Suppliers of death.

The Insider identified 300 Russian companies purchasing goods specifically for the military-industrial complex.

Sanction one firm — another appears. But mapping the full network at once could hit production harder. 1/ In 2024, nearly 10,000 Russian companies imported sanctioned goods worth over $22B.

More than 2,000 of them were contractors for leading defense enterprises. Defense contractors imported over $5B in sanctioned goods. 2/

Ukrainian soldiers survive –25°C this winter — United24.

On the Sumy front, frozen trenches, failing engines, and constant drone surveillance define daily combat.

Commander “Bull”: “You’d doze off… open your eyes, and the snow had already covered you.” 1/ The temperature drops to –25°C. At dawn, 8 km from Russian positions, anti-drone netting covers Ukrainian artillery.

Snow hides positions and exposes them. Footprints can give coordinates away within minutes. 2/

MAGA could regret backing Europe’s far-right parties because they distrust America and define themselves against U.S. influence.

Janan Ganesh for FT: Europe’s nationalist movements often see the U.S. as rootless commerce, not nationhood. 1/ Germany’s AfD leans pro-Russia in one of the most Atlanticist countries in Europe.

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán builds ties with China. Yet anti-China MAGA elevates Orbán above almost anyone but Trump. 2/

A 15-year-old Yana wakes under rubble in Kyiv. A North Korean KN-23 missile hit her home. Inside that missile were Western components — including British-made converters.

Despite sanctions, Russia and others receive components for their weapons — The Telegraph. 1/ On April 24, 2025, 12 civilians were killed in their sleep in Kyiv. Yana’s parents and brother died. Her ribs and leg were shattered.

Zelenskyy said the missile contained 116 Western-made components. Sanctions exist. Yet the parts keep flowing. 2/

Zelenskyy: I don’t need Putin’s historical bullshit. I know Russia better than Putin knows Ukraine.

He is doing his theories to postpone talks.

To end this war, we don’t need this historical crap.

1/ Zelenskyy: Killing Putin won’t help.

It’s not about these things. If Putin dies, there is no evidence that the next person will be any better.

2/

Russia is expanding the Russian Orthodox Church across Africa as a tool of Kremlin influence.

In less than three years, the church expanded from 4 to 34 countries, grew clergy to 270, registered 350 parishes. It’s like spiritual colonialism — Bloomberg. 1/ Russia lacks China's resources in Africa.

China is sub-Saharan Africa's biggest trade partner. Russia ranks 33rd. But Moscow uses religion, language, scholarships. More than 32K African students study at russian universities. Since 2020, scholarships to Africans tripled. 2/

Ukrainian soldier Vladyslav held position in Vovchansk for 161 days, 10 meters from Russians. Russian anti-tank mine shattered his leg.

For two weeks he laid unable to walk, stranded in cold. 57th Brigade used Termit robot to rescue him from "kill zone" — The Telegraph. 1/ Ruslana Bohdan: "On the Vovchansk axis, the enemy controls the sky. Drones cloaked a 20-kilometer grey zone where any subtle movement invited deadly strikes and wounded soldiers were left for dead, out of rescuers' reach. But we refused to give up on him." 2/

Hillary Clinton: If Trump thinks he can dominate the Western Hemisphere and give Europe to Putin, he’s mistaken — and Europeans must prove it.

If you want a just, lasting peace in Ukraine, you have to better equip them. That’s the only thing Putin understands. 1/ Clinton: One of the biggest threats we face is Trump and Putin forcing an insecure, unjust end to the war in Ukraine that favors Putin.

There is reporting about corruption among their allies and oligarchs trying to profit from the misery and death of the Ukrainian people. 2/

“If you stop, you die”

Mykola: “It wasn’t hard to walk — it was hard to realize you may not walk out alive. There were a lot of our dead on the way”

22-year-old infantryman walks 22km under drone surveillance to reach positions near Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Kyiv Independent 1/ The walk can take a day — or 2 weeks.

Weather and Russian drones dictate the pace. Fog helps. Clear skies kill.

The “kill zone” now stretches 30km. Vehicles can’t approach. Infantry walks through mined fields under constant aerial eyes. 2/

Leavitt: Yesterday there was a round of trilateral talks between the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine. Meaningful progress was made.

Both sides agreed to brief their leaders and continue working toward a peace deal. Another round of talks will follow. 1/ Reporter: Zelenskyy said it is not fair Trump is saying Ukraine has to make concessions and not Russia.

Leavitt: The President would say it's not fair that thousands of Ukrainians are losing their lives, and Russians too, in this deadly war. 2/

Ukraine’s former army chief Zaluzhnyi: Tensions with Zelenskyy began soon after the 2022 invasion over how to defend Ukraine.

