Trump: I think I'll know the attitude of Russia and Ukraine. In 2 weeks I’m going to make a decision. It’s going to be very important — massive sanctions, massive tariffs, both, or do nothing and say it’s your fight. 1/
Trump on ceasefire: It takes two to tango. I wanted to have a meeting with those two. I could have been at the meeting, but people think nothing's going to come out. Maybe that's true, maybe not. People continue to die. 2/
Trump: There's a lot of anger, a lot of hatred. There's a tremendous amount of hatred there. But we'll see what happens.
I think in two weeks we'll know which way I'm going. Because I'm going to go one way or the other. And they'll learn which way I'm going. 3Х
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Timothy Snyder in FT: Putin grounds his war on Ukraine in a myth.
He uses a medieval Kyiv chronicle, The Tale of Bygone Years, as prophecy. He claims it proves Russia and Ukraine share “the same roots” and Moscow must rule Kyiv.
Snyder proves the claim is absurd. 1/
Monks in Kyiv wrote the Tale in the 12th century about 9th-century events.
They invented Rørek’s dynasty to glorify their own rulers. They gave him a biblical lifespan, a deathbed child, and a secret heir smuggled to Kyiv. None of it happened. 2/
Rørek, a Danish chieftain, never set foot in Kyiv. He operated a thousand miles away in the Baltic.
Scandinavians reached Kyiv only a century later. No link exists between his raids and the modern Russian state. 3/
Pentagon has blocked Ukraine from firing U.S. ATACMS [190-mile range] into Russia since late spring, WSJ.
Same veto covers U.K. Storm Shadows and even 3,350 new ERAM missiles [150-280 mile range] from an $850M Aug 19 package, mostly paid by Europe. 1/
Elbridge Colby, Pentagon policy chief, built the review mechanism.
It reversed Biden’s 2024 decision to allow ATACMS inside Russia after North Korean troops entered the war. Trump keeps the veto as he courts Moscow for peace talks. 2/
Trump said in Aug 21: It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking. There is no chance of winning. Yet the restriction stays.
Pentagon has already rejected at least one Ukrainian ATACMS request on Russian territory. 3/
Russians has repeatedly tried to kill Serhii Sternenko, one of key non-state FPV drone supplier to the Ukrainian army - The Times.
At 30, the Odesa-born lawyer, activist, and YouTuber has raised nearly ₴5bn ($125m), supplying over 216,000 drones. 1/
In May, an FSB-linked gunwoman opened fire on him outside his Kyiv apartment.
One bullet tore through his thigh, another ripped a bodyguard’s shirt. Sternenko tied his own tourniquet in an armoured car as his pulse hit 126. 2/
He had fought off killers before. In 2018 two men attacked him in Odesa.
He fatally stabbed one while the other fled. Courts pursued him for years, but in 2023 judges ruled it was self-defence and and even returned him the knife. 3/
Ukrainian drone strikes in August hit at least 7 major Russian oil refineries, shutting down 4.
Over 10% of Russia’s refining capacity is offline, including key sites in Volgograd and Ryazan, two of the country’s largest plants — Moscow Times. 1/
Carnegie’s Sergey Vakulenko warns Ukraine’s drone strikes could cause “irreparable” or “permanent” damage to Russian refineries.
Moscow imposed a full ban on gasoline exports to ease the fuel deficit, but demand at home remains unmet. 2/
Gasoline shortages hit regions like Crimea and Siberia, with AI-92 and AI-95 prices at record highs. Western sanctions worsen the crisis, blocking repairs at refineries reliant on foreign-made equipment — up to 80% of which is imported. 3X