 and flew home.
No combat or medical background. She signed up as an emergency combat medic because it was the most needed job. One week of training. Then the front. 2/
Viktoriia: “I was afraid of blood. Afraid of needles. I’d never done anything medical. But I knew that’s what I had to do.”
She worked about 800 meters from the front, racing in a makeshift ambulance to retrieve the wounded. 3/
Colombian volunteer in Ukraine, DW: As of now, the president of Colombia sees us as mercenaries. He said we're mercenaries.
Because we're fighting for the freedom of a country? I personally fight for freedom. 1/
“The moment you get to this position, you see it's hell. Three orcs came up to my position, and I killed them. One FPV hit me, broke my finger. I bandaged myself up and kept fighting. That night I repelled a lot of assaults.” 2/
“One of my colleagues told me, we have to cross one kilometer of open field. Many people died there. He went and he was killed. I started to walk, they attacked me again. I was wounded. The 21 days in the position were very difficult. I almost died.” 3/
Putin cannot win on the battlefield, so he сonducts genocide against civilians — cutting heat, electricity, gas, and water to millions of Ukrainians during winter, writes Peter Dickinson in the Atlantic Council. 1/
Since late 2025, Russia has launched its most comprehensive campaign of strikes on civilian infrastructure since the full-scale invasion.
Power plants, heating hubs, gas and water systems are hit repeatedly to block repairs and keep cities freezing. 2/
Most Ukrainian cities rely on Soviet-era centralized heating plants that cannot be shielded from missiles.
The Kremlin exploits this vulnerability, bombing the same facilities again and again to collapse repair efforts during the coldest weeks of winter. 3/