Denys Storozhuk refused to surrender from Azovstal in 2022, lived under occupation for a year posing as a civilian, and passed information to the Ukrainian military.

Denys: I lived in a sewer manhole for the first three weeks. I had food, water, and a chair.

1/ Denys: What stayed with me most was the constant storm of artillery and airstrikes at Azovstal.

Buildings vanished within minutes, concrete shaking like wood.

Near the end, an airstrike buried my  commander and brothers — we couldn’t reach them in time. Most suffocated from dust

2/

Rutte: If China were to move on Taiwan, it would not act alone. It would force its junior partner — Vladimir Putin in Moscow — to move against us.

By 2027, 29 or 31 Russia will have the capability to try something against us. We must to be ready. 1/ That is 20-25,000 Russians dead every month. In the Afghan war in the 1980s, Russia lost 20,000 in ten years.

Now it loses that and more in a month. This is unsustainable. 2/

Russia is losing money on jet sales to China and can't walk away — United24.

Russia is supplying parts for Chinese Su-27 and Su-30 fighters at a loss to avoid angering Beijing

Component costs surged by nearly 200%, but Moscow keeps selling anyway to preserve the partnership. 1/ A March 2025 internal letter from Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation shows export prices for jet components are no longer competitive.

Costs have risen 193% since 2022 and exceed earlier contract prices by up to 8 times.

2/

There will be no ceasefire before the end of winter — Former FM of Ukraine Kuleba.

Russia didn’t destroy Ukraine’s energy system for nothing.

Putin will keep waging war as long as he lives. That is how he rules.

Next real negotiation window is late February, then summer.

1/ Kuleba: Russia is not interested in talks now. Pressure isn’t strong enough.

China gives Putin a cushion, and without finishing his objective in Donetsk, he has no reason to agree to a ceasefire.

2/

Keane: I think it's high time to put some max military pressure on Putin after this latest fabrication that he came up with. He has one false narrative after another. We've given Putin a lot of rope here. 1/ Keane: I think we've showed an enormous amount of patience in dealing with Russia. It's obvious that Zelenskyy, the people of Ukraine, do want a ceasefire. They can't make themselves more vulnerable because they know Russia's strategic objective is to take Ukraine. 2/

Zelenskyy: Russia’s network of partners is shrinking. What is happening in Iran shows that things will not get easier for Russia.

Every normal person wants the Iranian people to finally free themselves from a regime that has caused so much harm, including to Ukraine. 1/ Zelenskyy: There is information from intel that Russians are preparing a new massive strike on Ukraine. They want to take advantage of the cold.

[The last Russian strike left thousands of Ukrainians without electricity, heating or warm water. Many are still without all three] 2/

Greenland is not the rare-earth treasure trove the U.S. portrays it to be - Foreign Policy.

The island has no mines, no processing plants, few roads, and ice covers about 80% of its land. Any project would require building power, housing, and processing from scratch. 1/ Greenland has about 1.5 million tons of rare-earth resources, ranking 8th globally. Still behind the US itself.

But Greenland has never produced rare earths. Mining and processing require capital, expertise, and infrastructure — all of which Greenland largely lacks. 2/

Sen. Kelly: With force that we're going to take your territory — is that who we've become? That's Russia.

We are not that kind of a nation. I'm really concerned when you listen to Miller, what he’s said about this. We're the United States of America. We follow the rules. 1/ Sen. Kelly: United States uphold a standard of morality and an ethical code. We just don't go around and take territories from other countries or threaten to do that. I am rather concerned about where this is headed. 2/

Russia has lost at least 19 generals since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine has killed senior Russian officers — by artillery, sniper fire, strikes on command posts, and suspected sabotage — both near the front and deep behind it, The Insider reports. 1/ Recent losses include top figures from across Russia’s military hierarchy:

- Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s radiation, chemical and biological defense troops,
- Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the General Staff’s main operational directorate, 2/

Ukraine is producing 1,500 FPV interceptor drones per day.

Each costs $3,000–$5,000. A Russian Shahed costs $100,000. Ukraine is trying to win the air war by matching cheap threats with cheap counters, not $1M+ missiles — United24. 1/ Zelenskyy pushed interceptor drones from an experiment to a core air-defense tool in July.

By January 2026, Ukraine scaled output to 1,500/day and built these FPVs specifically to hunt Shahed-type drones and other low-cost aerial targets. 2/

Ukraine should study Baltic integration policies — what works and what backfires. Because after the war we will need to encourage a shift to Ukrainian without pushing Russian-speaking citizens into alienation.

The Economist uses Latvia as a warning case and calls it a “gift to the Kremlin.” 1/ Latvia shut down Latvian Radio 4 (LR4) on Jan. 1, ending public Russian-language broadcasting after nearly 25 years.

