McFaul: Trump’s strategy was to appease Putin by making concessions without demanding anything in return.

He ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine and halted military and economic aid. Putin gave him nothing. Trump now seems to realize appeasement does not work. 1/ McFaul: Russia’s military has grown stronger, producing large numbers of drones and ballistic missiles.

The US and Europe, especially NATO’s eastern flank, must do more and coordinate joint defense commitments with Ukraine. 2/

Kasparov: Ukrainians are publicly holding President Zelenskyy accountable during wartime.

It is the pulse of a living democracy. Even under Russian missile attacks, Ukraine's whole society is fighting for freedom, statehood, and its future. 1/ Kasparov: Ukraine's strike on the Wildberries storages targeted Russia's military logistics.

I accept Ukraine's account that Chinese components at the site supplied missiles and drones. Civilian losses are tragic, but the target was the war supply chain. 2X

Kasparov: If Ukraine fought the way Putin does, Moscow would be covered in corpses.

Ukraine does not target civilians because it is a state fighting by civilized rules. Russia deliberately attacks Ukrainian cities and kills civilians; that contrast defines this war. 1/ Kasparov: Russia's missile attacks on Ukrainian cities are an intensification of Putin's war, not retaliation for a Ukrainian operation.

His objective remains the destruction of Ukraine as an independent state and the terrorizing of civilians until they capitulate. 2/

Kuleba: Stripping temporary protection from military-age Ukrainian men already in the EU would create a serious legal crisis.
They would lose legal status across the bloc and face a choice: return to Ukraine or leave the EU for a country where they could regularize their stay. 1/ Kuleba: The new restriction does not apply to Ukrainians already in the EU under temporary protection, even when they renew it.

It applies to military-age men seeking protection for the first time after leaving Ukraine. 2/

Trump is redirecting U.S. foreign aid toward MAGA-aligned projects in Europe and beyond.

The grants target EU tech rules, “censorship,” national sovereignty, conservative free speech groups and anti-communist messaging, — FT. 1/ One proposed grant would put $2M toward efforts to counter “censorship” linked to EU regulations, including the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. 2/

Macron: France, Germany and the United Kingdom will develop complementary deep-strike capabilities.
France, Germany and Italy will also advance next-generation air defense to strengthen Europe’s conventional deterrence. 1/ Macron: France and Germany are expanding advanced deterrence cooperation to create strategic doubt among our adversaries. Closer nuclear coordination will also generate new conventional defense cooperation. 2/

Kellogg: The United States can break Iran’s economic leverage without a ground invasion.

By neutralizing Kharg Island, which handles most Iranian oil, and Iran’s positions controlling the Strait of Hormuz. 1/ Kellogg: American air strikes can isolate Iran’s battlefield, but air power alone will not achieve the objective.

Germany’s Blitz failed to break Britain; bombing can prepare the battlefield, but it cannot finish the job by itself. 2/

Kasparov: Putin used Russian money effectively to buy entire Western political parties and corrode the political class.

That system became a foundation strong enough to help his regime survive even under today’s pressure. 1/ Kasparov: More than half of French voters backed openly pro-Putin parties in the first round of the 2022 presidential election.

German AfD is most definitely bought by Russia. Or even were paid from the very beginning. 2X

The Insider recorded testimony from Ukrainian POWs freed in May 2026.

The torture they describe is institutional, a method with names for its techniques.

The "tapik" field telephone wired for shocks, the "water treatment," nine-hour interrogations. This is what it did to one finance officer. 1/ Oleksandr Ivanov, 33, from Kyiv. Chief of the financial service of the 3rd Marine Brigade. When Russia invaded, his brigade was trapped in Mariupol. He sent his men back to Mykolaiv and stayed. Captured in April 2022 during a breakout attempt. 2/

Russia can no longer keep its combat aircraft safe in occupied Crimea. A Ukrainian drone costing about $10,000 destroyed a Su-24M bomber worth millions at Saky airfield.

The bomber was minutes from taking off to hit Ukraine when two drones caught it on the ground — United24. 1/ Oleksandr Pivnenko, commander of Ukraine's National Guard, announced the strike on July 16 and released footage of the operation by the Omega Special Purpose Center.

Two strike drones hit the Su-24M as crews readied it at Saky for another mission against Ukraine. 2/

Fire Point's Flamingo cruise missile reaches twice as far as the Tomahawk and carries a larger payload at half the cost. Its wings are filled with Styrofoam.

Shtilerman: "They need to fly for 15 hours. Anything beyond that is a waste of money." — The Atlantic.

