Belgium's foreign minister said the kingdom's opposition to using Russia's frozen assets for Ukraine has not changed, Reuters reported. A push by four member states to revive the plan "generated little enthusiasm or appetite" among European Union foreign ministers, he said. Belgium points instead to part of an already-agreed European loan arriving sooner.

Nothing has changed, Belgium's foreign minister told the room

Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot spoke after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Ireland on 2 September. Four countries had put the frozen-assets question back on the agenda, and his colleagues showed little interest in taking it up, he said. Belgium's own position has not moved in a year, he added. Anything that amounts to confiscating the money would carry very significant risks for his country, he said.

The country's Defense Minister Theo Francken told Flemish broadcaster VRT in remarks published on 30 August that the door is closed and the question is not open for discussion. He also said the Baltic States should be more careful about returning to it, and recalled how much support Belgium gives Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, The Moscow Times reported.

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Ukrainians rally across dozens of countries to demand Europe use Russia’s frozen billions

In August, Russian gains ticked upward in key sectors along the 1,200-km front line of Russia's 55-month wider war on Ukraine.

The coming winter could slow Russian advances as the trees lose their leaves and infantry infiltrators have nothing to conceal them from overhead drones. But for the next month or two, the trees will still have their leaves, and the infiltrators will still have their cover.

And that means, as fall wears into winter, Ukraine may lose yet more ground in the north and especially in Donbas region in the east, where Russia enjoys a substantial manpower and firepower advantage. "Russian forces still hold the operational initiative and are slowly capturing ... Donetsk Oblast as well as border zones in Sumy and Kharkiv Oblasts," mapper Thorkill warned.

The Russian gains belie a greater truth, however. In the middle of the fifth year of wider war, the situation on the ground only changes along the margins even as thousands die.

According to Thorkill's tally, the Russians occupied just under 220 square km of Ukrainian soil in August. That's 25% more territory than they captured in July. "The situation has deteriorated sharply in the Donbas in August," mapper Clément Molin explained.

To be fair, the Russians are advancing much more slowly than they did a year ago. "Compared to August 2025, Russian gains are down by nearly half," Molin noted. That's cold comfort to Ukrainian civilians and defenders in the areas where the Russians are still gaining ground, however. And the sheer proximity of the most aggressive Russian formations to the most vulnerable Ukrainian settlements means it might not take much more effort on the part of the Russians to turn these settlements into battlegrounds.

The Russians' main effort is still directed at the last big free cities in Donetsk. Inching forward at great cost from several directions, Russian forces are slowly closing a pincer around Kramatorsk and Sloviansk and the tens of thousands of civilians who still live in the adjacent cities.

Thorkill's map places the forwardmost Russian forces in Mykolaivka, just 4 km east of Sloviansk. This is the middle joint of the Russian pincer. The pincer's southern claw is a zone of disputed control stretching along the road between the ruins of the city of Kostiantynivka and the battleground town of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka.

If the Russians can march through Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka, they can lay siege to the town of Druzhkivka, a few kilometers to the northwest. If they can capture Druzhkivka, they can turn north and assault Kramatorsk, a mere 6 km away.

Ukrainian counterattacks

The most fragile part of the claw is to the north. Bucking the overall trend of Russian gains in August, Ukrainian forces counterattacked in several sectors the same month. Most dramatically, a clutch of Ukrainian mechanized and air assault brigades extended a slow advance through the town of Nove, mostly cutting across a 100-square-km salient of Russian forces around 25 km northeast of Sloviansk.

The Nove counterattacks offer some hope that targeted Ukrainian action may slow the Russian march on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north. Meanwhile, a reshuffling of Ukrainian units south of Kramatorsk could improve Ukrainian defenses against an assault on the twin cities from the south.

As new Ukrainian commander-in-chief Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi gradually addresses some of the imbalances in the Ukrainian ground forces, certain key units are getting help. Most notably, the 425th Assault Regiment is now subordinate to the 1st Azov Corps, which is responsible for the defense of Kramatorsk.

Keenly aware that the Russians intend to slowly infiltrate front-line settlements with small teams of infantry rather than rushing them with masses of easily-droned armored vehicles, the 1st Azov Corps has assigned the aggressive 425th Assault Regiment "to clear enemy infiltrators from the brigades’ areas of defense," the corps stated.

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Glide bomb then infiltrate. This is Russia’s new way of war.

