Kyiv School of Economics advocates another way to hit Russian oil revenues: completely blocking oil tankers from key sea routes and ports unless they have proper international P&I insurance — Brookings

This would cut Russia’s oil export tax revenues from the Baltic by 5.6–14% 1/ If a tanker is stopped, the pressure shifts to the country whose flag it sails under.

Russia registers its tankers in poor states and insures them there.

If the EU forces those states to enforce real insurance rules, former flag countries won’t give these ships insurance.

2/

Was Epstein really a Russian spy?

In 2017, after pressuring a Russian model for nude photos, he abruptly wrote, “My Russian ambassador friend… just died in New York.”

He meant Vitaly Churkin, Putin’s UN envoy — a close Epstein contact, Times. 1/ Churkin held coffee meetings with Epstein.

Sergei Belyakov, Russian deputy economy minister and FSB academy graduate, called Epstein a very good friend, sought multi-entry visas for him, and pitched him as a channel for US investment into Russia. 2/

Russia abducted Ukrainian journalist Yana Suvorova in occupied Melitopol when she was 18.

After a closed, staged trial, she was sentenced to 14 years for “terrorism” and “treason.” Her case is classified. She vanished from exchange lists, United24. 1/
Yana: “The cell is cold. Rats run around. The light is on constantly.”

Her boyfriend says her condition collapsed after transfer to Donetsk — held with girls who had attempted suicide. Psychological pressure was constant. 2/

The Davydenko family in Kyiv is escaping the cold together with their 7 pigs. Their apartment drops to -2°C, but leaving the city would feel like a gift to Putin, they say — Reuters. 1/ Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid left their 12th-floor apartment without electricity for 8 days and without heating for nearly 2 weeks.

Night temperatures fell to -20°C. Sleeping there became impossible. 2/

Germany broke up a network supplying Russia’s defense industry.

Police arrested 5 suspects accused of exporting sanctioned goods to Russian military firms. The network shipped €30M worth of goods since 2022 — Reuters. 1/ German prosecutors say the group used shell companies and fake end-users inside and outside the EU to hide shipments to 24 Russian defense firms.

Raids took place in multiple cities, assets were frozen, and 5 more suspects remain at large. 2/

Kyiv will get just four to six hours of electricity a day in February.

Russia launched the largest attack on Ukraine's power grid since the start of the year during severe cold. Two key substations hit, while temperature was -13 degrees — New York Post. 1/ Stanislav Ihnatiev, head of the Ukrainian Renewable Energy Association: Damage to substations of this class is a strategic blow to the entire energy system.

These facilities ensure the distribution of large amounts of power on a national scale. 2/

Andrii Biletskyi, commander of the 3rd Army Corps: As Trump said, to talk about peace you need to have cards.

For Russia, peace starts only when advancing becomes impossible or too costly.

They hope spring and “infiltration tactics” will save them. I don’t think it will.

1/ Biletskyi: For most fighters who’ve been at war for years, it stops being pure emotion.

At first it’s rage, shock, survival. Over time, it becomes work.

War turns into a system, a profession — otherwise neither soldiers nor officers last.

2/

Russia is trying to sell 48 Ka-52 attack helicopters to China, even on unfavorable terms, simply to preserve access to the Chinese market.

Leaked documents show how far Moscow is willing to go to keep Beijing close — United24. 1/ After sanctions and battlefield losses in Ukraine, Russia’s defense industry is under strain.

Export revenues are shrinking, production chains are disrupted, and Moscow is running out of alternatives beyond China. 2/

What if Russia loses in Ukraine?

By Clausewitz’s definition, Russia has already failed on all three pillars of war: political goals (what the Kremlin sought to achieve), military (how its army actually performed), and public support — United24. 1/ Russia set maximalist political goals in 2022: subjugate Ukraine, replace its government, and force Kyiv back into Moscow’s sphere of control.

After full-scale war, none of these goals have been achieved. Ukraine remains sovereign, mobilized, and politically unified. 2/

They beat him with batons and fists, striking pain points before and after every meal. The guards called it a “red corridor.”

This is how Russian jailers tortured Serhii Hryhoriev, a Ukrainian soldier held in Russian captivity, Slidstvo Info reports. 1/ He was 59 years old. Hryhoriev joined the war in 2019.

He was captured by Russian forces in Mariupol at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. 2/

Anne Ndung’u: “I cannot watch the video of my son, who was sent to the front as a human bomb — it is too traumatic.”

She does not know where her son is now. She has been told only that he is in Ukraine — The Telegraph. 1/ The man, 35-year-old Francis Ndung’u Ndarua, was filmed with a landmine strapped to his chest.

