What happens if Putin refuses to end the war? Donald Trump isn’t saying. But the consequences will be “very serious.”

The warning came during a White House briefing this week, Sky News reports. When pressed by journalists for specifics, Trump declined to elaborate.

“I don’t need to say. There will be very serious consequences.”

Why the cryptic threat now? Trump and Putin are set to meet 15 August in Anchorage, Alaska. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Trump expects this to be just the beginning. A second meeting could happen within days, he told reporters, possibly including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“There’s a very high probability that we’ll have a second meeting that will be more productive than the first, because in the first one I’m going to find out where we are and what we’re doing.”

The president was blunt about his track record. When asked whether he believes he can persuade Putin to stop shelling Ukrainian civilians, Trump acknowledged failure. He’d raised the issue before “but it didn’t happen.”

Here’s what’s driving the Alaska talks: Washington and Moscow are pursuing an agreement that would let Russia keep occupied territories. The Wall Street Journal says Putin has already presented Trump’s team with a ceasefire proposal.

The price? Ukrainian territorial concessions.

Trump has suggested any peace deal would require “some territorial exchange for the benefit of both sides.” Russia demands: Ukraine withdraws troops from all of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, parts of which are not even occupied. 

Ukraine’s response was swift.

Zelenskyy declared Ukraine “will not give away its lands to anyone.” European Union leaders echoed that position, insisting Ukraine must shape any peace framework.

The timing matters. On 13 August, just two days before the Alaska meeting, Zelenskyy and European leaders arranged their own session with Trump. Their goal: coordinate positions before Trump sits down with Putin.

What emerges from Alaska could reshape the war’s trajectory. Putin arrives with territorial demands. Trump brings unspecified threats. Ukraine and Europe are scrambling to ensure their voices aren’t drowned out.

The consequences, as Trump says, could indeed be serious.

A Ukrainian Orthodox priest was running spies for Moscow. Right from his pulpit in Zaporizhzhia, a city close to the front line in southern Ukraine.

The The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that the network was run by an abbot from a Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) parish who used his religious position to identify and recruit pro-Russian sympathizers. The priest used Sunday sermons to scout for recruits, justifying Russia’s invasion to identify sympathizers in his congregation.

How did Ukrainian counterintelligence find him? They caught a Russian spotter operating in the city first. Under interrogation, he gave up the priest. This led to surveillance of the priest’s activities and the discovery of the broader network.

The cleric had recruited a 41-year-old Ukrainian soldier deployed to a local base. The man was feeding Moscow detailed intelligence about Ukrainian positions, troop numbers, and equipment along the Zaporizhzhia front lines. He photographed classified documents showing new Armed Forces deployments and reported on his own battalion’s activities.

But the network went higher. Both the priest and soldier answered to a handler from Russia’s 316th reconnaissance center—part of the GRU military intelligence service. Ukrainian investigators identified this controller as a former Ukrainian police officer who fled to occupied territory and switched sides.

The evidence was everywhere. During raids, the SBU found phones and computers packed with incriminating communications. In the priest’s possession: a Russian passport, Kalashnikov ammunition, and knives.

Why did the priest risk everything? The SBU says he used his religious position systematically, weaving pro-Russian propaganda into sermons before approaching potential recruits privately.

Both men now face five criminal charges, including high treason during martial law. The most serious carry potential life sentences.

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Yes, Tucker, Christians are really killed in Ukraine — for refusing to spy for Putin

President Trump hates the moniker TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out). But regarding Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine, Trump has repeatedly earned this sobriquet.

Despite repeated warnings that he would impose large secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian energy, Trump has caved to China and instead imposed substantial sanctions on India. This jeopardizes a generation of rapprochement with India and drives it closer to Moscow and Beijing.

When Trump, after six months of finding excuses for Putin and virtually offering him victory, announced his dissatisfaction with Putin’s refusal to commit to peace, many commentators argued he had finally seen the light. Now, they claimed, he would impose crushing sanctions on Russia and its Asian supporters—China and India.

This expression of irritation with Putin’s stalling was allegedly a turning point. Alas, it was not to be.

Trump’s unilateral concessions

On 7 August, Trump and the Russian government announced that instead of draconian sanctions being imposed on Russia, Trump and Vladimir Putin would hold a summit next week. Trump would probably meet with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy afterward.

But Moscow refused to commit to meeting Zelenskyy, although it might meet with other Ukrainians—again implying the illegality of Zelenskyy’s tenure. Trump duly conceded that Putin did not have to meet Zelenskyy, just hours after a White House aide stated that Putin indeed had to meet with Zelenskyy.

Russia rubbed salt in this wound by claiming the idea for a summit was Trump’s, emphasizing that he, not Putin, was the supplicant. Russian media, now exulting that Washington will finally accept Moscow as an equal by meeting with it, suggest this summit will not even discuss Ukraine but other bilateral issues.

Whether such claims have validity cannot be known. But they indicate Putin’s belief, shared by the Russian elite, that even if the West had the fortitude to impose greater sanctions or furnish Ukraine with more assistance, it would not matter—Russia is going to win.

Russian elite confidence

As Mikhail Zygar has written, the Russian elite is not scared and treats Trump’s earlier threats with disdain. This episode reveals that for all his bravado, Trump has imposed no sanctions on China or Russia but rather attacked America’s allies and partners in an act of extreme strategic incompetence.

Trump has already made two unjustified and unreciprocated concessions to Putin: asking to hold a summit with him and agreeing to exclude both Ukraine and Europe. When asked about this summit, a European official stated he was distraught:

“For all the bluster, Trump has not put a single iota of pressure on Putin—yet. Zero, zip.”

Cosmetic Russian concessions expected

Beyond these unilateral gestures to Putin, speculation suggests Russia will present nothing but cosmetic concessions—for example, suspending aerial and missile attacks on civilian targets. This costs Russia very little but impedes Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy and logistics targets. This approach was reportedly what Belarusian President Lukashenka communicated to Washington.

Putin will not change his government to suit Russia’s taste, nor will he give ground regarding the five Ukrainian provinces Russia has seized since 2014: Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

Instead, this “agreement” will likely pave the way toward Russia’s annexation of those provinces, as Putin and the Russian government have long embarked upon their Russification. There is little to expect here unless Trump magically departs from his fear of Putin and his steadfast refusal to understand what this war is about and how it connects to both international security in general and European security in particular.

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Nordic-Baltic nations remind before Trump-Putin meeting: international borders must not be changed by force

Putin’s broken promises

We already know in advance of this summit—even if Trump does not—that any agreement with Putin will not be worth the paper it’s written on. In invading Ukraine in both 2014 and 2022, Putin broke eight international treaties guaranteeing Ukraine’s borders and sovereignty.

He has also broken or walked out of virtually every arms control treaty except the ABM treaty and is obviously not interested in talks on a new one. Even assuming Russia negotiated such a treaty, it is unlikely to adhere to it. Apart from the eight treaties he broke, Putin also refused to abide by the terms of the Minsk agreements following Russia’s 2014 invasion.

Echoes of Munich 1938

This summit, taking place over the heads of the most directly interested parties, has already triggered considerable anxiety—like the Munich summit of 1938.

That anxiety, based on the first six months of Trump’s second term and his summits with Putin during his first term, is all too justified.

Stephen Blank

Dr. Stephen J. Blank, a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, is an expert on Russian foreign policy, Eurasian security, and international relations.

Editor’s note. The opinions expressed in our Opinion section belong to their authors. Euromaidan Press’ editorial team may or may not share them.

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A Polish man attempted to join Putin’s army by swimming across an Estonian river on an inflatable mattress. Estonian border guards stopped him. Now he is arrested.

The 49-year-old was caught last week trying to cross the Narva River, which separates Estonia from Russia, according to RMF24. His plan? Float across on a mattress and enlist in Russian forces fighting Ukraine, according to prosecutors.

The Polish citizen had traveled to Estonia from Serbia and was carrying items that demonstrated support for Russian military actions in Ukraine—possibly a St. George ribbon or the letter “Z” that Russian supporters display.

Can foreigners just decide to join Russia’s military? Not through Estonia. The country’s internal security service treats this as a criminal act under national law.

“Joining the army of the Russian Federation indirectly threatens the security of Estonia, as well as all European Union member states,” prosecutor Gardi Anderson told reporters.

The Viru district court ordered two months detention. Why so long? Prosecutors argued the man might flee or try crossing again if released immediately.

Estonian Internal Security Service spokesperson Marta Tuul explained their approach:

“To prevent such actions, we also prosecute citizens of other states who try to support Russia’s military actions through Estonia.”

What happens next? The Polish citizen faces charges under Estonian law that criminalizes participation in foreign acts of aggression. His case could set precedent for how Baltic states handle similar attempts to reach Russian military recruiters.

Can an airline walk away from a tragedy by invoking international payment caps? Not this time.

Ontario’s Superior Court just delivered a crushing blow to Ukraine International Airlines, upholding a ruling that strips the carrier of its right to limit compensation for the 176 people killed when flight PS752 was shot down over Tehran, Iran, in 2020.

The court’s reasoning? UIA acted negligently because it “failed to assess the risks associated with operating flights from Tehran.” That single finding changes everything for the families seeking justice.

Here’s why this matters. Under international aviation law, airlines typically pay up to $180,000 per passenger when fault is proven. But when negligence enters the picture? Those caps disappear. 

This determination allows victims’ families to seek compensation beyond the standard international aviation limits.

The Ontario Court of Appeal wasn’t buying UIA’s challenge either. “I dismiss the appeal, ordering court costs to be paid by the appellant in favor of the defendants,” the court stated. 

What actually happened that January morning?

January 8, 2020. Tehran’s airport. A Boeing 737-800 climbs into the dawn sky carrying 176 people on board—11 Ukrainians, plus citizens from Iran, Canada, Britain and Afghanistan, all of them died.

