Rutte: We’re now massively arming Ukraine with U.S. weapons funded by Europe: missiles, ammo, air defense.
If Russia avoids peace talks, in 50 days, secondary sanctions will hit India, China, and Brazil hard. Leaders in Beijing, Delhi, and Brasília should take note. 1/
Sen. Tillis: If Putin succeeds in Ukraine, what’s next? Moldova? The Balkans? Peace in the region is at risk.
This isn’t a political or partisan war. It’s a brutal war of choice by Putin and he must fail. 2/
Rutte: Together with Ukraine, through our command in Wiesbaden, we’re building tailored aid packages.
The U.S. keeps enough for its own defense, but ensures Ukraine gets what it needs. It’s also a clear signal to Putin: get serious about peace talks. 3/
Rutte: Pistorius and Hegseth are working out the details. Patriots are flowing to Ukraine either directly from the U.S. or front-loaded by Europe and backfilled by the U.S.
The logistics are in place. Trump now backs opening U.S. stockpiles. 4/
Shaheen: We need to move forward with the Graham-Blumenthal sanctions bill — 85 bipartisan sponsors.
Giving Russia 50 days only means more dead Ukrainians and global uncertainty. Every day counts. 5/
Tillis: We should pay special attention to the murderous behavior of Putin as we go into any peace discussions if they occur 50 days from now. 6X
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Ukrainian POWs were forced to exhume civilians killed by Russia in Mariupol.
Marine Serhii Hrytsiv: “Over four weeks, we dug up around 800 civilian bodies.” Russia made prisoners clean up the crime scene — then blamed them for it, reports. 1/ Slidstvo.Info
Every morning at 4 am, POWs were taken from Olenivka colony to ruined Mariupol.
Serhii Hrytsiv: “They divided us into groups of 5 and drove us into the city.” They dug in courtyards, gardens, mass graves, under collapsed homes. 2/
The dead included children and elderly people.
Serhii Hrytsiv: “Many died from shelling, hunger, cold, no medical care.” Some bodies were torn apart. Often they could reach only one victim while entire families remained buried under concrete. 3/
Russian occupation makes young Ukrainian men illegal on their own land: join Russia’s army, or go to prison. So they run.
In 2024 alone, Russia drafted 5,500 men from Crimea. Since 2015, it has drafted 50,000+ Crimean residents into the Russian army. — Hromadske.
1/
Vasyl, 20, from Crimea got his first draft notice at 18 — at work.
He hid, moved across Russia, and fled through Belarus to Ukraine in Dec. 2025 — without documents.
2/
Bogdan, 18, from occupied Berdiansk, faced the same path.
Russian authorities pulled him from class, took him to a psychiatric hospital, registered him for the draft, and told him: “Free until 2026. Then — the army.”
3/
For Putin, the end of the war would be a referendum on his presidency. He fears that verdict.
That is why he keeps sending soldiers into the grinder — to preserve the appearance of control and momentum, writes Michael Kimmage and Hanna Norte in FA. 1/
On the eve of invading Ukraine in 2022, Russia held a workable global position.
It had strong ties with China, deep economic links with Europe, and a “functioning” relationship with the United States.
Russia was flexible, connected, and not isolated. 2/
The invasion destroyed that position overnight.
Europe and the U.S. became adversaries.
Russia lost diplomatic leverage in Europe and became structurally dependent on China for trade, technology, and markets. 3/
Kyrylo Veres, commander of Ukraine’s K2 unmanned systems brigade: Reaching 50,000 confirmed enemy losses per month is realistic.
Unconfirmed can become near 80,000.
When you add unverified losses from infantry, and artillery, the real number is much higher.
1/
Kyrylo Veres: In the army, every specialist has a cost. As cynical as it sounds.
Training an FPV drone pilot costs about 300 times more than training an infantryman.
2/
Kyrylo Veres: If there’s another breakthrough toward Kyiv, many fighters will want to leave to defend their homes. Then it will collapse on both fronts.
I know this personally — in 2022, when my home near Kyiv was occupied, I begged my brigade commander to let me go.
Sikorski: Europe has already contributed much more to sustaining Ukraine [than US]. We’ve spent roughly €200B and extended €90B for the next two years.
The US is providing some intelligence and diplomacy. Success comes only when Putin recalculates the cost. 1/
Sikorski: Putin seems to be demanding even territories that he can't conquer. And in Europe, we think that the time of European colonialism should be over. 2/
Sikorksi: The war in Ukraine proves that it’s quite hard to use nuclear weapons. The Russian army is not equipped to operate in an environment that is radioactive. NATO is still a nuclear alliance. 3X
Fire Point, key Ukrainian drones producer, founder Shtilierman on company's success: There was a need and there was no pressure from bureaucracy.
Airbus A380 took 25 years to fly. Why? Bureaucratic burden. In WWII people built a factory in 6 months and produced thousands of aircraft. 1/
Shtilierman: We have the largest government orders in deep strike drones because we are cheaper than our competitors.
We show greater efficiency as a percentage of flight and our cost of strike is many times higher than our competitors. 2/
Terekh, technical chief of Fire Point: The primary investment was our own funds, about $2M invested in MVP. We reinvested every profit from each contract. To date, the company has never taken a profit. It was directed to scaling production or to the rocket program. 3/