LR4 had a stable audience and an anti-Kremlin, pro-Latvian editorial line. It went silent because it broadcast in Russian. 2/

Sen. Tillis: We had 17 military installations in Greenland, and they'd be happy to have us back. We could do it without taking over a NATO country.

And I would defy you [Trump] to find any credible general with a star on his shoulder who would say that it is a good idea. 1/ Sen. Tillis: Stephen Miller speaks for the President of the United States. But when he says that the US government thinks that Greenland should be a part of NATO, he should talk to people like me who have an election certificate and a vote in the US Senate. 2/

“He stepped on a mine. His foot was torn apart. He couldn’t walk. Medicines were dropped by drones. Dressings were done. He stayed there for 2.5 months — until he could walk out on his own.”

This is how military surgeon Vadym Kryzheminskyi describes his daily work to UP. 1/ Vadym Kryzheminskyi has served as a military surgeon for seven years.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, he has operated at every stage of medical evacuation — from stabilization points 10 km from the front to mobile hospitals and city hospitals in the rear. 2/

Kellogg: Zelenskyy's a tough son of a b*tch. He's stubborn. He has his opinion. He's unafraid to say that. He knows how to use media.

I said [to Trump] he was an embattled and courageous leader. We in the United States have not seen a leader like him since Abraham Lincoln. 1/ Kellogg: There are some malevolent actors out there. You have North Korea, China, what's left of Iran, and Russia. In the past, we didn't allow those four to come together. We kept them separated. Now they've come together. The point is to separate them. 2/

Is the British Army ready to deploy to Ukraine after a ceasefire?

Former UK defence secretary Ben Wallace questions whether the proposed “coalition of the willing” has the troops, funding, and logistics to succeed. — The Telegraph. 1/ The Paris Declaration suggests Britain and France could put boots on the ground in Ukraine after a ceasefire. Wallace points to funding gaps among coalition leaders.

Wallace: “Britain and France aren’t spending any extra money on defence — only Germany is.” 2/

Ukraine is two steps away from a ceasefire, but the price is high. True peace arrives only with EU membership; now, it’s about a "grand truce."

The main hurdles are the status of Ukraine-controlled Donbas and security guarantees — former FM of Ukraine Kuleba, 24 Channel. 1/ Kuleba: We are standing "at the door." Opening it means a unified position between Ukraine, Europe, and the US. Crossing the threshold means forcing Putin to sign. The US needs a quick result for a Trump diplomatic win, so the pressure on Kyiv is immense. 2/

Trump told NYT: “I feel strongly they [Russia] wouldn’t re-invade [Ukraine], or I wouldn’t agree to it.”

Trump is ready to commit to the US being involved in Ukraine’s future defense, but only because he is confident that Russia would not try to invade the country again. 1/ Trump made the comment while discussing hypothetical US security guarantees for Ukraine after a ceasefire.

He conditioned any US involvement on his belief that Russia would not invade again — avoiding a direct commitment to fight if a ceasefire collapses. 2/

Ukrainian F-16 pilot: We have cases when a pilot destroyed six cruise missiles in one flight.

Our list of targets included not only destroyed kamikaze drones and cruise missiles, but also enemy aircraft. We can do more. 1/ "It was very difficult to learn English for pilots, because after a combat mission a pilot has to rest, because at some point he will be lifted again.

The pilots knew that they had to improve their English in order to later transfer to more technological equipment. 2/"

Veteran of the 24th Brigade, Petro Buryak: We cleared the area, then a drone hit. I lost my memory. In a coma I fought for my life.

I don’t remember my five clinical deaths, only fragments. I flatlined near Mykolaiv and was revived there and twice more in Odesa — Suspilne Lviv1/ Petro Buryak: My wife brought me out of the coma. Inside it I felt lightness and struggle, searching for a way back.

I remember rising above my body on the table—pain everywhere, no one hearing me. Then I floated free, lighter than a feather, no pain at all.

2/

Beatings with batons. A bag over her head. Rags instead of sanitary pads. Threats to “send home only her bones.”

She was detained less than a month after childbirth.

This is the story of Inna, who survived Olenivka — Suspilne. 1/ On Feb. 24, 2022, Inna was withdrawing cash when her husband Valentyn, wounded and on rehab leave, returned to the front.

It was their last meeting.

Inna has served in the military since 2016 as a cook and was on maternity leave after giving birth shortly before the invasion.2/

Donald Trump is implementing a 21st-century version of the Monroe Doctrine.

The United States is shifting toward direct control, military scale, and bilateral dominance.

Recent White House actions show how Trump plans to govern and project power. 1/ Military power sits at the core of this strategy.

Trump announced plans to raise the U.S. military budget for FY2027 to $1.5 trillion, the largest defense budget in history.

Trump: “We will build the Dream Military and keep America SAFE and SECURE.” 2/