Putin gave orders from a fortified underground bunker, using encrypted “special comms”.
From there, in March 2023, he approved to arrest Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and later trade him for Vadim Krasikov, an FSB assassin jailed in Germany - The Times. 1/
Krasikov is an FSB officer who shot dead a Chechen commander in Berlin near a café called All You Need Is Love. A German court gave him life sentence.
Putin calls him a “patriot” and and once even fired weapons with him at a shooting range. 2/
Putin relied on Major General Vladislav Menschikov, head of the FSB’s First Service, to run the operation.
Menschikov had earlier overseen the arrest of basketball star Brittney Griner and her swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. 3/
After Poland closed its border with Belarus, Russia launched 19 drones — the largest breach of NATO airspace since 1949. One crashed 300 km deep into Poland. – The Economist.
PM Tusk: “closest to open conflict since WWII.”
1/
Polish and Dutch F-35s shot down several drones overnight Sept 9–10. Airports shut down.
President Karol Nawrocki: “an unprecedented moment in NATO and Poland’s history.” Article 4 was invoked for immediate consultations.
2/
Drones entered hours before Russia’s Zapad exercises in Belarus, set for Sept 12. On paper: 13,000 troops.
In 2021: ~200,000. Russia invaded Ukraine five months later. Tusk ordered the Belarus border closed; drones came anyway.
3/
Q: Western troops in Ukraine — we ignore Putin’s red line?
Rutte: Putin started the war unprovoked. Trump is trying to break the deadlock, and NATO’s 5% spending with U.S. weapons and sanctions show seriousness. 1/
Q: Putin said West provoked war, Russia can try peacefully or militarily.
Rutte: Russia’s economy is failing, and Putin’s quick-victory plan collapsed.
Ukrainians resist, and Zelenskyy is ready to negotiate with security guarantees if Putin shows up. 2/
Q: Are you, Trump, and the West naive on talks?
Rutte: I dealt with Putin many times. Putin will only negotiate when he chooses, repeating old claims against Ukraine’s sovereignty until then.
The West must keep Ukraine armed and push him under Trump’s leadership. 3/
Ukraine could soon run out of missiles to stop Russian drones.
Pentagon slowed deliveries in June, just as Russia launched record airstrikes.
Іf gaps persist, cities and power grids face blackouts and mass deaths. – FT
1/
After a readiness review of 10 systems, deliveries were paused or curbed: PAC-3 Patriot interceptors, dozens of Stingers, precision 155mm, 100+ Hellfires, and AIM missiles for NASAMS and F-16s. Irregular USAI batch buys leave gaps.
2/
Russia’s air war is surging: on Sunday it fired 805 Shahed/decoy drones and 13 cruise/ballistic missiles, killing 4.
This summer Russia averaged >5,200 drone launches per month; missiles fell slightly but still in the hundreds.
3/
Ukrainian Lt. Ovsianikov (49) lost his eye, nose, arm, and most fingers on his left hand when a Russian mortar hit near Borova, Kharkiv in 2023.
Shrapnel tore his face apart. 41 surgeries rebuilt him with titanium and rib grafts. “I am still a soldier”, he says – The Times. 1/
He lay blind and broken, ready to die. “I thought death would be a relief. Then I thought of my mum.”
Through the ringing he heard his men shout: “The commander is 300!” He realised he was alive. 2/
Surgeons rebuilt his skull with titanium, reshaped his nose with a rib, and used €6,000 of implants. He still faces more ops, including a prosthetic eye. 3/