Fukuyama: The U.S. does not now have a Trump doctrine.

Its behavior can best be explained not by a set of principles, but by the personal interests and preoccupations of the president.

Trump's head is full of resentments, anger, anecdotes, and made-up facts. 1/ Fukuyama: Trump relies on emissaries like Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, neither of whom have the standing or the knowledge to advise wisely.

Members of Congress, journalists and foreign leaders asking the administration what its goals are will never get a clear answer. 2/

Former Ukraine FM Kuleba: Ukraine's peace talks fall on deaf ears — as long as Russia has zero incentive for peace and the US doesn't change its approach.

More video calls won't help. Russia won't stop unless there are driving forces on their side. But it doesn’t want to stop.1/ Kuleba: If Putin attacks a NATO ally, Europe will focuse on its own war. Trump's mood toward NATO creates Ukraine's biggest risk.

Europe is our second largest weapons source.

If that's gone — we are in trouble.

2/

Russia declares ultimatum to Armenia.

Putin [to Armenian PM]: You can’t trade with both EU and EEU. You have to choose.

In the last few years, Armenia started exporting to EU 10 times more goods. We are fine with that. It’s your choice, who you will trade with.

1/ Pashinyan, Armenian PM: For now, our agendas in EU and EEU are compatible — and we will combine them for as long as possible.

When the process reaches a point where a decision is required, I am confident that the citizens of Armenia will make that decision.

2/

Trump: We’re controlling now 59% of the oil in the world. The problem with the Strait is one terrorist with a machine gun can make it not totally clean.

So let France do it. Let the European countries, South Korea, Japan and China do it. What the hell are we doing it for? 1/ Trump: We’re working with Venezuela and we have tremendous amounts of oil. We could do that with Iran very easily — just take their oil. I’d prefer that.

But people in the country say: just win, come home. And I’m okay with that too. 2/

Russia became the biggest beneficiary of the Iran war because of global markets and US focus shifted in its favor.

Oil jumped from $72 to more than $100/barrel. US eased sanctions pressure. Energy isolation was broken. And attention was flipped from Ukraine, Guardian. 1/ Oil price hike alone delivers multi-billion inflows to Moscow, easing pressure on a war budget that was forcing cuts in education and healthcare.

War in Iran is financing war in Ukraine. 2/

After 2022, Europe expelled 400 Russian intelligence officers. Russia's sabotage in Europe fails to stop weapons supplies, but Russians don’t give up, and form new networks — Babel.

The danger arrives when several strikes go simultaneous. European logistics freeze for weeks.

1/ NATO has four logistics vulnerabilities. European railways fail military standards. Trains carrying Ukraine aid still stuck at borders due to paperwork.

Russia recruits railway and warehouse workers across Europe. Any corrupt employee leaks train schedules and routes.

2/

For the first time, a Japanese company has invested in Ukraine's defense sector.

Tokyo-listed Terra Drone is partnering with Kharkiv-based Amazing Drones to scale up production of interceptor drones and expand globally — Kyiv Independent. 1/ Japan has long kept its investors away from Ukraine's defense industry.

Tokyo realized drones could reach Japan from Russia, China, or North Korea. Terra Drone CEO Toru Tokushige visited Ukraine, ignored his government's travel advice, and met over 100 defense tech companies 2/

NATO is rewriting Arctic defense around one lesson from Ukraine. Under drone-saturated skies, lost ground is hard to retake — Times.

Norway says it is moving from a withdrawal model to a not-an-inch policy in Finnmark — defend from the first centimetre, not return later. 1/ Russia’s war showed how hard it is for large forces to move under drone-heavy skies, and Trump cast doubt on automatic US reinforcement.

Cold Response 26 brought 32,000 troops from 14 allies into this new Arctic posture. 2/

Germany is moving to mass-produce Skynex and Skyranger gun-based air defense systems.

Shahed attacks push Europe toward the short-range anti-drone layer Ukraine already uses in combat, United24.

Rheinmetall targets up to 400 systems a year by 2027, or 8 a week. 1/ Skynex and Skyranger are built for cheap threats: Shaheds and cruise missiles. They use rapid-fire autocannons and targeting systems instead of relying only on costly missile interceptors.

Ukraine is using both, and Skynex has shown effectiveness against cruise missiles too. 2/

Russian factories are idling workers and switching to three-day weeks as orders disappear.

More than 20 enterprises in Leningrad region reduced work or stopped entirely; in Saint Petersburg, 1,300 workers are idle and 2,150 shifted to part-time, United24. 1/ A former IKEA plant in Tikhvin halted production after delayed payments drained its cash flow.
The company sold goods but could not collect revenue on time, leaving it unable to purchase raw materials and continue manufacturing. 2/

Ukraine's Defense Minister Fedorov: Ukrainian forces receive daily video evidence of Russian infantry killing themselves on the battlefield.