Infiltrators aren't the only problem, however. The Russians' favorite tactic combines small teams of infantry with massive aerial firepower in the form of precision-guided KAB glide bombs flung by supersonic Sukhoi Su-34 fighter bombers.

"Glide bombs hurt," Ukraine's 4th National Guard Brigade reported. "It's about 200 kg of explosives flying your way. And you can't really shoot them down like you can shoot down drones. They can collapse fortified buildings, bunkers, and entire urban blocks much more effectively than artillery."

After the dust settles from the glide bomb impacts, Russian infantry "infiltrate through the damaged areas, using the ruins for cover and concealment," the national guard brigade explained.

The same lack of long-range air defenses that exposes Ukrainian cities to relentless Russian bombardment also deprives front-line forces of protection from the Su-34s and their glide bombs. And so the Russians can keep bombing and keep infiltrating as long as the trees offer some concealment for the infantry.

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Ukraine’s secret counteroffensive takes the pressure off Sloviansk

The clock is ticking. The Russians will aim to position their forces for more direct assaults on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk no later than next year. The Ukrainians will aim to slow down the Russians, trading a little space for more time. Time Drapatyi may use to institute further reforms in the Ukrainian ground forces.

Zooming out and taking the long view, no one should expect major changes on the map of Russia's wider war as the fifth year of fighting grinds toward the sixth. Yes, the last two big free cities in the Donbas are in trouble. But "the overall situation remains unchanged since October 2023," Thorkill wrote.

The Russians slowly advance. The Ukrainians slowly fall back. And losses deepen on both sides.

A well-drawn food illustration can make a dish look irresistible, steam curling off a bowl, glossy sauce catching light, a burger stacked just right or a sweet, juicy pancake. But no matter how appetising the drawing is, it's still just sitting there, doing nothing while a real dish is sizzling, steaming, or dripping. That gap is exactly what image to video tools close, taking a still food illustration and giving it the motion that makes it genuinely mouthwatering. Dreamina, powered by its most advanced video generation model, Seedance 2.5, turns that transformation into something any menu, brand, or food creator can pull off without a full animation team.

Why food illustrations were always missing something

So much of what makes food appealing is sensory and time-based, steam rising, cheese stretching, sauce dripping slowly down the side of a plate. A still illustration can suggest all of that, but it can't actually deliver it. It is the motion that finally makes an illustrated food look realistic and thus satisfy the craving.

What features make a food video clip appetizing?

The most successful food videos usually have some common characteristics, such as:

- Motion corresponding with the movements that the real food can do, e.g., steam coming out, dripping, melting
- Warm appetizing light, not something cold and artificial
- Slow enough speed to be considered delicious, not quick
- The amount of motion that looks natural, but not exaggerated

How to animate your food illustration using Dreamina

Step 1: Upload your illustration and describe the motion

Log in to Dreamina and find the "AI Video" category. Click on "Add reference image," upload your food illustration and describe how it should move.

To create a video, use the following prompt: "Create a video of a ramen illustration, including rising steam from the broth, slow lifting of the noodles with chopsticks from the bowl, and warm glowing light across the toppings."

Step 2: Generate with Seedance 2.5

Choose the Seedance 2.5 model, set your video length, then pick an aspect ratio, 1:1 or 4:5 for a menu or social post, 9:16 for Reels and TikTok. Click Dreamina's generate icon and let the dish come alive.

Step 3: Refine and export the finished video

Use Dreamina's editing tools to finish it off. Upscale for richer detail on texture and steam, generate a soundtrack for a light ambient or sizzling audio layer, then export and use it across your menu or marketing channels.

What Seedance 2.5 adds to food visuals

Seedance 2.5, Dreamina's most advanced video generation model, is well matched to the small, sensory motion food content depends on.

Texture and warmth that feel real

Comprehensive quality improvements reduce the flat "AI look" and add believable texture and warmth, so steam, glaze, and melt all read as genuinely appetizing rather than artificial.

Precise touch-ups on a single detail

Local editing lets a single garnish or detail be adjusted without regenerating the whole scene, useful when only one part of an otherwise great shot needs a fix.

A complete creative brief

Multimodal input support means a menu description or brand style reference can be layered in alongside the illustration, giving the model more context than the image alone.