Minutes later, Iranian forces shoot it down. 

Why? They mistook the civilian aircraft for a hostile military target. Iran initially denied responsibility, then admitted what officials called a “catastrophic mistake” three days later.

The timing tells the story. Hours earlier, Iran had launched missile strikes on US military bases in Iraq, retaliating for the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. Tensions were sky-high.

Could this have been prevented?

That’s the million-dollar question the Canadian court answered with a resounding yes.

French investigators decoded both flight recorders in July 2020. The data confirmed what Ukraine suspected: the aircraft was functioning normally when the missile struck. No mechanical failure. No pilot error.

The plane was fine. The decision to fly wasn’t.

Why is Iran’s investigation controversial?

The Iranian probe has drawn fire from multiple countries. In February 2021, UN special rapporteurs accused Iran of violating international law and conducting a non-transparent investigation riddled with “inaccuracies.”

Ukraine joined that criticism. So did other affected nations.

Iran did sentence 10 military personnel in April, according to reports. But details? Those remain classified.

What happens now?

UIA can no longer hide behind international treaty provisions that would have capped compensation payments. The airline faces potentially massive financial exposure.

For the families, this ruling represents more than money. It’s acknowledgment that their loved ones died because of preventable negligence—not just Iranian missiles, but Ukrainian miscalculation.

Two people died when a Russian drone hit their car on a highway in Kherson Oblast on 13 August morning. But that wasn’t the end of it.

When police arrived to help, Russian forces struck again. Three officers were wounded in the second attack.

Why target rescue workers? Ukrainians authorities describe this pattern as what appears to be a coordinated campaign to cause terror among the civilian population.

Three separate attacks, same target – civilians

Russian forces hit civilian vehicles in three locations on 13 August. In another part of Beryslav district, a drone killed one person and wounded a woman in a passenger car. Emergency crews pulled out the dead and got the injured woman to medical care.

Then came the ambulance strike. Russian forces hit the emergency vehicle directly, sparking a fire that local firefighters had to extinguish, the State Emergency Service reported.

Over in Donetsk region? Same story, different location. A Russian drone slammed into a car carrying three people, sending it careening into a roadside ditch. Police pulled two men from the wreckage while rescue teams freed the third passenger and handed him to medics.

Ukraine documents more Russian war crimes

The Beryslav prosecutor’s office isn’t treating this as random violence. They’ve opened a war crimes investigation under Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code—the section that covers war crimes resulting in death.

What makes this a war crime? Deliberately targeting civilians. And the follow-up strike on police during rescue operations? That crosses another line entirely.

For months, Russia’s official inflation rate has hovered around 10%. In June, the Central Bank of Russia boasted that the rate had fallen to 9.4%, but it then dampened the celebration by reporting that expectations for inflation one year from now are 13% (which may well be the actual inflation rate today). Yet, on 25 July, the central bank dared to cut its very high interest rate, which has weakened growth and caused a severe credit crunch, from 20% to 18%.

Deceitful appearances

True, Russia’s economy appeared surprisingly dynamic in 2023 and 2024, with the official growth rate reaching 4% each year. But this was largely because the Russian government revived dormant Soviet military enterprises beyond the Ural Mountains. Moreover, real growth figures may have been exaggerated because some inflation was hidden by state-owned enterprises selling their goods to the state at administered prices.

In any case, official growth has fallen this year, probably to 1.4% in the first half of 2025. Since October 2024, the Kremlin itself has begun to report that Russia is experiencing stagflation – a message that was reinforced at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June.

Improvement is unlikely. The country’s financial reserves are running out, energy revenues are declining, and there are increasingly severe shortages of labor and imported technology. All are linked to the war and Western sanctions.

Since 2022, Russia has had an annual budget deficit of about 2% of GDP, implying that it needs $40 billion each year to close the gap. But owing to Western financial sanctions, Russia has had virtually no access to international financing since 2014.

(Indeed, two small Chinese banks were just sanctioned by the European Union for such sins.) So, Russia must make do with the liquid financial resources held in its National Wealth Fund. Having fallen from $135 billion in January 2022 to $35 billion by May 2025, these are set to run out in the second half of this year.

Dwindling oil revenues

Traditionally, half of Russia’s federal revenues have come from energy exports, which used to account for two-thirds of its total exports. But in the face of Western sanctions, Russia’s total exports have slumped, falling by 27%, from $592 billion to $433 billion, between 2022 and 2024.

The federal budget for 2025 assumed an oil price of $70 per barrel, but oil is now hovering closer to the Western price cap of $60 per barrel, and the EU has just set a ceiling of $47.6 per barrel for the Russian oil that it still purchases. In addition, the West has sanctioned nearly 600 Russian “shadow fleet” tankers, which will reduce Russian federal revenues by at least 1% of GDP.

Against this backdrop, the Kremlin has announced that while it intends to spend 37% of its federal budget – $195 billion (7.2% of GDP) – on national defense and security this year, it must cut federal expenditures from 20% of GDP to about 17%. But since the government has already cut non-military expenditures to a minimum, it claims that it will reduce its military expenditures by some unspecified amount in 2026.

Reducing military expenditures at the height of a war is rarely an auspicious signal. As the commentator Igor Sushko points out, “The Confederacy did this in 1863-1865 (American Civil War), Germany in 1917-1918 (WWI), Japan in 1944-1945 (WW2),” and the outcome every time was “total military defeat.”

Of course, actual economic strength is not the issue. Ukraine spends about $100 billion per year on its defense, which amounts to 50% of its GDP, but no one bothers to question this, because for Ukrainians, the war is existential. Ukraine would not survive if the war was lost.

If he had a popular mandate, Russia could spend much more on the war. But he apparently does not think his popularity could withstand devoting much more of the budget to the effort.

Short of everything — except corruption

Meanwhile, it is increasingly clear that something else is rotten in Russia besides the economy. Russia has fallen to 154th place out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s authoritative Corruption Perceptions Index, while Ukraine is in 105th place. Since the start of the war, a dozen or so senior Russian energy managers have fallen out of windows.

And more recently, former Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov was sentenced to no less than 13 years in prison for corruption; Transportation Minister Roman Starovoit allegedly committed suicide just hours after Putin fired him; and a gold-mining billionaire was arrested, and his company was nationalized to help the treasury.

These were high officials. Ivanov was a top protégé of former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, and Starovoit was the right-hand man of Putin’s close friend Arkady Rotenberg. Such developments are clear signs of Russia’s economic instability.

Officially, unemployment stands at only 2%, but that is partly because many Russians have left. Since the start of the war, and especially after Putin attempted a minor mobilization in 2022, approximately one million people fled the country, including many young, well-educated men.

He has not dared to pursue another mobilization since.

Now, labor scarcities are holding back production and driving up wages, while Western export controls limit Russia’s supply of high-tech goods (though Chinese supplies have mitigated the impact).

Russia’s economy is fast approaching a fiscal crunch that will encumber its war effort. Though that may not be enough to compel Putin to seek peace, it does suggest that the walls are closing in on him.

Anders Åslund

Anders Åslund is the author of Russia’s Crony Capitalism: The Path from Market Economy to Kleptocracy (Yale University Press, 2019). Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2025. www.project-syndicate.org

The head of Norwegian intelligence has identified the Russian Federation as the primary security threat facing Norway, according to VG.

Nils Andreas Stensones made the declaration during an event titled “Hybrid attacks against Norway: are we at war?” While opening his remarks, Stensones clarified that he does not consider the current situation equivalent to wartime conditions.

“However, Russian President Putin believes that Russia is in constant conflict with the West… Russia is currently the biggest threat to Norway,” Stensones said.

The intelligence chief expressed his assessment that Russia does not aim to influence this year’s elections in Norway.

At the same event, the head of Norway’s domestic intelligence service revealed evidence of Russian involvement in a cyber sabotage operation targeting a dam in the western part of the country during spring 2024.

The Norwegian assessment aligns with broader European security concerns. A French top general believes Russia could pose a real threat to Europe by 2030, according to France’s National Strategic Review for 2025, which calls for preparations for high-intensity warfare in Europe.

Norway’s Police Security Service (PST) believes pro-Russian hackers orchestrated a cyber attack on a Norwegian dam in spring 2025, according to VG.

PST chief Beate Gangas said the service considers the April 2025 cyber sabotage of a dam a work of pro-Russian hackers. The incident occurred at a dam on Lake Risevatnet in southwestern Norway, where cybercriminals seized control of the system. The gates remained open for four consecutive hours and released large volumes of water before staff detected the intrusion and took action.

“Over the past year, we have seen a change in the activities of pro-Russian cyber actors. In April, a dam in western Norway became the target of such an operation,” Gangas said. “Our Russian neighbor has become more dangerous.”

The PST chief explained that Russia employs multiple methods in its activities against Norway and Western countries generally.

“This can be subversive activity, influence, polarization, covert intelligence operations – methods aimed at weakening our security, but which cannot be characterized as acts of war,” Gangas said. “The goal is to influence Norwegian society, create feelings of unrest and instability, and identify our strengths and weaknesses.”

She added that similar activities are expected to continue against various European countries. “They don’t necessarily aim to cause damage, but intend to show what they are capable of,” the intelligence chief said.

The hackers took control of the digital control system managing water flow at the Risevatnet dam in Bremanger in April. For four hours, valves remained open, releasing nearly 500 liters per second before the breach was discovered and stopped. Both Kripos and PST have investigated the incident.

“The purpose of this type of action is to contribute to influence and create fear or unrest among the country’s population,” Gangas said.

The security service reports that Russia uses composite measures against Norway and the West. Gangas described this as state actors’ use of various tools against specific vulnerabilities in an opponent’s society.

