Keane: Ukraine wants Tomahawk missiles to take down major factories and bombers delivering cruise and ballistic missiles.

We call that "escalation", but it’s defensive — to stop Putin’s military killing civilians and destroying energy infrastructure with winter coming. 1/ Keane: We’re far from this war ending. Russia hasn’t changed its goals — topple Ukraine’s government, control it, and use it to expand into Europe.

Putin’s false narratives blame NATO’s expansion for the war, and many — even well-known figures — believe it. 2/

Timothy Snyder: Putin’s idea is that in 862 Russia came into being and there was no Ukraine then. So there’s no Ukraine now.

Zelenskyy represents a people who don’t want to give up themselves, their land, or sovereignty. Trump treats it like a real-estate deal. But it’s not. 1/ Snyder: I don’t think it [the outcome of war] is up to Trump. When he talks about Tomahawks, he’s just asking the Russians to bribe him. My eye is on the battlefield.

Ukraine is doing okay. As long as we don’t let them down, eventually, the Russians will break. 2/

NYT: Ukraine gamifies drone warfare. Units score points for strikes and captures.

Kill a soldier: 12 points. Wound one: 8 points. Capture alive: 120 points. Destroy a tank: 40 points. Demolish MLRS: 70 points. 400+ teams compete.

1/ Units redeem points in Brave1 Market for gear. A basic kamikaze drone costs 1.3 points. A thermal camera drone costs 4.5 points.

A “vampire” drone costs 43 points. Units ordered over 80,000 drones and EW systems. Total value about $96 million.

2/

Singaporean PM Lawrence Wong: We are in a messy transition to a post-American multipolar world.

China is a risen power that will not converge with Western norms. Europe must step up as a major power in its own right — or risk being sidelined in the new global order. 0/ Wong: China will find its own path to modernity. It’s no longer just a rising power. It’s a risen one.

But it cannot yet replace America’s global role. There’s no new leader. We’re in a messy, unpredictable transition that may last for years. 1/

He was 19 when he went to defend Ukraine and spent the next three years in Russian captivity. His name is Danylo

Guards beat his leg with a steel pipe until it turned black, burned his back with stun gun and gave him food with worms and rat shit.

(Interview for SlidstvoInfo) 1/ Danylo: Russians took us to a prison in Taganrog. That place was a test — you had to survive it to live on.

I weighed 90 kilos before captivity. When I came out, I was 60. All the weight disappeared there. 2/

With U.S. aid shrinking, Europe must pay to stop Putin.

The Economist: Ukraine needs $389bn in 2026–29 — doubling current support and raising NATO-Europe spending from 0.2% to 0.4% of GDP.

Without it, deterrence fails and the war drags on. 1/ Ukraine spends $138bn a year on defense and public services, but raises only $90bn. Donated weapons add $40bn, just enough to hold the line. 2/

“When we see Russians move, we mostly kill them all,” says Skhid, deputy commander of Ukraine’s 15th Brigade — The Times.

His drone crews guard the Oskil River, spot movements, and strike within minutes. Around 300 Russians die each month trying to break toward Kharkiv. 1/ The drone unit runs Kupiansk’s left flank from a cottage packed with laptops, maps, and live feeds.

Pilots scan the fields, mark targets, and send coordinates to duty officers who decide how to strike — drones or artillery. 2/

Russia gave him a choice — betray Ukraine or die in prison.

Volodymyr Mykolayenko, the ex-mayor of Kherson, refused to serve the occupiers and spent over three years in Russian captivity, where he was beaten with batons, fists, and electroshock from the first day — The Times. 1/ When Russia invaded in 2022, he joined Kherson’s territorial defense.

Weeks later, he was abducted, shoved into a car trunk, and moved through prisons in Crimea, Voronezh, and Vladimir region.

The torture never stopped.

2/

Thank you, women of Ukraine — for your daily work, courage, and sacrifice.

Behind the lines, women in their 30s–40s keep Ukraine running: they lead NGOs, fundraise for the army, build tech, and advocate abroad — not for titles, but because the country needs it, The Guardian.
1/ Mariia Shuvalova, 32, academic publisher, raised $40,000 for vests while her husband serves. She volunteers weekly at a unit and keeps her day job. She says 1990s hardship trained her generation to multitask and take risks. 2/

Putin’s war language has turned upside down. In 2022, he vowed to “take Kyiv in three days” and “liberate Donetsk.”

In 2025, he says Russia “wants peace — but only on our terms.” The man who once spoke of conquest now calls himself a peacemaker. — United24

1/ At the Vladivostok forum on Sep 6, Putin said, “Yes, we want peace, but only on our terms.”

Earlier that month, he told reporters it was “possible to agree on a solution” thanks to “the mood of the Trump administration.”

The tone softened — the shelling didn’t.

2/

Putin knows: if he uses nukes or strikes NATO, we will wipe Moscow off the map - Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken told DeMorgen.