A clean file, ready for longer sequences

Stray subtitles and unwanted background music are removed automatically, and extended duration up to 180 seconds in Ultra-long mode supports a full recipe-style sequence when needed.

Writing prompts that capture texture

Naming specific sensory details — steam, glaze, melt, drip — gives the model a much clearer sense of what kind of motion to render, rather than defaulting to generic, non-specific movement across the dish that could apply to almost any plate.

Choosing the right format for your platform

A square or vertical format suits a menu screen or social feed post, while a slightly longer, wider version works well for a website hero section or a paid ad where viewers are more likely to watch a few extra seconds.

Tying movement to the mood of the meal

There is a world of difference between a quick breakfast dish and a slow-cooked meal. While a brisk movement works well with the former, there needs to be something more substantial in terms of the latter in order to do justice to its mood and nature. The best prompts are always those that match the mood of the meal and not ones where you try to use the same pace of movement for all dishes.

Mistakes that undercut a food animation

A few habits tend to weaken the result:

- Overcomplicating the prompt with too many food elements moving at once
- Choosing lighting language that reads as cold or clinical instead of warm
- Skipping sound entirely, which leaves an otherwise appetizing clip feeling flat
- Leaving out sensory detail in the prompt, which can lead to motion that looks technically fine but not actually hungry-making

Where animated food illustrations get used

This format shows up naturally on restaurant menus, food delivery apps, recipe content, and social campaigns for food brands, where a dish that moves tends to hold attention and drive appetite far more effectively than a static illustration sitting in a grid. Delivery apps in particular have leaned into it as a way to make menu browsing feel less like scrolling a list.

A food illustration was always trying to make someone hungry, motion just finally gives it the tools to do that properly. With Dreamina and the sensory precision behind Seedance 2.5, a drawn dish can finally look as good as it was always meant to taste, without needing a real kitchen or a food stylist on set.

Elle abordera les thèmes de la démocratie, de la participation citoyenne et des changements climatiques.

La région a su se relever au fil des années, elle se relèvera. L’esprit Témiscaming, c’est un peu ça.

À cause de l'« urgence » sur le terrain, les fonctionnaires ont bataillé pour faire du temps supplémentaire.

Quatre partis proposent de couper dans la fonction publique sans toucher aux services. Mais est-ce réaliste?

Le Conseil en Éducation des Premières Nations interpelle les partis politique en cette campagne électorale.

Ukraine’s Third Army Corps has released photos of the RapidRanger air defense system mounted on a URO VAMTAC armored vehicle. The troops themselves described the system as a “short-range storm.”

The system defends the sky in areas where radar cannot spot a target and other weapons cannot reach it, filling the gap between mobile fire groups and heavy, less-mobile air-defense systems. That niche — fast, cheap, and radar-independent — is exactly where Russia's Shaheds and small reconnaissance drones have been slipping through.

The images show a crew of the 1030th "Aquila" Anti-Aircraft Missile-Artillery Regiment arming the launcher with missiles before going on combat duty for the first time, RBC-Ukraine reports.

Light enough to ride a pickup

Rapid Ranger weighs only 500 kilograms and has a modular design that allows it to be mounted on pickups, armored cars, or even tracked platforms.

The systems in Ukrainian service ride Spanish URO VAMTAC tactical off-roaders, which reach 135 km/h, drive on public roads, and can change position quickly or cover long distances.

That mobility is the point: a launcher that can shoot and move is far harder for Russian forces to find and destroy than a fixed battery.

Laser guidance beats the decoys

The system's LMM Martlet missiles are 1.3 meters long, weigh 13 kilograms, and reach 1,800 km/h, striking targets up to seven kilometers away. Crucially, the missiles use laser guidance, not only infrared, so Rapid Ranger can hit targets with a low thermal signature or those carrying heat-emitting decoys. That makes it effective against Russian reconnaissance drones like the Orlan-10, whose small heat trail slips past heat-seeking weapons.

A 360-degree electro-optical surveillance suite gives the crew all-around coverage, and the system detects targets out to about 15 kilometers, which is more than twice its engagement range, giving the crew time to track a threat before firing.

Rapid Ranger reached Ukrainian units as part of a British military aid package, and Euromaidan Press reported in April that the system was already downing Shaheds from its Spanish mounts. The 3rd Corps' photos are the newest confirmation that Ukraine's newest Western air-defense hardware is now integrated and standing combat duty at the front.