“These are tools and methods that Russia uses to influence the security situation in other countries. The goal is to influence Norwegian society, spread unrest and instability, and map our strengths and weaknesses,” the PST chief said.

She said that Russia will likely carry out more actions against various targets in Europe.

“Since the end of 2023, Russian intelligence has been behind several dozen actions in Europe. Last year they targeted an IKEA warehouse in Estonia, a shopping center in Poland, and a warehouse with Ukraine deliveries in Britain. So far this year, a Ukrainian restaurant in Estonia has been hit and there were plans to send incendiary devices by plane from Germany to targets in Ukraine,” she said.

In Poland, six individuals have been charged with subversive activities on behalf of another country. Romania suspects sabotage in a fire at an arms factory producing small arms and ammunition.

Intelligence chief Nils Andreas Stensønes opened by dismissing that Norway is at war, but noted: “Russia’s President Putin considers Russia to be in a permanent conflict with the West.” He called Russia “an unpredictable neighbor” and stated: “It is Russia that is primarily the greatest threat to Norway today.”

Regarding potential election interference, the intelligence chief believes autumn’s parliamentary elections are not a target. “Together with PST, we assess that foreign states do not intend to significantly influence the outcome of this autumn’s parliamentary elections. But Russia has an interest in influencing us from a more long-term perspective,” he said.

The Ukrainian army and air force teamed up for a precise air strike on a concentration of Russian troops in Bakhmut—with a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter and a mysterious new surveillance drone.

The Aug. 11 raid targeted what the army’s 24th Mechanized Brigade described as “a temporary deployment site of enemy personnel” around 15 km from the front line in Donetsk Oblast.

The personnel were reportedly from Russia’s 98th Airborne Division. The division’s paratroopers have been fighting in Chasiv Yar—and slowly pushing Ukrainian troops out of the ruins of that front-line town.

The twin-engine, supersonic Su-27—one of dozens the Ukrainian air force inherited from the Soviet air force in 1991—probably struck the site with one of its new Western-supplied precision munitions: the French Hammer glide-bomb or American Joint Direct Attack Munition, which can also be fitted with wings for gliding attacks.

A glide bomb can range tens of kilometers when tossed in a fast climb. The combination of satellite guidance, glide kits and the toss-style release method helps Ukrainian pilots attack Russians behind the front line while also staying outside the range of many Russian air-defenses.

But distant strikes require help spotting targets—and then assessing the damage following the strike. For that, the 24th Mechanized Brigade deployed a previously unknown drone type. “You can see the work of the new Ukrainian fixed-wing drone ‘Privet-299,'” the brigade stated.

Aside from the fact it’s got fixed wings—as opposed to rotors—we know almost nothing about the Privet-299. Russian forces operate a “Privet-82” drone that may be broadly similar to the Ukrainian Private-299.

Plywood drone

The mostly plywood Privet-82, which costs just a few thousand dollars, ranges 50 km or farther with a 5-kg payload. Russian drone start-up Oko designed the Privet-82 to be inexpensive and easy to produce.

The Russian Privets are cheap enough to be single-use. Some Russian drone teams are even overloading their Privet-82s with 10-kg TM-62 anti-tank mines and flying them into Ukrainian targets. “This is basically Russia’s answer to the Ukrainian heavy bomber drones,” American analyst Andrew Perpetua observed.

It’s unclear whether the Ukrainian Privet-82 is strictly a surveillance drone—or whether it too can be sent on one-way missions with an explosive payload. For now, we know the mysterious Privet-299 as an airborne spotter for manned fighter raids.

The Privet-299 could meet growing demand for medium-range attack drones.

At present, Ukraine’s FPV drones dominate the battlefield as far as 15 km from the line of contact. Efforts are underway to extend the drone kill zone to 40 km. “The goal: deny Russian forces the ability to move undetected across the front,” American-Ukrainian war correspondent David Kirichenko wrote.

The Privet-299 should range 40 km with a meaningful payload, filling a critical gap between the FPVs and Ukraine’s much bigger—and much more expensive—deep-strike drones, which range thousands of kilometers, but at a unit cost of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Ultimately, the Ukrainians will seek to establish “layers of drone superiority,” Perpetua said. They’ll need slightly heavier, but still affordable, drone models to patrol layers 50 km and 100 km from the front line.

As it happens, the Russian Oko drone firm is developing a bigger Privet drone, the Privet-120, which should range 200 km with a 20-kg payload.

Explore further

Ukraine’s Liutyi drone warhead grew by 50%—at the cost of 400 km of range

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his chancellery, where Zelenskyy arrived by helicopter for a videoconference with US President Donald Trump and other European leaders.

Bild reported on 13 August that Zelenskyy landed directly on the grounds of the German chancellor’s office, where Merz greeted him upon arrival.

The leaders are expected to have lunch together before beginning online negotiations with European partners and US President Donald Trump. The virtual meeting precedes Trump’s scheduled summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Zelenskyy’s spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov said the visit includes the videoconference and bilateral meeting with Merz, plus an online session of the “coalition of the resolute.”

“Following the meeting, around 4:00 pm Berlin time, statements by Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Friedrich Merz to the media are possible,” the spokesman added.

Earlier, American media cited local officials reporting that President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance will participate in Wednesday’s virtual meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European allies.

Belarus will practice “planning the use” of nuclear weapons and Oreshnik missiles during joint military exercises with Russia scheduled for 12-16 September, Defense Minister Viktor Krenin announced, according to Belarusian state news agency BELTA.

“We will, of course, within the framework of the West-2025 exercise, together with our Russian colleagues, work out issues of planning the use of this type of weapons,” Krenin said when asked whether the drills would include planning for nuclear weapons and the Oreshnik missile system.

The Belarusian defense chief emphasized that “nuclear weapons are capable of inflicting unacceptable damage on potential adversaries” while describing them primarily as “an important element of strategic deterrence.”

Krenin repeated Russian narratives about the alleged “militarization” and “military activity” of the West along Belarus’s western and northern borders. He warned that NATO leadership was supposedly using West-2025 as a pretext for conducting their own exercises and threatened a “response.”

“What worries us most is the decision of the Polish military leadership to create a grouping of more than 30-34 thousand servicemen. In our opinion, this is already a serious grouping. We need to monitor this very carefully (and we will do this) and react. If they show any aggression towards the Republic of Belarus, we have something to respond with,” the minister expressed particular concern about Polish military plans.

Historical Context

Russia accumulated military forces in Belarus before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, officially citing joint exercises as justification. In February 2022, Russian forces attacked Ukraine from Belarusian territory and subsequently launched ballistic missiles at Ukrainian targets from Belarus.

In December 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Oreshnik systems could be deployed in Belarus in 2025, using the weapon system to pressure the West after Ukraine received permission for long-range strikes against Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded that Putin was “waving the Oreshnik” to prevent US President Donald Trump from ending the Russian-Ukrainian war. Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi announced Ukraine was developing its own air defense system and missile system as a deterrent against Oreshnik strikes.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has made contradictory statements about receiving the Oreshnik system, claiming in January 2025 that Belarus would receive it “any day,” then acknowledging in March that the promised weapons had not arrived. In July, Lukashenko stated the Oreshnik would allegedly be deployed in Belarus by year’s end.

European weapons manufacturers have expanded their industrial facilities at three times the peacetime rate since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with building activity covering over 7 million square meters of new development across the continent, according to a Financial Times analysis of radar satellite data.

The analysis, which tracked 150 facilities across 37 companies, found that areas marked by changes jumped from 790,000 square meters in 2020-21 to 2.8 million square meters in 2024-25. About a third of the sites reviewed showed signs of expansion or construction work.

“These are deep and structural changes that will transform the defence industry in the medium to long term,” said William Alberque, a senior adjunct fellow at the Asia Pacific Forum and former director of Nato arms control. “Once you’re mass-producing shells, the metals and explosives start flowing, which drops the cost and complexity of missile production.”

Satellite surveillance reveals industrial transformation

The Financial Times used more than 1,000 radar satellite passes from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellites to track changes at sites associated with ammunition and missile production. The satellites fire radar pulses and record their echoes to reveal surface alterations that may be hard to discern on conventional satellite images.

Among the sites with the biggest expansion was a joint project between German defense giant Rheinmetall and Hungarian state defense company N7 Holding, which has built a production site for ammunition and explosives in Várpalota in western Hungary. The first factory at the site was completed in July 2024, producing 30mm ammunition for Rheinmetall’s KF41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicle.

“We cannot comment on the alleged outlines of our production facilities on satellite images for reasons of corporate security,” said Patrick Rohmann, a spokesperson for Rheinmetall.

Construction continues as the site will also produce 155mm artillery shells and 120mm ammunition for the Leopard 2 tank and, potentially, the Panther, according to Rheinmetall. The site will also house an explosives factory.

EU funding drives rapid expansion

The analysis examined 88 sites linked to the EU’s Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) programme, which has invested €500 million ($586 mn) to tackle bottlenecks in ammunition and missile production. Clear physical expansion was visible at 20 sites with ASAP funding, including the construction of entirely new factories and roads. At 14 sites, small expansions such as new car parks were visible.

Companies receiving ASAP funds expanded more rapidly than those without EU funding, the analysis indicates. The Financial Times also examined 12 sites that were wait-listed for ASAP and 50 other sites in the EU and UK linked to missile production for comparison.

EU defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius told the Financial Times that since Moscow’s invasion, Europe’s annual capacity to produce ammunition had increased from 300,000 to reach about 2 million by the end of this year.

Rheinmetall’s expansion accounts for a significant portion of this growth. The company said its annual production capacity for 155mm rounds was set to rise from 70,000 in 2022 to 1.1 million in 2027.