Putin warned of a tipping point if the West gave Ukraine long-range missiles. But what did he do? Nothing

The lesson: don’t be intimidated. 1/ Francken: Putin made the same threats when Finland and Sweden joined NATO and when the West sent tanks and F-16s.

At first we only dared to fight back inside Ukraine, afraid of his reaction. That only prolonged the war. We must strike Russia’s supply lines. 2/

China and Russia now use sex ops to steal tech from drone, chip and AI firms in Silicon Valley.

Female agents target US engineers on LinkedIn and dating apps, posing as researchers or investors. Some marry their marks, access labs and extract classified defence tech - Times. 1/ Intelligence veteran James Mulvenon says he’s received waves of fake LinkedIn requests from “young Chinese founders.”

He calls it “sex warfare” — organised recruitment of engineers through romantic and business contact to reach U.S. tech under Pentagon contracts. 2/

Ukrainian scientists kept growing crystals for the Large Hadron Collider under Russian fire.

In March 2022, as shells hit Kharkiv, a furnace in the basement of the Institute for Scintillation Materials ran nonstop at 2000 °C to grow crystals for CERN detectors — ZN

1/ The project, called TWISMA, is led by Prof. Oleh Sidletskiy — the first Horizon Europe grant ever coordinated by a Ukrainian institution.

When Russian troops stood on Kharkiv’s outskirts, scientists stayed, turning the basement into both a lab and a shelter for their families.

2/

Zelenskyy: We thank the Netherlands for over €4 billion this year and €13 billion total for Ukraine’s defense.

We began joint drone production — key step strengthening our army. 1/ Zelenskyy: The Netherlands will host the office of the tribunal for Russia’s crimes. We’re grateful — this proves justice exists and must prevail. A just peace means tribunal for all war criminals. 2/

EU Representative Kaja Kallas: It’s not in China’s interest for the war in Ukraine to end. U.S. focus would shift to China.

Yet Japanese experts say the war is unpopular in China, so Beijing must justify backing Russia by framing it as “in their national interest.”

1/ Kallas: Europe’s leverage over China exists only if we’re united.

Our main concerns are China’s economic coercion and its role enabling Russia’s war. Some EU states rely too much on China — we must build global partnerships and diversify supply chains to stay strong.

2/

US Ambassador to NATO Whitaker: Tomahawks are still under review.

Ukraine and other allies already have long-range strike options, like drones and the Flamingo missile. This armament can hit Russian oil, gas, and weapons production deep behind the lines. 1/ Whitaker: Another $2B in pledges for Ukraine will come in the next months, topping $4B total by year’s end. In 2026, $12-15B will go to U.S. weapons for Ukraine’s defense.

Europe and NATO are stepping up. Russia’s stalled and must come to the table. 2/

The UN has officially confirmed that Russia is “hunting humans” with drones.

Camera-equipped UAVs chase civilians in Khersonand Nikopol — then drop explosives.

The UN calls it a crime against humanity — Reuters

1/ Russia’s drones pursue civilians over long distances — in streets, yards, even garages — before striking them with firebombs.

The UN says these attacks aim to drive out whole populations from frontline towns.

2/

Hegseth: You know what Trump’s doing? Pretty simple, but it’s revolutionary. He’s reminding us and our adversaries that we’re going to put America first.

It doesn’t mean America alone. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with allies like Japan, where 55,000 U.S. troops serve. 1/ Hegseth: For too long, in a previous US administration, there was a phrase — the dumbest in military history — ‘Our diversity is our strength.’ It's not.

I see black, brown, white, rich, poor, but I see Americans who bleed red. Our strength is our common purpose, our mission. 2/

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Whitaker: We expect Hungary, Turkey & Slovakia to plan an exit from Russian oil & gas.

Unlike neighbors, Hungary hasn’t acted. We’ll work with them & partners like Croatia, that pipeline will likely close soon, so they must plan to end this dependency. 1/ Whitaker: Trump’s oil sanctions and France’s seizure of a Russian “shadow fleet” ship show strength.

Moscow looks weak, losing thousands weekly in Ukraine without gaining territory. End the war, end the killing.

2/

NYT: Today, Fire Point is Ukraine’s biggest private drone maker, with $1B in defense contracts and 30 secret hidden plants.

NYT says its FP-1 kamikaze drones hit oil refineries 1350 km inside Russia at $58K each, not $1M+ per missile, the Western cost.

1/ FP-1 flies 1350 km, carries a 60-kg warhead, and Ukraine now uses it for 60% of deep strikes in Russia.

Fire Point now builds “Flamingo”: jet engine, 2880-km range, 1-ton warhead. 2/

Putin fears another coup as Russia finally begins to buckle, The Telegraph.

Trump turns the screws with oil sanctions, as civil Russian economy is in a recession, growth collapses, interest rates are crushing businesses, banking crisis threats, Ukraine breaks up refineries. 1/ FSB accused exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and 22 Anti-War Committee members of plotting a coup to violently seize power.

Kremlinologists say it signals new vulnerability at the heart of Putin's regime. 2/