The Economist: The West keeps falling for the myth of Russian greatness.

Foreigners see power, spirituality, tradition or reform where Russia often shows coercion, corruption, weakness and imperial violence. Ukrainians have spent years breaking that illusion. 1/ Leo Hare, a Texan who moved his family to Russia for its supposed Christian values, later said he was swindled out of $66,000 and admitted, “I believed in the propaganda.” 2/

I told CNN Fedorov knows how tech can isolate Crimea and hit Russia’s rear. Russia should worry.

Moscow cheered his removal, now Drapatyi is back. Ukraine showed it is still a vivid democracy that wants innovation and younger leaders.

1/ Me: Zelenskyy first removed Fedorov, but hedged: in an ideal world, he said, he would also remove Syrskyi, yet could not do it then because it would disrupt military operations.

A week later, after protests continued and grew, he fired Syrskyi too.

2/

Caine: A Ukrainian F-16 recently achieved its first air-to-air kill against a Russian fighter, showing how far its layered defense has advanced.

Ukraine’s defense industry has made remarkable progress, scaling capabilities from surface-to-air to air-to-air systems. 1/ Caine: Cheap, widely available drones give states, terrorists, and other actors lethal technology at scale.
Ukraine shows we must adapt these lessons. Modern war spans land, sea, air, space, cyber, and the information domain at once. 2X

Applebaum: Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner negotiated with Russia over Ukraine while discussing mineral, oil and gas deals for connected US companies. They were not bargaining for Ukrainian security or America's European allies. That is a profound abuse of American power. 1/ Applebaum: The Trump administration is not withdrawing from the world. In Ukraine, it is trying to broker an end to Russia's war while negotiators seek business gains. US power is being used for the clique controlling Washington, not for alliances or peace. 2X

Applebaum: Russian occupation in Crimea and eastern Ukraine immediately changed the laws, arrested Ukrainian speakers, expelled opponents and rewrote schools, curricula and language. That is how freedom can disappear overnight under invasion. 1/ Applebaum: Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea repeated the Soviet occupation playbook. Disguised troops arrived, local criminal groups were put in charge, institutions were captured and a disinformation campaign concealed the invasion until Moscow admitted it. 2X

Applebaum: Russia could not continue its war against Ukraine without Chinese components, North Korean troops and Iranian drones. These states exchange military technology, improve it and send it back. They are not close friends, but their cooperation is real. 1/ Applebaum: Russia undermines European democracies because their freedom offers Russians a threatening alternative. China applies the same logic to democratic Taiwan through political pressure, economic coercion, military threats and disinformation. 2X

Ukraine’s new Commander-in-Chief is Mykhailo Drapatyi, 43.

In 2014, his BMP smashed through a pro-Russian barricade in Mariupol.

That year, he also led 260 soldiers and 30+ vehicles out of the Izvaryne pocket, driving 160 km under Russian artillery fire.

1/ He later commanded the 58th Motorized Infantry Brigade and fought in Avdiivka and along the Bakhmut highway.

In 2021, Drapatyi received the Queen’s Sword of the United Kingdom as the best graduate of the operational-strategic level at Ukraine’s National Defense University.

2/

McFaul: Putin is finally realizing he will not take Donbas. He has tried since 2014.

His soldiers cannot take it, and Trump will not hand it to him. If that is off the table, Putin may accept the current lines. Tragically but necessarily, Zelenskyy would take that deal.

1/ McFaul: Putin will fight through winter because he thinks Ukrainian society is exhausted.

He hit energy infrastructure, and this will be Ukraine’s hardest winter by far. But he is wrong if he thinks Ukrainians will protest Zelenskyy and force him to end the war.

2/

McFaul: I know these oligarchs. Do not put Melnichenko on a cover as some dissident.

My friends like Navalny and Boris Nemtsov were killed by the man Melnichenko still makes money with every day. He is not an insider, not a split in the regime, and not a path to change.

1/ McFaul: That interview oversold Melnichenko’s message. But if he says those things, Putin wants us to hear them.

In that system, no interview happens unless Putin and the Kremlin approve every word. Russia is more totalitarian than the late Soviet Union I lived in.

2X

McFaul: People thought time was on Putin’s side: more soldiers, more money, the West losing interest.

The Trump administration cut U.S. aid to Ukraine nearly to zero. But today, I don’t know anyone who still thinks time favors Putin. Momentum has shifted to Ukraine.

1/ McFaul: Ukraine may not have the capability to liberate all its territory now. But Russia loses about 1,000 soldiers a day and makes no real gains in the green season.

Ukraine holds the line and uses new drones for deep strikes inside Russia. Momentum has shifted to Ukraine.

2X

Trump lifted CAATSA sanctions on Turkey to reopen F-35 sales, erasing the penalty Ankara earned by buying Russia's S-400 air defense system.