Major projects across Europe

At the German headquarters of missile-maker MBDA in Schrobenhausen, new roads and building works are clearly visible. The radar identified changes affecting 94,000 square meters of terrain since 2022. The site benefited from €10 million through ASAP to expand production of the portable shoulder-launch Enforcer missile, but also received a $5.6 billion Nato commission to produce up to 1,000 Patriot GEM-T surface-to-air missiles on European soil.

“The order volume will enable MBDA to set up a production facility for Patriot missiles in Germany, as well as major subcomponent production,” said MBDA Germany director Thomas Gottschild.

Norwegian manufacturer Kongsberg opened a missile factory in June 2024, backed with NKr640 million ($62 million) of funding to increase missile production, including €10 million ($12 mn) from ASAP. “The expansion led to an exponential increase in our total missile production capacity,” said company spokesperson Ivar Simensen.

BAE Systems received support from Westminster and increasing orders from the UK Ministry of Defence, investing more than £150 million in its British munitions factories since 2022. At its Glascoed site in south Wales, digging is clearly visible on satellite images. BAE says it will increase the production capacity of 155mm shells sixteen-fold when the new explosive filling facility starts operating later this year.

Nordic expansion and future challenges

Norwegian-Finnish manufacturer Nammo received about €55 million ($65 mn) under ASAP to boost manufacturing of shells, propellant and powder. Significant expansion is clearly visible at Nammo’s Finnish production site in Vihtavuori.

“ASAP has been instrumental in helping Nammo make critically important investments in production,” said Thorstein Korsvold, a spokesperson for the company. Similar programmes in other areas were needed, Korsvold said, pointing out that “air defence missiles as well as high explosives are currently produced only in very small quantities.”

The EU is negotiating a new €1.5 billion ($1.7 bn) defense programme that “replicates the logic of ASAP” through grants, and would also fund joint procurement, according to the European Commission. Kubilius said the commission was looking at whether similar methods could be used “to incentivise industries to expand their production in other areas,” with priority areas including missiles and air defence, artillery and drones.

Production bottlenecks remain

Despite the expansions, officials and industry insiders say actual output in Europe is likely to be significantly below potential capacity. Experts believe that long-range strike capabilities remain a serious issue for Europe and Nato more broadly, as Russia is outpacing its adversaries.

Fabian Hoffmann, a researcher at the University of Oslo, said missiles were critical for a convincing deterrent against Russia’s superior ground forces. “Missiles are the precondition for Nato’s theory of victory. Because we are not going to keep up with Russia’s pace of mobilisation,” said Hoffmann.

“With Russia’s dramatic expansion the best we can do to establish a credible deterrence that if you shoot at us, we are going to shoot right back. But if we are ever going to get there, then we have to drastically expand our production.”

Hoffmann noted that “miniature jet engine production for long-range missiles are a huge bottleneck” for European missile production, suggesting these could be the next target of future EU spending programmes along with explosive filler.

“We cannot comment on the alleged outlines of our production facilities on satellite images for reasons of corporate security,” said Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, who called the expansion “a very positive and much needed development” but said it was “crucial” the defense industry was ready to deliver on Nato’s growing spending and use taxpayers’ money “effectively.”

Read also:

• Drones attack refineries in Sloviansk-on-Kuban and Volgograd, fire reported
• FT: European defense plant space tripled since 2021
• Ukrainian Intel: North Korean troops remain in Kursk Oblast
• The Telegraph: Russia is racing to seize as much Ukrainian territory as possible ahead of peace talks with Trump

Over 10,000 North Korean soldiers continue their deployment at training grounds in European Russia, according to Ukraine’s military intelligenc, Major General Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, said in an interview with Suspilne.

“D​PRK servicemen continue to remain in Kursk Oblast, in the European part in general, at training grounds where these four brigades were created, they remain there,” Skibitskyi said. He specified that approximately 11,000 soldiers are involved in the deployment.

The intelligence official outlined the geographical scope of North Korean operations. “It is clearly defined that their main area of responsibility is Kursk and Belgorod oblasts. And we saw this both in combat application and in their presence specifically in this region,” Skibitskyi said.

Ukrainian intelligence expects the arrival of the first batch of North Korean military personnel – approximately 1,200 people – to Kursk Oblast. The deployment follows a preliminary agreement between Russia and North Korea to send 6,000 fighters for demining operations, engineering work, infrastructure restoration, bridge and road construction, plus medical personnel.

“Those who will perform tasks, again, Kursk and Belgorod oblasts,” the general clarified regarding the new contingent’s operational area.

The arrival of 1,200 North Korean military personnel was scheduled for late July or early August. They will serve and perform tasks, Skibitskyi said.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate reported on 1 July 2025, that no direct participation of North Korean soldiers in combat operations alongside Russia against Ukrainian Defense Forces had been recorded. The same intelligence service stated that about 3,500 D​PRK soldiers completed training at military training grounds in Russia’s Far East, with potential redeployment to Kursk Oblast.

Russian sabotage and reconnaissance units have punched through Ukrainian defenses in eastern Ukraine, advancing up to six miles behind front lines within 48 hours, according to The Telegraph’s battlefield reports.

The breakthrough occurred near Dobropillya in Donetsk, targeting strategically vital territory that could threaten Ukraine’s control of Kramatorsk.

The location carries significant strategic weight. If Russian forces establish a foothold, the breach could enable Moscow to cut off Kramatorsk, one of Ukraine’s most important strongholds in the Donetsk Oblast still under Kyiv’s control.

Ukraine has publicly denied any major breakthrough. “A number of small Russian groups are constantly putting pressure on Ukrainian positions and attempting to bypass the first line of defense,” Victor Tregubov, spokesman for the Dnipro group of forces, said in a statement. “It is important to understand that this does not mean Russian forces have taken control of the territory. It means a small group, five to 10 people, has infiltrated the area.”

Kyiv has diverted special forces units to confront the infiltrators in an attempt to prevent additional territory from falling under Russian control before Friday’s scheduled peace talks between Russia and the United States in Alaska.

The seized territory sits east of Dobropillya, north of Pokrovsk, and within striking distance of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostyantynivka—the “fortress belt” that has anchored Ukraine’s Donetsk defenses since 2014, The Telegraph reported.

DeepState, an open-source mapping group, reports Russian units are pushing toward the Dobropillya-Kramatorsk highway, which carried military convoys and civilian traffic until mid-July. Russian troops are also probing for positions in Petrivka and Novovodiane on the far side of the road.

Ukraine’s military confirmed recently clashes around Kucheriv Yar, acknowledging Russian advances. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was preparing new “offensive operations” without elaborating on locations.

The mining town of Dobropillia faces direct threat from the new corridor. Already hit by repeated drone strikes, civilians are fleeing the area.

“It’s a really difficult situation right now,” an officer from the 68th Brigade, who until recently lived in Dobropillia, told The Telegraph. “FVPs, gliding bombs and many other weapons are being used.”

Recent fighting has occurred along an unfinished defensive line. Where there should have been three anti-tank trenches, dragon’s teeth and concertina wire, the section breached by small assault groups had just one trench—and even that was incomplete, according to The Telegraph.

Sternenko, a military blogger, wrote on Telegram that Russian forces had seized parts of the highway linking Donetsk’s major population centers. “The situation is critical,” he said.

The Dobropillia-Kramatorsk route serves as a key artery connecting the fortress belt to Pokrovsk and other hubs, facilitating supply flows, reinforcements and evacuations. Control or disruption could strangle Ukraine’s logistics, hampering defense of the Kramatorsk-Sloviansk stronghold.

Reports indicate Russian FPV drones are already striking the road. If the highway is severed, Pokrovsk could face isolation, with a potential advance from Dobropillia completing its encirclement. Pokrovsk has endured sustained Russian pressure for nearly a year and is flanked on three sides.

For Moscow, success would boost momentum as Russia makes steady gains across the front line. The advance would secure a key logistics chokepoint and open a direct route into the Donbas heartland.

With Ukraine and Europe set to be excluded from Friday’s talks between Russia and the US, Zelenskyy said Tuesday: “We see that the Russian army is not preparing to end the war. On the contrary, they are making movements that indicate preparations for new offensive operations.”

Criticism of Ukraine’s leadership has intensified. Bohdan Krotevych, a lieutenant colonel in the national guard, accused decision-makers of ignoring warnings and claimed Zelensky was not receiving full briefings.

“The line of combat engagement as a fixed line does not actually exist,” Krotevych said. “Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad are almost surrounded. Kostiantynivka is in a semi-encirclement. The enemy is advancing toward Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka.”

Yuri Podoliak, a pro-Russian military blogger, said Russia had yet to commit substantial forces to secure an operational breakthrough, with the offensive carried out by sabotage groups—small, specialized units trained for covert operations behind enemy lines.

The Institute for the Study of War said the move was not yet a major breakthrough but warned the next few days could prove pivotal as Russian forces look to consolidate gains.

Ukraine has deployed the 33rd Brigade in the area of Russian infiltration. Fresh forces from the newly-established 1st Azov Corps—comprising five brigades—have been sent to stem the advance. Elements of the 92nd Brigade were also dispatched in recent days.

DeepState reported Ukrainian troops were rushing to establish new defensive lines around Zolotyi Kolodiaz, Shakhove and nearby settlements—positions currently bypassed by Russian troops but vulnerable to seizure.

Moscow has previously used peace talk periods for offensive operations. In 2014, Russian forces staged escalations before and during negotiations, creating facts on the ground to lock in gains before ceasefires.

“This is critical. In both 2014 and 2015, Russia launched major offensives ahead of negotiations to gain leverage,” said Tatarigami_UA, a former Ukrainian army officer whose Frontelligence Insight tracks the conflict.

Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, said the advance may have been designed to increase pressure on Kyiv to cede land to prevent the Russian army from eventually taking the rest of Donetsk by force.