Russian troops forced him at gunpoint toward Ukrainian positions, calling him a “can opener” and hurling racist insults. 2/

UK may move from sanctions to seizures — targeting Russia’s shadow fleet.

The Guardian: London is weighing the capture of a Russia-linked tanker, an escalatory step that could open a new front against Moscow as oil revenues fall. 1/ KSE Institute: Russia’s oil and gas revenues fell 24% in 2025, down to 22% of state income from 41% in 2022.

A maritime services ban plus tanker seizures would be very painful for the Kremlin. 2/

Jeffrey Epstein spent years trying to meet Putin, cultivated ties with Russian officials including an FSB academy grad.

Epstein once asked a Kremlin contact for help after claiming a Russian woman was blackmailing "powerful businessmen" in NYC — The WP. 1/ Putin’s name appears 1,000+ times in newly released DOJ files. He made repeated attempts from 2013-2018 to arrange a Putin meeting, often through former Norwegian PM Thorbjørn Jagland. No evidence shows it ever happened. 2/

Russia refused to hand over control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the US, offering cheap energy for sale to Ukraine.

The US wants peace signed by the end of March, but there’s no agreement on territories or security guarantees. Reuters on talks in Abu Dhabi. 1/ Under the framework, any deal would go to a referendum alongside national elections. Ukrainian officials discussed a possible May vote.

Talks led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner urged a quick vote as Trump shifts focus to domestic politics ahead of November midterms. 2/

Brittney Shki-Giiziz, Canadian volunteer in Ukraine: My first day fighting was absolutely excellent. I destroyed a train station with a tank. Being at war was physically easier than the training the Canadian Army puts us through. It prepared me very well for war. 1/ Shki-Giiziz: The truth is that Russia is pushing. We are holding, but we are being pushed back constantly.

Our safe houses are pushed further back. We had positions in Myrnograd and Pokrovsk not so long ago. 2/

A German wargame claims Russia could break NATO with just 15,000 troops — by exploiting hesitation.

Ben Hodges for Telegraph: A small Russian force could break NATO due to Western paralysis. The core fix is Ukraine. 1/ The scenario: Oct 2026. Russia stages a “humanitarian crisis” in Kaliningrad, moves into the Suwałki Corridor, seizes Marijampolė.

US stays out. Poland mobilises but hesitates. Germany dithers. Baltics get cut off. NATO credibility collapses — on paper. 2/

Bloomberg: Russia is short nearly 10-11 mln workers and is now recruiting labor from India and Sri Lanka to keep its economy running as war and demographics drain the workforce. 1/ For decades, Russia relied on migrants from Central Asia. That model is breaking down as the Ukraine war, emigration, and aging push the country into its deepest labor crisis in years. 2/

When their father was taken POW, the children were 1 meter tall. Today, the son is 1.70 meters.

Eskender broke through 2 encirclements from Mariupol, was captured, and sentenced to 30 years in Russia. Haven’t seen family since 2022.

Hromadske about returned Ukrainian POWs. 1/ Ivan traveled to every exchange for 3 years. Today he found out that his son had finally been released. For 3 years, his father was called the chief optimist.

Galina, mother: “His blood pressure is 160 over 90. They already gave me something at the hospital...” 2/

Putin isn’t really winning. Europe needs to realize that and hit at Russia's weaknesses.

FT: Putin’s victory narrative is loud but brittle. Behind claims of momentum in Ukraine is Russian system under strain. Europe needs to expose the gaps — and project their own power. 1/ Putin claims Russia has the “strategic initiative,” sanctions-proof stability, and inevitable control of Donbas.

US voices echo it: JD Vance predicts a Russian win, Trump called Putin’s army “invincible”. 2/

“I saw kids being shot, women, old people. I saw many of them shot in the head, blood pouring onto the streets,” says Ali.

He was a witness to how Iranian authorities burned Rasht’s grand bazaar and opened fire on civilians — The Guardian. 1/ On Thursday, 8 January, Iran went dark. The government cut the internet, phone calls, and external communications nationwide as protests erupted in over 200 cities. That night, the crackdown began. 2/

The Times: “Kill chains” are becoming the future of war, and humans are turning into the slowest part of the system.

AI is now compressing detection, decision, and strike into seconds, reshaping how wars are fought. 1/ The war in Ukraine turned AI-assisted warfare into practice. Tens of thousands of sensors now flood headquarters with data that no human staff can process fast enough.

Speed has become decisive. 2/