That decision tells every buyer of Russian arms that CAATSA is now a bargaining chip Washington plays selectively — Foreign Policy. 1/ Congress passed CAATSA in 2017 with bipartisan support, and Trump himself signed it into law during his first term.

It lets the president punish any government or company running major arms deals with Russia', from Rosoboronexport down to a single named buyer. 2/

German lobbyists and ex-politicians Ronald Pofalla and Matthias Platzeck are keeping a back channel to Putin’s circle.

Through meetings in Baku and Abu Dhabi, Moscow gets a private route into Germany’s SPD and CDU, — The Times. 1/ Last week, Pofalla and Platzeck met Putin associates in Baku. Russian participants included Valery Fadeyev, who heads Putin’s civil society council, and Viktor Zubkov, former deputy PM and Gazprom board chair. 2/

Europe Is Back in 1952. France and Germany are competing over weapons again — just when Europe needs them to build defense together against Russia, De Gruyter for FP. 1/ European countries still rely heavily on US defense firms: $68bn spent in 2024, compared with an average of $11bn between 2017 and 2021.

But Europe’s main internal problem is now the Franco-German rift. 2/

Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces commander Madyar:

First, NATO should build a buffer zone along every border.

Call it a drone work zone, not a kill zone. From 0 to 5 km, enemy movement must become impossible under a drone shield.

1/ Madyar: Second: run a fiber-optic grid into that zone. It should connect UAV launch pads to command posts far from the front.

One operator should not fly one drone. From a command post, one operator must be able to launch 5, 10 or 15 drones on the front line.

2/

Graham’s “hellish sanctions” got less hellish.

The bill drops automatic 500% tariffs on buyers of Russian energy. The new version lets Trump set tariffs up to 100% and delay some sanctions for 180 days, Babel.

1/ India buys Russian oil and sells a $100 product to the US.

Under the old bill, the US importer would pay an extra $500 tariff.That $100 product would cost $600.

The White House opposed automatic sanctions and 500% tariffs on partner countries.

2/

Yevhen Khmara appointed acting Defence Minister of Ukraine. Here is what we know about him.

Khmara, 40, led the liberation of Snake Island, helped plan Operation “Spider Web,” and commanded one of the top 3 most effective units in the army — Special Operations Center “A”.

1/ At the start of the full-scale invasion, Khmara served in the liberation of Kyiv region and carried out combat missions in Donetsk.

On January 5, 2026, he was appointed acting head of the Ukrainian Security Service, replacing Vasyl Maliuk.

2/

Russia is firing missiles faster than its factories build them. In 19 days of July, it launched 20 Zircons out of the 30 it is expected to produce in all of 2026.

It spent two-thirds of the year's planned Zircon output already, drawing on its reserve — United24. 1/ Alongside those 20 Zircons, Russia fired 107 ballistic missiles between July 1 and 19, counted from daily reports by Ukraine's Air Force and regional air commands.

That ballistic total alone already surpassed what Russia's factories are estimated to build in a full month. 2/

Palantir CEO Karp: Without AI systems, Russia would have won.

Without these technologies, Europe would face rampant terror attacks, and pro-Putin parties would run Europe. Europe as we know it exists because these tools are already in use.

1/ Karp: I will not support any party that sympathizes with Putin or the CCP.

These parties are complex, but they include people I suspect would not like me very much.

2/

Chmut: Russia has no military genius. Its system fits the Russian dying in Donbas and commanders like him. Moscow waits for Ukraine to crack. Ukraine must crack Russia first.

Head of Ukraine’s top-funded defense charity “Come Back Alive,” Taras Chmut spoke to UkrPravda.

1/ Chmut: The Defense Ministry cannot make big changes without the Armed Forces. If the General Staff blocks them, nothing moves.

Fedorov had worked on drones, innovation, partners and procurement since 2022. Zelenskyy knew this fight existed when he appointed him.

2/

Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi: I was surprised to hear I had a conflict with Fedorov. I saw hard questions and different views as normal work in a major war.

Fedorov, if I offended you, I apologize. I can be tough, –– Militarnyi.

1/ Syrskyi: Ukraine is bigger than Fedorov, Syrskyi, or any of us. It will stand because it has an army, institutions and millions doing their jobs.

Turning the war into a fight between two names helps the enemy. Real work wins wars, not public drama.

2/

Europe’s biggest alumina plant sits in Ireland, and is tied to sanctioned oligarch Oleg Deripaska, and sends much of its output to Russia.

Kyiv wants the flow cut. Dublin fears sanctions could put nearly 900 local jobs at risk, — FT. 1/ The plant produces raw material for aluminium.

Questions now focus on how much of its output reaches Russia and whether it supports military production in Siberia. Ireland says it has no proof of that link. 2/