Some analysts have downplayed the immediate severity. “We are still talking about a penetration rather than a breakthrough as the operational implications are still limited,” said John Helin, analyst and founder of the Black Bird Group. “Despite the depth, we’re still mostly moving in the realm of tactics here, for now.”

Officers speaking to The Telegraph fear the ongoing assault could precede a much larger breach. The road reportedly taken by Russian forces runs along high ground, similar to the route near Ocheretyne—a village beyond Avdiivka whose fall in spring 2024 was followed by major territorial losses.

Read also:

• 50-kilometer fortress: Why Ukraine’s Donetsk defense belt matters more than territory
• Zelenskyy: Ukrainian Armed Forces will not leave Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts on their own
• FT: European defense plant space tripled since 2021

The Institute for the Study of War reported 8 August that surrendering remaining territories in Donetsk Oblast as a ceasefire prerequisite without securing a final peace agreement would grant Russian forces tactical advantages for future military operations.

“The surrender of the rest of Donetsk Oblast as the prerequisite of a ceasefire with no commitment to a final peace settlement ending the war would position Russian forces extremely well to renew their attacks on much more favorable terms, having avoided a long and bloody struggle for the ground,” the ISW analysed.

Such concessions would compel Ukraine to abandon what the institute terms its “fortress belt” — the primary fortified defensive line established in Donetsk Oblast in 2014. The ISW emphasizes that “conceding such a demand would force Ukraine to abandon its ‘fortress belt,’ the main fortified defensive line in Donetsk Oblast since 2014 — with no guarantee that fighting will not resume.”

The fortress belt consists of four major cities and multiple smaller settlements positioned along the H-20 Kostyantynivka-Sloviansk highway. The defensive line stretches 50 kilometers from north to south — approximately the distance between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland — and housed over 380,537 residents before the current war.

Sloviansk and Kramatorsk anchor the northern section of this defensive network, functioning as logistics hubs for Ukrainian military operations throughout Donetsk Oblast. Kramatorsk currently serves as the oblast’s provisional administrative center, replacing Donetsk City, which remains under Russian occupation. The southern portion of the fortress belt includes Druzhkivka, Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka, and Kostyantynivka.

The defensive infrastructure originated following Ukraine’s 2014 military operations against pro-Russian proxy forces. These forces initially captured Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Kostyantynivka in April 2014, but Ukrainian troops regained control by July of that year.

The ISW reports that Ukraine has invested 11 years in strengthening these positions, building “significant defense industrial and defensive infrastructure in and around these cities.” This sustained development effort represents substantial financial and strategic commitments that would be lost under any territorial concession scenario.

The analysis suggests that Russian forces would gain considerable operational advantages by securing these positions without conducting costly urban warfare operations. The fortress belt has served as what the ISW describes as “a major obstacle to the Kremlin’s territorial ambitions in Ukraine over the last 11 years.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the evening of 13 August that Ukrainian forces will not voluntarily withdraw from territories in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts currently under their control, speaking to journalists three days before a scheduled Alaska meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

“We will not leave Donbas – we cannot do this. Everyone forgets the first part – our territories are illegally occupied. For the Russians, Donbas is a bridgehead for a future new offensive. If we leave Donbas of our own free will or under pressure – we will open a third war,” Zelenskyy said, according to Radio Liberty.

The Ukrainian leader challenged potential American positioning on territorial concessions. “Of course, I would like to see America’s position given how it all started – our territory was occupied, Ukrainians are being killed, and after that they tell me: ‘Listen, do you want to stop being killed? You need to leave.’ And what security guarantees? Leave Donetsk oblast?” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy said earlier that Kyiv would not recognize any Ukraine-related decisions made at the US-Russia Alaska summit. The Ukrainian president characterized the Trump-Putin meeting as potentially significant only for bilateral US-Russia relations, calling the very fact of the meeting Putin’s “personal victory.”

“It is impossible to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine, and no one will accept this. Therefore, the conversation may be important for their bilateral track, but they cannot decide anything about Ukraine without us. I hope that the US president understands and takes this into account,” Zelenskyy said at the “Youth Here” forum.

In domestic policy developments, Zelenskyy announced he has instructed the government and army to work on lifting travel restrictions for men under 22 years old. “This is a positive, correct story that will help many Ukrainians maintain ties with Ukraine and pursue education in Ukraine,” the president said.

Since Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has maintained martial law and general mobilization. Men aged 18 to 65 cannot leave the country’s territory. Men aged 25 to 60 are subject to mobilization, while men aged 18 to 24 can be called for basic military service, which during martial law lasts three months.

Unmanned aerial vehicles targeted oil refining facilities in Russia’s Krasnodar Krai and Volgograd Oblast during overnight attacks on 13 August, according to Russian sources.

The Russian Telegram channel Shot reports that drone debris fell on the territory of a refinery in Sloviansk-on-Kuban, Krasnodar Krai.

“Debris from one of the drones fell on the territory of the refinery, as a result of which a car allegedly caught fire,” Shot reported. Russian authorities claim no casualties resulted from the attack and that the fire was “promptly extinguished.”

Volgograd also came under drone attack, with the city’s oil refinery identified as the primary target by local Telegram channels. Volgograd Oblast Governor Andrei Bocharov confirmed that “debris from one of the downed drones fell on the roof of a 16-story residential building in the Traktorozavodsky district.”

Residents in southern districts of Volgograd reported air defense systems activation in areas housing industrial zones with the refinery and oil depot, according to Telegram channel Baza.

The overnight strikes follow a pattern of drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. On 7 August, Russia faced massive drone attacks that ignited the Afipsky refinery and a military unit in Sloviansk-on-Kuban, Krasnodar Krai. Local emergency services confirmed the fire at military unit No. 61661 in Sloviansk-on-Kuban following the drone strike. Regional authorities also verified the fire at the Afipsky refinery.

Exclusives

WWII Nazi-fighter’s “dirty” tactics could break Putin but the West won’t use them. Facts don’t defeat fascists. Fear does.

“I don’t know what they report to you, Mr. President” — Ukraine hero explodes at Zelenskyy as Russia nears Pokrovsk. Russian troops are advancing past empty Ukrainian trenches. Do Ukraine’s leaders really understand the scale of the breach?

Trump can’t find Alaska on mental map—thinks he’s traveling to Russia for Putin talks. The US President again falsely claimed Ukraine’s leader chose to begin Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and said Ukraine must give up territory to Russia.

Military

Zelenskyy announces Ukraine’s estimated losses in the war over one night. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed Ukraine faces a 1:3 personnel disadvantage against Russian forces while detailing August 11 casualties that left 18 Ukrainian soldiers dead and 243 injured.

Zelenskyy: Russia redeploys 30,000 troops from Sumy Oblast to three directions

. Russia is preparing for September offensive operations across three Ukrainian front sectors, moving its strongest brigades and 30,000 personnel from the unsuccessful Sumy direction

Russia’s troop deployment to Belarus, echoing 2022 buildup before all-out war, is planned for September 2025. As Russian and Belarusian forces flex their muscles in joint exercises, Kyiv and NATO prepare for the worst, watching closely for signs of a new offensive.

Ukraine hits core of Moscow’s drone war machine for second time in single week. Ukrainian forces target Russia’s expanding Shahed production network with precision strikes 1,300 km from the border.

Ukraine’s special forces slip into Crimea overnight — and erase Russia’s Skala-M radar from the map. The destruction of the long-range installation in Abrykosivka has punched a hole in the Russian air surveillance network across the occupied peninsula.

Azov Corps rushes to block Russian advance threatening key cities in Donetsk Oblast. Deployment targets the area where the Russian breakthrough threatens the Pokrovsk encirclement and road access to Donetsk Oblast cities.

Two Russian defense plants hit in under 24 hours — drones strike Orenburg helium site and Stavropol sapphire factory. Both sites supply critical materials for Russia’s military systems and advanced technologies.

Chief of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence visits Zmiinyi Island and gas production platforms in the Black Sea. Two years after Russian forces abandoned Zmiinyi Island, Ukraine’s top intelligence official visited the strategic outpost to inspect current defensive capabilities and honor fallen soldiers.

Ukraine just cleared two Sumy villages—monitoring maps never showed them as occupied

. Russian forces may have attempted a stealth breakthrough with small assault groups before being pushed back across the border.

Frontline report: Russian Navy collapsing on all fronts: carrier scrapped, earthquake hits subs, Ukraine steals secrets. Single Ukrainian drone cancels St. Petersburg parade as carrier decommissioning marks end of era

Intelligence and technology

Kyiv sends first wartime text via new Starlink’s tech — no Russian-made blackout can interrupt it. Starlink Direct to Cell lets Ukrainians text through darkness of Russia’s aggression.

Czech shell initiative changes Russian artillery advantage from 10-to-1 to 2-to-1, Lipavsky says. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky declared his country opposes any “false goals” in Ukraine’s EU accession process and expects rapid opening of membership negotiations during his meetings with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv.

International

White House confirms Trump-Putin meeting in Anchorage without Zelenskyy. The largest city in Alaska will host a bilateral summit between Trump and Putin to discuss ending the Ukraine war, while the White House acknowledged that “only one side participating in this war will be present.”

Latvia to contribute $ 2.3 mn to NATO’s initiative to supply Ukraine with US weapons

. The Baltic nation becomes the latest NATO member to fund American weapons deliveries to Ukraine through the alliance’s Priority Ukraine Requirements List

Putin’s team issues expectations ahead of Alaska meeting to help Trump to “keep the face” after sanctions failure. The Kremlin is pushing a bilateral Trump–Putin ceasefire plan that would redraw Ukraine’s borders, ban NATO entry, and sideline both Kyiv and Europe from the negotiating table.

Zelenskyy insists on clear security guarantees from West before any peace deal with Russia. The Ukrainian president lays out a straightforward roadmap for peace but warns the West must offer concrete guarantees to prevent repeated Russian aggression.