It peaked when SBU agents raided my office. I called Yermak and warned: I will fight you. The 2023 counteroffensive dispute was especially bitter, AP. 1/ Zaluzhnyi: Dozens of SBU officers entered my Kyiv headquarters in 2022. I stopped them from searching documents and computers. I viewed the raid as intimidation.

2/

Stubb: Is it in U.S. interests that Finland, with its 1,340 km Russia border, has a strong army?

That Sweden and Norway defend the Arctic? That Russia creates no spheres of influence in Europe? Yes. Right now, interests matter more than values.

1/ Stubb: Europe and America’s interests sometimes align, sometimes don’t — values are complicated.

One strand is MAGA, which sees Europe as too liberal, “killing itself with immigration,” and attacks places like London as multicultural melting pots.

2/

Kasparov: Any real compromise removes the causes of conflict. Ukraine-Russia “peace talks” are cowardly and corrupt, openly corrupt on Trump’s side.

Europe isn’t ready to admit this isn’t just a standoff, but a real war. Even after four years, it’s still living in illusions. 1/ Kasparov: The cause of this war is Putin’s desire to destroy Ukrainian statehood, restore imperial influence in Eastern Europe, and revise the Cold War’s outcome.

A “compromise” just lets him regroup — his war is against the liberal democratic West.

2/

Ukraine recaptured 78 sq miles of land in 5 days — its fastest pace since summer 2023.

That equals Russia’s total gains for the entire December, due to Russian battlefield communications collapsed, The Telegraph. 1/ After Starlink access was restricted to verified Ukrainian terminals, up to 90% of Russian units reportedly lost connectivity — crippling drone coordination and command links. 2/

The war is hurting usual Russians' pockets. Food inflation in Russia is accelerating — now hitting households directly.

Alexander, a Moscow ad specialist, saw his monthly food budget jump 22% in one month — from 35,000 to 43,000 rubles. Even his daily Americano rose 26%, BBC. 1/ Rosstat: supermarket prices jumped 2.3% in less than a month at the start of 2026.

BBC’s 59-item basket in Moscow rose from 7,358 rubles in 2024 to 8,724 in Jan 2026 — +18.6%, in line with official food inflation of 18.1%. 2/

When will war in Ukraine end? The question is meaningless.

Viktor Frankl: The first to break were those who believed it would end soon, and those who believed it would never end.

N. Gumenyuk writes in NYT how Ukrainian soldiers treat the question of when the war will end. 1/ Capt. Mykola Serga, a former entertainer who joined the army in 2022, says those who endure focus on the task at hand.

Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning (1940s) is now a wartime bestseller in Ukraine and is delivered to trenches to sustain morale. 2/

McFaul: As an American, I feel ashamed of my country. I cannot look Ukrainian soldiers in the eyes.

I hope it is not too late to reverse this course and put government back on the side of democracy against tyranny.

I am a patriotic American. I want to feel proud again. 1/ At the 2026 Munich Security Conference, Marco Rubio did not mention Putin’s 2022 full-scale invasion in his speech.

The largest war in Europe since 1945 went unaddressed at a security forum dedicated to Europe’s security. 2/

Now NATO asks Ukraine to train their soldiers.

Germany signed a deal with Kyiv to send Ukrainian troops to Bundeswehr schools — to teach drone warfare and battlefield tech integration, Times.

German officer: “No one in NATO currently has more war experience than Ukraine.” 1/ After years of war, Ukraine has unmatched experience in drone use, counter-drone defense, and rapid command-tech integration. 2/

2,000 Ukrainian children returned from russia and russian-occupied land since start of war — The Moscow Times.

Zelenskyy: "Thousands of Ukrainian children are still held captive by russia, becoming victims of its crimes every day. The road ahead remains long and difficult". 1/ Russia accused of forcibly transferring around 20,000 children from parts of Ukraine seized by its army.

International Criminal Court in 2023 issued arrest warrant for Putin and his children's rights commissioner "for war crime of unlawful deportation" of children. 2/

24 hours with frontline surgeons.

Most wounded are missing feet or legs from mines and FPV drones. Surgeons have 5-10 minutes to make decisions that will save lives and change them forever — United24. 1/ Surgeon "Luher": "Main injuries come from FPVs and mines. Mud, grass, or dirty shrapnel in wounds leads to infection. When I talked to US surgeons about how we deal with tourniquets, they couldn't believe it. They have a lot to learn from us." 2/

French baker Loïc Nervi bakes bread in Troyeshchyna, Kherson, and Kramatorsk. Locals call him Vitalik.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he has been baking bread for elderly people in frontline and hard-hit areas, writes Hromadske. 1/ He is 43. In France’s Var region, he owns four bakeries and leads a team of 25 people. At home, his wife and two daughters, aged 7 and 9, wait for him. 2/