Macron: The Russian war against Ukraine revealed our over-dependence on Russian gas.

We are experiencing the cost of our over-dependence on the US in defense and security, and will probably experience the cost of our over-dependence vis-à-vis China.

1/ Macron: You cannot have sustainable strategic autonomy on defense if you are 100% dependent on other countries for semiconductors or food.

We experienced the cost of over-dependence in past years, including dependence on China.

2/

Putin fears a coup, an assassination and distrusts his own elite. The top risk: Sergei Shoigu.

CNN: Putin installed surveillance in staff homes, banned cooks and guards from public transport, introduced double screening for visitors and switched inner circle phones to offline.1/ On March 5, 2026, authorities arrested Ruslan Tsalikov, Shoigu’s close ally.

This move weakens Shoigu and breaks informal “elite protection” rules inside the system. 2/

Denys Yeromov spent 38 months in captivity in Chechnya. No toilet in the cell — only five-liter bottles. Washing once a week.

In all that time he was allowed to call his father once. On April 24, 2026 he was exchanged, writes Suspilne. 1/ Denys was mobilized in the summer of 2022 and went to serve in the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade Edelweiss in Donetsk Oblast. Seven months on the front line and in March 2023 contact disappeared. 2/

Kasparov: In Russia, tsars and dictators are forgiven everything except a bad war. If the war goes well, nobody cares how many die.

But when the ruler cannot win, discontent begins. That is the law of Russian history, and we are seeing it again now. 1/ Kasparov: There is no remorse in Russia for starting this war. The complaint is only that it cannot be won.

Ukraine is not striking homes. It is striking military, oil, and arms targets. Even that was enough to make Russians feel abandoned, exposed, and afraid. 2/

Zelenskyy: This summer, Putin will choose — escalate or move to talks.

We must increase pressure now to force him toward diplomacy.

1/ Zelenskyy: The Iran war is unresolved and risks long-term instability, higher energy prices, and political shifts.

We need real energy coordination, prepare for winter, and secure the Strait of Hormuz.

2/

Applebaum: Of course Orban was authoritarian. The fact that he gave up power peacefully proves nothing by itself.

What matters is what it took to beat him: 16 years in power, panic before the vote, and a campaign that felt to Hungarians like regime change. 1/ Applebaum: To defeat Orban, Peter Magyar had to endure bugging, sex-tape leaks, grotesque smears, and an 18-month grassroots campaign.

No democratic leader should have to go through that. That is what unwinding authoritarian rule looked like. 2/

Applebaum: Trump clearly did not expect the Iran war to last this long. He seems to have imagined it would be easy.

If people in the room told him otherwise, he ignored them. He knows very little about Iran and even seemed surprised by Hormuz and Iranian strikes. 1/ Applebaum: People around the world now read news from Washington by first asking whether it is real.

Trump helped create that post-reality world by nurturing conspiracy theories and undermining trust in media. That is a classic authoritarian tactic. 2/

The US, EU, Turkey and China all now compete with Russia for control over the Caucasus.

Armenia and Azerbaijan just ended a decades-long war, and that peace opened new energy and trade routes through the narrow strip linking Europe and Asia. — Bloomberg.

1/ The US secured exclusive rights to develop the TRIPP corridor — a rail and road route across Armenia's south connecting Azerbaijan with its exclave of Nakhchivan.

The agreement extends to oil and gas pipelines and fiber optic networks for 99 years.

2/

A group of five Ukrainian hackers tricked 2500 Russians into revealing their location — The Times.

They created a bot that posed as a group of cybercriminals. Russians asked to add their Starlinks to the database as Ukrainian. In exchange, they gave their crypto wallet.

1/ “Fucking Ukrainians, you are liars! Always find a way to take money. You are worse then Jews” — a Russian soldier after he was told that he was scammed by Ukrainian military.

After getting the wallet, the hacker group always revealed themselves to demmoralize Russians.

2/

Kellogg: The Ukrainians have fought brilliantly. Since 2014, they have lost only about 1% of their land.

If Russia were really winning, it would be across the Dnipro, in Kharkiv, in Kyiv. It is not. My message to Moscow is simple: you are not winning, you are losing. 1/ Kellogg: Putin has a problem of his own making. Russia has taken roughly 1.2 to 1.4 million dead and wounded.

The Soviets left Afghanistan after losing only 18,000. And yet Moscow still cannot take the rest of Donbas from fortified Ukrainian positions. 2/

Kellogg: The [Hormuz] blockade was a brilliant move, but I think it has to go further.