Despite pouring more billions in military aid for Ukraine than US, Europe’s leaders will not be present at Alaska talks. This leaves Kyiv diplomatically isolated and is raising fears that Ukraine may be pressured into concessions without its strongest allies at the negotiating table.

Kremlin’s propaganda threatens Azerbaijan with war after Baku sends millions in aid to Ukraine. Once tightly controlled by Moscow, Azerbaijan now defies Kremlin orders, prompting a fierce propaganda offensive that paints Baku as a “Western puppet”.

Estonia invokes “Munich 1938” as Trump prepares Putin talks. Estonia’s foreign minister has invoked one of history’s most ominous diplomatic moments to warn about Friday’s Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska — comparing it to the 1938 Munich Agreement that greenlit Hitler’s expansion.

Ukraine’s right to self-determination non-negotiable, all EU leaders say, except for Hungary’s. With the backdrop of potential territorial concessions looming over Trump’s meeting with Putin, European leaders stand united in their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Humanitarian and social impact

Foreign volunteers killed in Russian strike on training camp near Kropyvnytskyi – NYT. An American recruit from Florida witnessed “at least 15 dead soldiers and more than 100 wounded” when Russia targeted a mess hall packed with international volunteers eating lunch at a training camp in central Ukraine.

Ukrainian artist who died fighting Russians: “True anarchists share their people’s hardest struggles”. David Chychkan turned down thousands of euros from European cultural institutions to create art abroad, choosing instead to volunteer for a Ukrainian mortar crew where the 39-year-old fought alongside a vegan chef, software developer, and engineer.

Political and legal developments

Switzerland slashes Russian oil price cap to $ 47.6 in new EU sanctions package. Switzerland cut the price ceiling on Russian oil to $47.6 per barrel and banned 105 third-country vessels as part of the EU’s 18th sanctions package.

Russian court sentences Ukrainian medic to 5+ years for 2018 service in Ukraine’s Forces. Russian authorities sentenced 54-year-old Olena Ipatova to prison for terrorism six years after she served as a Ukrainian military medic.

Read our earlier daily review here

Will Ukraine give up land to end the war? According to The Telegraph, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has quietly signaled yes—but only territory Russia already holds.

European diplomats and Western officials told the newspaper that Zelenskyy acknowledged this position in conversations with European leaders. The catch? Ukraine would reject any deal requiring it to surrender additional territory.

Why the shift now? Trump and Putin set to meet in Anchorage, Alaska on 15 August.

The White House described the meeting as a “listening exercise” for Trump to better understand how to potentially bring the war to an end.

The timing matters. European leaders worry Trump might negotiate over Ukraine’s head. “I have many fears and a lot of hope,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Monday.

Zelenskyy emphasized that any peace deal must include Ukraine’s involvement and that Ukrainian territorial integrity is non-negotiable. Trump, however, hinted that any agreement might involve territorial concessions, a point strongly opposed by Zelenskyy. 

What exactly would Ukraine accept? Freezing current front lines. Russia would keep de facto control of occupied areas in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea—roughly 20% of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory.

But there’s a constitutional problem. Ukraine’s constitution requires a nationwide referendum for territorial concessions.

Trump criticized this constraint Monday: “I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval’. I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap?”

Trump to find out if he can make a deal with Putin

Can Trump deliver on his promises? The US president said Monday he would try recovering Ukrainian territory during his Putin meeting. “Russia has occupied a big portion of Ukraine. We’re going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine.” There would be “some swapping, some changes to land.”

Trump described Friday as a “feel-out meeting.” His confidence? “Probably in the first two minutes, I’ll know exactly whether or not a deal can be made because that’s what I do. I make deals.”

Europe warns no more Ukrainian concessions

Here’s what Europe thinks. Six major powers—the European Commission, France, Italy, the UK, Poland, and Finland—issued a joint declaration stating “the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.”

Translation: No more Ukrainian concessions.

France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz backed this hardline approach over the weekend. Their message to Trump: territorial exchanges are a “red line.”

Russia prepares to launch more offensives, not ready to stop war

Is Russia actually ready for peace? Zelenskyy doesn’t think so. Monday evening he cited intelligence reports showing Russia “moving their troops and forces in such a way as to launch new offensive operations.”

The Institute for the Study of War agrees. Russia still seeks Ukraine’s “full capitulation”—toppling the Western-facing government, blocking NATO membership, and forcing demilitarization.

Why can’t Ukraine afford to lose more territory? Geography. Ceding additional areas in Donetsk would let Russian forces bypass fortifications built since the 2014 Donbas war. Ukraine would lose strategic defensive positions it’s held for years.

What about those Kursk bargaining chips? Gone. Ukraine had controlled parts of Russia’s Kursk region, potentially useful for prisoner swaps or negotiations. But Moscow’s forces broke Ukrainian control of that border area.

Ukraine emphasizes security guarantees in any peace deal

Therefore, Zelenskyy insists on clear and reliable security guarantees from Western countries before agreeing to any peace deal with Russia. He emphasizes Russia’s history of repeatedly violating ceasefires since 2014.

He also highlights the importance of starting peace efforts with confidence-building measures like the release of thousands of Ukrainian prisoners and stresses that Ukraine deserves not only to join the EU but also receive NATO security guarantees. 

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte framed the central challenge: “How to deal with the factual situation that the Russians are holding, at this moment, Ukrainian territory.” His distinction? Russia may control land factually, but this can never be accepted legally—”in a de jure sense.”

Will Ukrainian voters accept territorial losses? European officials believe Zelenskyy has room to maneuver. A growing number of Ukrainians might stomach surrendering Russian-held land as the price for ending the war.

Trump plans to call Zelenskyy first “out of respect,” then European leaders after meeting Putin. But the constitutional referendum requirement means any territorial deal would need approval from war-weary Ukrainian voters.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Friday’s Alaska meeting will test whether Trump’s deal-making confidence can bridge the gap between Russia’s maximalist demands and Ukraine’s red lines.

You show Russians footage of their soldiers dying in Ukraine. They get angry—and mobilize to avenge them. You appeal to their humanity with pictures of Ukrainian children killed by Russian bombs. They shrug. You try facts about war crimes. Nothing.

But tell them criminals are being released from prison to join the army? That their sons might get raped by fellow soldiers? That crime is soaring back home while they’re dying in Ukraine?

Now you’ve got their attention.

This counterintuitive discovery comes from Ukrainian psychological operations teams who’ve spent three years learning what British propagandist Sefton Delmer figured out fighting the Nazis: facts don’t defeat propaganda. Self-interest does.

“People see the corpses of dead Russians and they’re like, well, I’m going to go and defend them,” Peter Pomerantsev tells me, describing Ukrainian research into failed propaganda attempts.

The author of “How to Win an Information War” has spent years studying both Soviet disinformation and Western attempts to counter it. His latest book, just translated into Ukrainian, resurrects Sefton Delmer, a forgotten genius who ran Britain’s “black propaganda” operations against Nazi Germany.

What Delmer understood—and what Ukraine is rediscovering—is that authoritarian propaganda doesn’t work through logic. It works through permission.

The inner pig dog strategy

Delmer called it appealing to the “inner pig dog”—that part of human nature that’s selfish, greedy, and looking for an excuse to save its own skin.

While the BBC broadcast noble appeals to German democracy, Delmer’s radio stations told Germans it was fine to be corrupt because their officers were stealing everything anyway. Why die for these scum?

“He’d never say that, though,” Pomerantsev explains.

One of Delmer’s most successful creations was “Der Chef,” a fake German radio station that posed as an underground voice of disgusted German soldiers. Der Chef would rail against SS corruption with stories so scandalous they became irresistible. When the Nazis converted the monastery of Münsterschwarzach into a military hospital, Der Chef spun a lurid fantasy:

“Two hundred SS men marched into the monastery… A bawdy house was made out of the monastery for the SS men and their whores. The holy mass gowns are used as sheets, and the women wear precious lace tunics made out of choir robes with nothing underneath them… Like this, they go into the chapel and drink liquor out of the holy vessels…”

Der Chef was outraged at such blasphemy—but always returned to these topics, the way tabloids show disgust at depravity while giving readers an excuse to enjoy it.

But Delmer’s genius wasn’t just in the sensational content.

His operations provided genuinely useful information to Germans—warnings about which districts would be bombed, updates on cities that had been struck, so soldiers could take guaranteed leave to help their families.

The stations posed as German broadcasts, so listeners wouldn’t get in trouble if overhead. They treated Germans as human beings, even while subverting them.

“His radio shows were full of pornography, aggression, a lot of color. It was definitely more than the BBC. It was very tabloid and really rather remarkable,” Pomerantsev explains.

But Delmer’s method was always indirect: “He tells stories about people deserting and we’ll always be like, how horrendous, these traitors are deserting, and give details how they desert with the intention of making people want to desert.”

The parallels to Russia today are striking. Ukrainian research has found similar patterns:

“Several research groups have found the same thing—that the most effective messaging is around the rise of crime rates in Russia to undermine the desire of people to send their families to the war,” Pomerantsev notes.

The crime messaging works because it targets what Putin supporters actually value:

• Order and stability – Rising crime rates suggest Putin’s “strong hand” is failing
• Personal safety – Stories about criminals in the army threaten families directly
• Elite competence – Military chaos reflects broader governmental failure

“People who support the war the most are very authoritarian. They want Putin’s strong hand. They want order,” Pomerantsev explains. “The idea that chaos is growing because of the war undermines their entire worldview.”