1/ Fire Point now produces roughly 200 long-range drones a day and up to three Flamingo cruise missiles a day. Its missiles reach Siberia.

Nine European countries plus Ukraine just announced a joint anti-ballistic missile coalition — with Fire Point's FP-7x as its basis.

2/

FT: Germany is studying Ukraine’s war experience to adapt its own army.

The Bundeswehr is learning from Ukrainian soldiers about drones, counter drone defense, deep strikes, force organization, procurement and rearmament. 1/ Christian Freuding, Germany’s land forces chief, says Ukrainian soldiers bring unmatched combat experience and the scale of an 800,000 strong force. He says European and Ukrainian security remain inextricably linked. 2/

Ukraine’s 20-somethings are reshaping its war machine and displacing a Soviet-era old guard in defense.

A Defense Ministry staffer in her early 20s found Denmark had earmarked the wrong shells for Ukraine and secured 15,000 long-range rounds, NYT. 1/ The staffer works under Oleksii Antoniuk, 24, deputy head of the ministry’s cooperation department.
Oleksii: “If not for her, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Young Ukrainians under 30 are gradually displacing a Soviet-era old guard in defense. 2/

Former Ukrainian FM Kuleba: I do not believe Ukraine’s crisis is only about Fedorov’s conflict with Syrskyi or corruption networks in the Defense Ministry.

You do not fall from peak trust and power to a complete rupture with Zelenskyy in six months for those reasons alone. 1/ Kuleba: My hypothesis is that something personal broke between Zelenskyy and Fedorov.

The president learned something that affected him personally and could no longer trust Fedorov as he had for years. 2/

Applebaum: Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 partly as a direct challenge to NATO and the United States.

Moscow wanted to prove there was no Western alliance, that Ukraine was not a real country, and that Europe and America would not come to its defense. 1/ Applebaum: Russia wanted to show that it alone was the sovereign power in Eastern Europe and would decide what happened there.

Instead, it was surprised: the United States and a united Europe pulled together and proved that a democratic world still exists. 2/

Applebaum: The war with Iran was clearly a war of choice. Israel had proposed this kind of action to previous US presidents, and they declined.

They understood the immediate danger to international shipping and especially to the oil and gas industries. 1/ Applebaum: Trump now appears to regret the war, or at least has no interest in continuing it.

He is seeking an agreement that could resemble — or even be slightly worse than — the Obama-era deal, while the claim that Iran was about to get a bomb does not add up. 2/

Applebaum: Trump’s relationship with Erdoğan grows out of his business dealings in Turkey.

He invested there, believes those investments went well, and his family company still has interests there — or could. He sees the world in personal, transactional terms. 1/ Applebaum: Trump does not think like a traditional American president representing US interests, the Western alliance, or the democratic world.

He asks what is good for him personally. He likes Erdoğan, and that is the simplest way to understand their closeness. 2/

Zelenskyy: I spoke at length with Mykhailo Fedorov today. I also spoke with Oleksandr Syrskyi.

I hear what people are saying. Decisions on the army are coming. There were many consultations yesterday and today. 1/ Zelenskyy: Ukraine struck targets near Moscow and in the Tambov region.

We hit Russian logistics sites and warehouses that supplied navigation equipment, drone components and other materiel to the Russian army. 2/

Zelenskyy is considering replacing Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky.

He may do so if he finds a successor who can ensure a smooth transfer and hold a stable defense along the 1,200 km front.

He will meet commanders this weekend to assess candidates, FT. 1/ The crisis started after Syrsky gave Zelenskyy an ultimatum to remove Fedorov, according to Fedorov.

Zelenskyy said the two men no longer spoke directly without him mediating. 2/

A British coder built the world's first network of fully autonomous drones for the Ukrainian army on paternity leave, in his garden shed, with his baby daughter in a papoose.

Gui Wainwright's AI software now kills Russian soldiers without any human interaction, The Times. 1/ Wainwright: "Russia has an asymmetric advantage — its ability to throw men at Ukraine because it doesn't value human life.

Eventually, one man in a bunker with a computer could field 10,000 drones simultaneously and hold 1,000 miles of land."

2/

Saam, ex Russian soldier now fighting for Ukraine: In most cases, the task in the Russian army is to die.

There is often no concrete objective — take a height, clear an area, or hold a position. Just go forward. 1/ Saam: Many Russian soldiers receive less than two days of training.

They are taken to units and assigned roles by “buyers”: machine gunner, grenade launcher operator, almost even helicopter pilot — though they may never have seen the weapon they are supposed to use. 2/