They commit suicide after drone strikes or when surrounded by UAV swarms. With each day this number is growing — United24. 1/ The pattern is consistent. Soldiers arrive undertrained, with no evacuation options, under constant drone surveillance.

When wounded or encircled, they see no way out. Russian military policy discourages surrender. Propaganda tells them it is better to die immediately. 2/

Soldier of Ukrainian Special Forces Karyakin: North Korean soldiers were hard to capture. Some killed themselves rather than surrender.

Others had to be restrained to keep them alive. They didn’t give up — they kept advancing or died on the battlefield.

1/ Karyakin: There are still people in occupied areas helping Ukraine, but it’s much harder now.

The occupation has changed — FSB control is tighter, and working as a partisan today is far more difficult than before.

2/

Hungarian FM works for Russia.

A recording of audiocall between Lavrov and Szijjártó from The Insider:

Lavrov: Alisher [Russian oligarch] asked me to remind you to remove his sister from sanction list.

Szijjártó: We work on that with Slovaks, already submitting a proposal.
1/ Seven months later, Ismailova was removed from the EU sanctions list. Szijjártó also removed 72 Russian entities from an EU sanctions package targeting Moscow's shadow fleet — out of 128 proposed.

He told Russia's Deputy Energy Minister: "I'm doing my best to have it repealed."

2/

Keane: After the 12-day war, Trump and Netanyahu judged that Iran, instead of stepping back, decided to recommit and double down — go for more missiles and recover its nuclear program.

This regime is not going to change. We have got to force it to change. 1/ Keane: We will be able to open the Strait of Hormuz — and not just open it, but secure it and keep it open.

Whatever nuclear capability is left, we will make certain it goes away. Either we take it a way or we destroy it. That is clearly an objective. 2/

Ukraine’s drone industry is going global.

FPV giant General Cherry just signed a deal to produce drones in the U.S., entering the world’s largest defense market despite political friction, — Kyiv Independent. 1/ General Cherry will partner with Wilcox Industries to manufacture drones at facilities in New Hampshire, focusing on interceptor UAVs as a flagship product. 2/

Unmanned Systems Center kills about 10,000 Russian troops each month.

Drones changed the war — no matter how well trained you are, a drone will find and hit you, especially with night/thermal cameras, Commander of a unit in the 1st Separate Unmanned Systems Center Kasper.

1/ Kasper: Better quality drones would help, but they’re more expensive. We need balance.

Cheaper ones are less effective, yet we work with what we have. Constant communication with manufacturers lets us adapt fast and improve systems ahead of time.

2/

Trump told aides he will end the U.S. campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz stays closed.

Forcing it open would push the war past his 4–6 week timeline. He wants to hit Iran’s navy and missile stocks, then stop — WSJ. 1/ Trump’s team wants to wind down hostilities and try diplomacy to restore shipping through Hormuz.

If that fails, officials said the White House will push Europe and Gulf allies to take the lead on reopening the strait. 2/

The U.S. keeps falling for the same illusion in war that precision strikes, raids, or bombing can quickly change reality.

Gen. McChrystal for NYT: Wars aren’t decided by technology, but by people, history, and will.

Everything after the first phase gets harder. 1/ “We have a tendency… to view things in very short periods.”

But for Iran, the conflict starts in 1953. Without understanding that history, “we don’t understand the attitudes that are going to drive decisions people make.” 2/

Rubio: I’ve supported NATO for basing rights and global reach.

But if we defend Europe and allies deny us access when needed, that’s not a good deal. It all has to be re-examined.

1/ Rubio: Iran can never have nuclear weapons. They must stop sponsoring terrorism and building missiles that threaten their neighbors.

These weapons are meant to attack Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain — and they have thousands of them.

2/

Former Secretary of State, Pompeo: Ukraine’s surge has Russia reeling. Don’t give in to Putin now.

Appeasement is more dangerous than standing your ground.

Zelenskyy said Putin is using mafia tactics to blackmail the US. What does it tell the world if that works? - NYPost. 1/ Pompeo: After four years of wasted blood and treasure, Russia not only isn’t winning its war. It is facing its worst setback.

Last Monday, Ukrainian drone attacks on the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk knocked out an estimated 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity. 2/

Daria “Delta” Lopatina, 19, an electronic warfare engineer in the Azov, russians killed her in action in eastern Ukraine in September 2025. She was a second-year Artificial Intelligence student at KSE.

Daria represents the best of Ukraine. It is so painful that she died. 1/ At 17, she was personally endorsed for admission to KSE because of her talent in STEM. She could have joined an arms company or a ministry. She chose the front line instead, writes Kyiv Independent. 2/