We need to put the regime itself at risk, put the people running it one step from death, and make clear this is no longer just about Hormuz. Iran’s national survival is now at stake. 1/ Kellogg: I would go to Kharg Island or the Gulf islands and open the waterway. Then you have real leverage.

It stops being a negotiation over shipping lanes and becomes a negotiation over regime survival, with pressure placed directly on the Guards and the leadership. 2/

Russia is dismantling memory of Soviet repression while restoring its architects.

Apr 19: authorities demolished the “Stone of Grief” memorial in Tomsk. Apr 22: Putin named the FSB academy after Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of Soviet state terror, Kara-Murza for WP. 1/ Gulag History Museum shut down. Memorial — the main archive of Soviet repression — banned as “extremist.” Soviet anthem restored earlier, honoring Stalin-era legacy. 2/

Pompeo: There is no such thing as a moderate Iranian leader. They are all radicals.

If they appear to surrender, do not fall for it. For us it will look like surrender. For them it will look like continuation. 1/ Pompeo: We are already taking military action.

The US Navy, Space Command, and others are enforcing a blockade to stop Iran from rearming and resupplying not only its nuclear capabilities, but its conventional forces too. The blockade has proven effective. 2/

Russia stopped feeding human waves into FPV drones — Telegraph.

Putin’s units now send 2-4 man teams, often at night with minimal radio, to slip through gaps in Ukraine’s line, dig in behind it, and build pressure from the flank or rear. 1/ Russia has taken about 1.3M killed or wounded since the invasion began, including an estimated 325,000 dead.

Drones spot large formations within minutes. Electronic warfare disrupts comms, and interception risk makes radio contact dangerous. Russia shrinks the footprint. 2/

"There will be no amnesty for Russian criminals," says Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's MFA.

The Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression is the first since Nuremberg. 24 states have signed on, EU committed €10M — United24. 1/ Q: How does the Tribunal differ from the ICC?

Tykhyi: "The ICC is about 'you are waging war incorrectly.' The Special Tribunal is about 'you started an unjust war in the first place.'" 2/

A Ukrainian electronic warfare network knocked down 58 of 59 Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles since last summer.

The wall is called Lima. It costs a fraction of a Patriot interceptor — Kyiv Independent. 1/ The Cascade Systems-built Lima stations have a 300 km range against Kinzhals.

32 stations are enough to sever a missile's link to satellite navigation. The "Night Watch" air defense unit has run them since 2023. 2/

Duna fought as infantry on the Kharkiv border. A Russian Mavic spotted his squad and returned with a munition. Shrapnel tore his arm and shoulder.

Now he flies bombers for the 79th Air Assault Brigade, dropping munitions on Russian assault groups — ArmyInform. 1/ He was 24 at the start of the full-scale invasion. Family begged him not to go.

Duna: "If I don't go, someone else won't go either. Then Russians come to my home — and then it's too late." 2/

More Colombians fight on Ukraine's front than any other foreign nationality — about 7,000 men, the largest single contingent by a wide margin.

Decades hunting guerrillas, paramilitaries, and cartels at home prepared them for the trenches of Donbas. — United24. 1/ They serve in the International Legion, in mechanized brigades, recon units, and drone teams of Ukraine's regular forces.

Alongside them stands the Bolívar Battalion — established August 2023, named after Simón Bolívar. 2/

A 25-year-old Ukrainian drone commander watches 4 Russian soldiers ride into her crosshairs — then erases them with a machine the size of a crow.

“I’m fighting two wars. One against the Russians. And one inside myself,” — FT. 1/
Call sign “Multik.” Real name Yana Zalevska.

From a bunker near Huliaipole, she pilots fibre-optic drones with ~30 km range, carrying explosives strong enough to destroy armored vehicles or dugouts in a single strike. 2/

Blumenthal: In Ukraine, I've gone to drone manufacturing facilities. They're producing 1,000 drones a day. They get real time information from the battlefield and make adjustments as they are manufacturing. I don't know anything in our industrial base that is as agile. 1/ Blumenthal: Ukraine is holding the line against Vladimir Putin, who will keep going against Moldova and NATO allies. We have an obligation under Article 5 to come to their defense, just as they did after 9/11. China is watching what we're doing in Ukraine. 2X

Russia’s GDP grew on paper, yet the trains went empty.

By end 2025, Russia Railways [RZD] freight volume was 13% below 2021, a 16 year low.

Four years into the war Russia still cannot build enough rail capacity to replace European markets, — UNITED24. 1/ Rail freight is Russia’s material base: coal, oil, metals, construction inputs.

If those volumes fall for years, the civilian economy is shrinking even if the Kremlin prints nicer numbers. 2/