I told CNN Fedorov knows how tech can isolate Crimea and hit Russia’s rear. Russia should worry.
Moscow cheered his removal, now Drapatyi is back. Ukraine showed it is still a vivid democracy that wants innovation and younger leaders.
1/
Me: Zelenskyy first removed Fedorov, but hedged: in an ideal world, he said, he would also remove Syrskyi, yet could not do it then because it would disrupt military operations.
A week later, after protests continued and grew, he fired Syrskyi too.
2/
Me: The Fedorov-Syrskyi fight looks political, not battlefield-driven. Ukraine will keep innovating under any commander.
The front and deep strikes continue: Russia attacks Ukraine, Ukraine attacks Russia. Zelenskyy first backed Syrskyi, then reversed fast.
Caine: A Ukrainian F-16 recently achieved its first air-to-air kill against a Russian fighter, showing how far its layered defense has advanced.
Ukraine’s defense industry has made remarkable progress, scaling capabilities from surface-to-air to air-to-air systems. 1/
Caine: Cheap, widely available drones give states, terrorists, and other actors lethal technology at scale.
Ukraine shows we must adapt these lessons. Modern war spans land, sea, air, space, cyber, and the information domain at once. 2X
Applebaum: Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner negotiated with Russia over Ukraine while discussing mineral, oil and gas deals for connected US companies. They were not bargaining for Ukrainian security or America's European allies. That is a profound abuse of American power. 1/
Applebaum: The Trump administration is not withdrawing from the world. In Ukraine, it is trying to broker an end to Russia's war while negotiators seek business gains. US power is being used for the clique controlling Washington, not for alliances or peace. 2X
Applebaum: Russian occupation in Crimea and eastern Ukraine immediately changed the laws, arrested Ukrainian speakers, expelled opponents and rewrote schools, curricula and language. That is how freedom can disappear overnight under invasion. 1/
Applebaum: Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea repeated the Soviet occupation playbook. Disguised troops arrived, local criminal groups were put in charge, institutions were captured and a disinformation campaign concealed the invasion until Moscow admitted it. 2X
Applebaum: Russia could not continue its war against Ukraine without Chinese components, North Korean troops and Iranian drones. These states exchange military technology, improve it and send it back. They are not close friends, but their cooperation is real. 1/
Applebaum: Russia undermines European democracies because their freedom offers Russians a threatening alternative. China applies the same logic to democratic Taiwan through political pressure, economic coercion, military threats and disinformation. 2X
Ukraine’s new Commander-in-Chief is Mykhailo Drapatyi, 43.
In 2014, his BMP smashed through a pro-Russian barricade in Mariupol.
That year, he also led 260 soldiers and 30+ vehicles out of the Izvaryne pocket, driving 160 km under Russian artillery fire.
1/
He later commanded the 58th Motorized Infantry Brigade and fought in Avdiivka and along the Bakhmut highway.
In 2021, Drapatyi received the Queen’s Sword of the United Kingdom as the best graduate of the operational-strategic level at Ukraine’s National Defense University.
2/
In March 2022, he led the Southern grouping and stopped Russia’s push toward Kryvyi Rih.
His troops counterattacked, advanced 6-23 km, and liberated settlements in Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
3/