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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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/

Three myths block Ukraine from NATO: “no expansion promise,” “Russia attacks because of NATO” and “Ukraine provoked the war”

All false: Gorbachev denied any promise, Russia attacked a neutral Ukraine and the US opposed NATO entry before the invasion, Getmanchuk for Telegraph. 1/ The real barrier is not reforms. It is fear of Russia.

NATO countries hold back membership because of Moscow — not because Ukraine isn’t ready. 2/

Ukraine must allow drone exports to Gulf countries now — they are ready to buy. Strike while the iron is hot.

Subject to export controls, of course, and Ukraine national security interests. 1/ Citigroup CEO Chuck Prince told FT in '07: “As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.” 2/

Ukraine built a layered system to beat $50k Iranian drones — and is now exporting it.

Shahed: 1,500-mile range, 115 mph, 40 kg warhead, launched from trucks. Cheap, GPS-guided, mass-produced.

Gulf states initially countered them with $1M Patriots, Telegraph. 1/ Gulf states initially used $1M Patriot interceptors against $30k drones. They burned high-end missiles on low-cost drones.

Ukraine couldn’t afford that — it had to redesign air defense under constraint. So it built a cheaper, scalable air defense architecture from scratch. 2/

Elon Musk was on a Trump-Modi call about the Iran war — and neither Washington nor New Delhi said so publicly.

Two U.S. officials confirmed that a private businessman was on the call as the Strait of Hormuz crisis rattled oil markets — NYT. 1/ The call focused on Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz.

The halt to most maritime traffic there has pushed energy prices higher, roiled markets, and brought some Asian countries close to fuel rationing. 2/

Ukraine is turning war into export.

Zelenskyy secured air defense deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE — selling anti-drone expertise built under Russian attacks.

Shift from aid recipient to security provider, NYT. 1/ The product is experience.

Ukraine spent 4 years shooting down tens of thousands of Iranian Shaheds. Now that know-how is in demand as the same drones hit the Gulf. 2/

Ukraine says NATO is still blocking its membership — because of Putin.

Ambassador Alyona Getmanchuk: “Allies are too receptive to the Kremlin’s imperial fantasies,” keeping Kyiv out of the alliance despite years of war, Telegraph. 1/ Official reasons vary — corruption, lack of consensus.

Getmanchuk: “The real reason is political restraint shaped by Moscow’s demands, not Ukraine’s readiness.” 2/