Why facts bounce off

Delmer worked with Cambridge’s first professor of psychoanalysis to understand Nazi psychology. They identified three elements that make authoritarian propaganda work:

• Identification with the leader – Leaders who normalize aggression, sadism, and narcissism, creating what Pomerantsev calls “a carnival of evil feelings”
• Toxic collective identity – A sense of superiority over others based on supremacism
• Ersatz agency – The illusion of control when people actually have none

“The less control we have over our lives, the more propaganda we need,” Pomerantsev quotes Delmer as observing.

This explains why showing Russians their casualties backfires. In an authoritarian mindset, those deaths demand vengeance, not reflection. Appeals to humanity assume a moral framework that propaganda has already dismantled.

“It’s not that he didn’t believe in facts. He just wanted to find the facts that worked for his aims,” Pomerantsev notes about Delmer’s approach.

“I don’t think there’s an important democratic movement in Germany to support,” Delmer concluded about Nazi Germany.

The same pragmatism should guide effective operations against Russia today. As opposed to the current Western strategy of supporting Russian opposition media, which can influence only 11% of critically-minded Russians, disruptive propaganda operations should focus on themes that resonate with authoritarian mindsets rather than moral appeals.

Pomerantsev’s research reveals the psychological mechanism behind this.

Working with teams in Russia, he found “the largest correlation between being ready to send your kids to die in the war is to do with belief in Russian supremacism”—the conviction that Russia is superior to others while simultaneously being victimized by them.

When Russians are primed with messages reinforcing this supremacist-victim narrative, their support for war actually increases. However, other messages do work: those hinting at rising crime inside the army and China humiliating Russia.

For Russians who actively support Putin (55% of the population), messaging about personal safety could undermine war support

For Russians who are passive loyalists, (34 % of the population), messages suggesting China’s advantage over Russia decrease war support

It is precisely these kind of messages that Ukraine is using in successful offensive propaganda operations against Russia, Pomerantsev suggests, hinting at the presentation of his book in Kyiv that the Delmers of today are sitting in the room, incognito.

The resource problem

The tragedy is that Ukraine knows what works but lacks the resources to scale it.

“Delmer had the backing of a state which allowed him to experiment,” Pomerantsev points out. “He had a team of hundreds of people working in this beautiful vast country estate outside of London. He managed to persuade the government to give him the most powerful radio transmitter in the world.”

Ukraine has no such luxury. While fighting for survival, it can barely manage domestic information space, let alone mount the massive multimedia campaign needed to truly destabilize Russian mobilization.

“If we were fighting this war as we did the war on terror, we would have set up dozens of radio stations like in Afghanistan,” Pomerantsev notes.

“We had huge information operations during our intervention in Iraq. If we were doing this, it would be such a key element of what we were doing. But we want to undermine mobilization, we say we want to slow down Russia’s war machine, and we haven’t done the ABCs of undermining mobilization and military morale. It just shows you how fundamentally pathetic Ukraine’s partners are.”

The Kremlin’s real fear

What would work if resources were available? Pomerantsev outlines the pressure points that actually worry the Kremlin:

• Putin’s approval rating – Which collapsed to under 60% during Ukraine’s Kursk operation
• Economic stability – The ruble’s weakness, rising short-term loan defaults, a growing credit crisis
• Military compensation – Soldiers’ families not getting paid, creating resentment
• Elite loyalty – Growing mistrust between different power centers
• China’s reliability – Deep anxiety about Beijing potentially abandoning Moscow

“Any attempt to deter Russia has to be linked into their sense of control,” he argues.

The Kremlin’s leadership remains traumatized by how quickly the Soviet system collapsed. When they sense loss of control, they retreat.

The Kursk incursion proved this. Putin’s rating plummeted. The government panicked, posting and deleting contradictory messages. That was the moment to pile on pressure—NATO exercises, shadow fleet blockades, secondary sanctions. Add coordinated information operations targeting those specific vulnerabilities.

Instead, nothing.

Beyond good and evil

Delmer’s approach offends our democratic sensibilities. He promoted desertion, normalized corruption, used pornography to grab attention.

His radio shows were, by his own admission, an exercise in encouraging Germans to be “bad.”

“I think we have to think very carefully when we think about good and bad in politics,” Pomerantsev reflects. “If you’re stimulating someone to think for themselves, if you’re provoking them to act for themselves, if you’re provoking them to break through a kind of passivity which has been fed to them by authoritarian propaganda—I think that’s good.”

He sees Delmer’s work as fundamentally liberating:

“I think at the core of it was a deeply anti-authoritarian project because in stimulating people to think and act for themselves, he was giving them a way to break through authoritarian psychology.”

The Nazis used the language of nobility and sacrifice to enable genocide. Delmer used the language of greed and self-interest to stimulate individual thinking. When you’re deserting or stealing from your factory, you’re reclaiming agency from an authoritarian system.

As Pomerantsev puts it:

“The Nazis used the language of noble and the nation and sacrifice in order to enable genocide and rape, while Delmer was using the language of naughtiness, greed, corruption, sexual hanky-panky in order to stimulate good.”

The inversion is profound: Nazis told Germans they would be good by doing very bad things, while Delmer told Germans to be bad, achieving a very good thing.

This isn’t about making Russians good people. It’s about making them bad soldiers.

Radio then, full-spectrum now

If Delmer were alive today, he wouldn’t pick just one channel.

“We live in a multimedia age, so you need everything and you need scale,” Pomerantsev explains. “You’d be using radio, you’d be using satellite TV where it’s relevant, some of the great things the Ukrainians do—hacking into Russian local TV and playing content. You want all of those. You want to have a sense that you’re everywhere. Robo calls, SMSs, everything. You’re using everything and you’re thinking how they work together to create a full spectrum movement.”

As Pomerantsev puts it: “The Ukrainians are doing a lot, and I think, like with Delmer, we’ll find out after the war.”

The question is whether Ukraine’s partners will provide the resources for a real information offensive before it’s too late. Because knowing what works means nothing if you can’t execute it at scale.

Facts don’t defeat propaganda. But appealing to fear, greed, and self-preservation might. Delmer knew it. Ukraine has proven it.

The pig dog is waiting.

White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt announced that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. The meeting is scheduled for 15 August to discuss ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Levitt confirmed that details and the meeting schedule are currently being coordinated. When asked why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was not invited to the negotiations, the White House spokesperson said the meeting was happening at Putin’s request.

She confirmed that Trump plans to visit Russia in the future. The purpose of the Alaska negotiations, Levitt explained, is for Trump and Putin to “better understand how to end this war.”

When asked what Trump would do if Putin was not serious about negotiations, Levitt said she would not “put forward any hypothetical assumptions.” However, she said she was “very confident” that Trump would remain satisfied with the meeting.

The White House spokesperson said the US president was “determined to stop the killings” and “deeply respects all sides of the conflict and everyone trying to end it.”

“This administration has truly used all levers of influence, taken all measures to achieve peace through diplomatic resolution,” the White House spokesperson said.

Trump previewed terms of a potential peace deal that could include “some swapping of territories.” Bloomberg previously reported that Washington and Moscow were seeking to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that would secure occupied territories for Russia.

The Wall Street Journal wrote that Putin presented the Trump administration with a ceasefire plan in exchange for territorial concessions from Kyiv. Trump suggested that a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine would likely require “certain territorial exchanges for the benefit of both sides.” Specifically, Ukraine would need to withdraw troops from all of Donetsk Oblast, and Crimea would be recognized as sovereign Russian territory.

Against the backdrop of these reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would not give up its lands to anyone. Zelenskyy and European leaders plan to meet with Trump on 13 August to discuss the course of action.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy disclosed that Ukraine sustained 340 casualties on 11 August, with 18 military personnel killed, 243 injured, and 79 missing in action, according to Ukrinform.

Speaking to journalists, Zelenskyy said that Russian losses were three times higher. “Russians lost 968 soldiers in one day: 531 killed, 428 injured, and 9 captured,” the president said.

President revealed the overall personnel ratio between Ukraine and Russia stands at 1 to 3 in favor of the occupying forces. In artillery, the ratio is 1 to 2.4 in Russia’s favor, Zelenskyy said. However, Ukraine maintains a 1.4-fold advantage in FPV drones.

On the morning of 12 August, Ukraine’s General Staff reported that Russia has lost 1,065,220 personnel since the war began. Ukrainian forces have also destroyed 11,098 Russian tanks, 31,406 artillery systems, 421 aircraft, and 340 helicopters, according to the General Staff.

The General Staff does not release current data on Ukrainian losses.

In February 2025, Zelenskyy said that 45,000 Ukrainian servicemen had died in the war against Russia. Previously, in December 2024, the president said Ukraine’s losses had reached 43,000 military personnel.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Russia is transferring approximately 30,000 troops from the Sumy direction to three other front sectors after failing to achieve success in the northern region.

Accorrding to Zelenskyy, Russia began moving troops to the Zaporizhzhia and Pokrovsk directions.

The president outlined Russia’s preparations for offensive operations across three main directions: Zaporizhzhia, Pokrovsk, and Novopavlivka. According to Zelenskyy’s assessment, Russia plans to deploy approximately 15,000 additional troops to the Zaporizhzhia direction, around 7,000 to Pokrovsk, and about 5,000 to Novopavlivka.

Of the 53,000 Russian forces concentrated on the Sumy direction, approximately 30,000 will be redirected to these three sectors, according to the president’s assessment.

Zelenskyy emphasized that Russia’s strongest brigades currently positioned on the Kursk direction will be among those redeploying. “We believe this is the main source of troops, these are their strongest brigades that are standing on the Kursk direction, they will be moving,” he added.

The president provided a timeline for expected Russian preparations, saying they will prepare for offensive actions after the 15th and will be ready with these brigades by September. “We believe they will be ready by September with these brigades. We believe that with additional [forces] they may be ready in November,” Zelenskyy said.

According to the president, these three directions were targeted by Russia a year ago, and Russian forces are operating according to the same plans and maps. Zelenskyy said that the offensive mission on Zaporizhzhia and Pokrovsk was delayed by a year due to the Kursk operation.

The president suggested that throughout this month, Russian forces will attempt to demonstrate progress on all directions to exert political pressure on Ukraine, seeking various concessions.

The announcement comes as Ukrainian forces have achieved several tactical successes in Sumy Oblast. On 12 June, the president reported that Ukrainian defenders were “gradually pushing back” Russian forces in the region. Two days later, on 14 June, Zelenskyy announced the liberation of Andriivka in Sumy Oblast. Most recently, on 27 July, the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the liberation of Kindrativka in the Khotyn community.

Latvia will join NATO’s Priority Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative and contribute at least 2 million euros ($2.3 million) to supply Ukraine with American weapons, Prime Minister Evika Silina announced on 12 August, following a government meeting.

The Latvian government discussed participation in the NATO initiative during its August 12 session. “The scope of Latvia’s financial contribution to this initiative will be clarified, but it will be no less than 2 million euros,” Silina said  after the meeting, according to Delfi.

Latvia’s readiness to participate had been indicated the previous week during a conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, though without specific details at the time.

The PURL mechanism represents a new approach for delivering American weapons to Ukraine through financial contributions from other NATO member states. The United States and NATO launched this initiative to streamline weapons procurement and delivery processes.

Several NATO allies have already committed substantial funding to the program. The Netherlands prepared a $500 million aid package under PURL, which includes components and missiles for Patriot air defense systems, according to Delfi reporting. Sweden, Norway, and Denmark will jointly allocate approximately $500 million to the initiative.

Sources indicate that the first weapons and ammunition deliveries under the PURL initiative will begin within the coming weeks, though official confirmation remains pending.

The Priority Ukraine Requirements List allows NATO members to pool resources for purchasing American military equipment specifically identified as priorities for Ukraine’s defense needs. This mechanism aims to coordinate international military assistance more efficiently than previous ad-hoc arrangements.

Latvia’s contribution adds to the growing international commitment to the PURL framework, which has attracted over $1 billion in pledged funding from various NATO member states since its launch.

The Kremlin is considering two scenarios for the upcoming Alaska summit: an agreement without Ukraine or pressure through cutting aid. According to Corriere della Sera, Russian President Vladimir Putin is offering US President Donald Trump a “convenient way out of the situation,” Kremlin foreign policy adviser Dmitry Suslov says.

Scenario 1: Bilateral deal without Ukraine and Europe

The first option envisions adopting a Russia–US ceasefire plan for Ukraine, negotiated exclusively between Moscow and Washington.

The agreement could include:

• Withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the parts of Donbas they still control,
• Withdrawal of Russian forces from Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv oblasts, but keeping the current front line in other areas, 
• Ukraine is committed not to join NATO.

This would mean continued fighting in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Suslov stressed that renouncing NATO membership is a “mandatory and inevitable condition,” and the final arrangements must include “Ukraine’s demilitarization and constitutional reform toward federalization.”

Scenario 2: Pressure through cutting assistance

Suslov said the second option is that Ukraine and its European partners reject the Kremlin’s proposals. In this case, he suggests Trump could completely end military aid to Kyiv and even halt weapons sales to European countries so they cannot transfer arms to Ukraine.

“This will speed up Ukraine’s defeat and its complete collapse,” he stated.

Suslov believes Trump might take such a step to avoid appearing weak after pressuring Brazil, India, and China to stop importing Russian oil under threat of secondary sanctions.

At the same time, according to the Kremlin adviser, successfully reaching a bilateral deal in Alaska would help ease tensions with China, India, and Brazil and give the US president the chance to claim a “historic achievement.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has emphasized that no country, except European states, provides Kyiv with real security guarantees, including financial support for the army, the foundation of the country’s defense. Therefore, European leaders must be present at key international meetings, UkrInform reports. 

Zelenskyy’s plan: ceasefire, negotiations, and security guarantees

The Ukrainian president has presented his simple and clear plan to end the war: first, a ceasefire, followed by negotiations mediated by the US with clear security guarantees from all parties.

“My plan is not that complicated. It is very simple: a ceasefire, and during the ceasefire we must discuss and resolve the issues… with clear security guarantees,” Zelenskyy stresses.

The importance of Ukraine’s participation in the upcoming negotiations

The president announced that on 13 August, there will be a series of online negotiations with European leaders, US and NATO representatives, ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska.

“Such sensitive issues concerning Ukraine must be discussed in Ukraine’s presence,” Zelenskyy emphasizes.

These negotiations aim to coordinate a common position regarding peace, security guarantees, and support for Ukraine in the ongoing diplomatic process.

Earlier, the study showed that Europe leads in military aid for Ukraine, surpassing the US. According to research by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy’s Ukraine Support Tracker, European countries have become the main donors of support to Ukraine, allocating over 35 billion euros for weapons procurement.

This sum is 4.4 billion euros more than the US has spent on the defense of Ukraine over more than three years of Russia’s aggression. 

The Belarus Defense Ministry has announced that Russia and Belarus will conduct Zapad-2025 joint strategic military exercises from 12 to 16 September.

Repeating the 2022 invasion preparation scenario

According to Valery Revenko, Head of the Department of International Military Cooperation at the Belarusian Ministry of Defense, the theme of the exercises is “the deployment of troop groups to ensure the security of the Union State.”

“The overall goal is to test the capabilities of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation in ensuring the military security of the Union State and readiness to repel possible aggression,” Revenko emphasizes.

Experts have previously noted that the Zapad-2025 scenario essentially repeats the preparatory measures under the cover of which Russia amassed troops near Ukraine’s borders in late 2021 – early 2022, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports. 

Russia is already deploying troops and equipment to Belarus

According to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russia has begun transferring the first units to Belarus — several hundred soldiers and dozens of pieces of equipment, as per Facty. 

Minsk assures that the exercises pose no threat to neighbors and will be conducted openly. Observers from nine NATO countries are involved.

NATO will respond harshly to possible aggression

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stressed that a new military conflict in Europe is currently unlikely but cannot be ruled out.

If anyone decides that an attack on Poland or any of our allies will go unpunished, they will face the full force of the alliance, Rutte warned.

Slipping past empty Ukrainian trenches northeast of the fortress city of Pokrovsk in recent weeks, Russian infantry quickly marched 15 km to the north. Now the Russians are threatening the village of Dobropillya, which sits astride one of two main supply lines into Pokrovsk.

“The development of the operational situation in the Dobropillya direction causes particular concern,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies warned. But you might know it reading the latest public social media post by Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief.

“Reported on the details of the operational situation at the front,” Syrsky wrote as the first reports of Russian troops in Dobropillya appeared online.

“It’s a tough one,” Syrsky wrote. “But the opponent is held back.”

The opponent is not held back. The Russian 51st Combined Arms Army’s foot- and motorcycle-borne breach of the Ukrainian line northeast of Pokrovsk has deepened fast. And for good reason: Ukraine is desperately short of trained infantry, largely owing to an inefficient and sometimes corrupt mobilization system.

In many sectors of the 1,000-km front line, as few as eight Ukrainian soldiers defend a 900-m length of trenches, according to the pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team. Normally, at least 200 troops would defend that much of the front. It’s no wonder the Russians were able to simply walk past empty trenches in Donetsk Oblast.

At least one former officer is worried Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky doesn’t appreciate the scale of the problem—perhaps because he’s getting bad information. “I sincerely don’t know what exactly is being reported to you,” Bohdan Krotevych, who recently quit as the chief of staff of the Azov Brigade, wrote on social media, “but I’m informing you: on the Pokrovsk-Kostiantynivka line, without exaggeration, it’s complete chaos.”

Growing chaos

“And this chaos has been growing for a long time, worsening with each passing day,” Krotevych added. “The command structures currently being appointed (or already appointed) to ‘fix the unfixable’ will most likely be blamed for the chaos that’s already unfolding.”

“The systemic problem began with the depletion of reserves,” Krotevych claimed. Ukrainian brigades may have suffered thousands of casualties capturing a small swathe of Russia’s Kursk Oblast starting a year ago—and may have suffered hundred more while retreating form Kursk after their supply lines were severed by Russian drones seven months later in February.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s antiquated mobilization system has consistently failed to generate enough new troops. Today, the Ukrainian military’s roughly 130 combat brigades may be short around 100,000 infantry, according to analyst Andrew Perpetua.

Brigades that should have thousands of troops instead have hundreds. “The widespread fragmentation of units across the entire front line, reports of ‘captured villages’ being touted as victories amidst failures of entire sectors, the allocation of mobilization resources to ‘cronies’ and the complete lack of strategic or even operational vision” have combined to undermine Ukraine’s defenses, Krotevych wrote.

But not according to Syrsky. “Our combat units will become stronger by receiving additional funding from the state budget,” the commander-in-chief wrote.

Explore further

Ukraine’s Leopard tanks rush to Pokrovsk—100,000 Russians wait to spring the trap

Europe leads military aid for Ukraine, surpassing the US. According to research by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy’s Ukraine Support Tracker, European countries have become the main donors of support to Ukraine, allocating over 35 billion euros for weapons procurement.

The Ukraine Support Tracker project monitors military, financial, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine based on open data. It covers 40 countries, including the G7 members, as well as Australia, South Korea, Türkiye, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland, China, Taiwan, and India. 

Europe spent more on military aid than the US

From the start of the full-scale war until June 2025, Europe allocated at least 35.1 billion euros for Ukraine’s armaments — 4.4 billion euros more than the US. Importantly, a significant portion of weapons are purchased directly through the defense industry rather than taken from existing stockpiles.

The study highlights that Germany provided the largest bilateral aid package of five billion euros. Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, and Denmark also provided significant aid packages.

The US supports, but Kyiv must finance purchases Itself

In May 2025, Trump’s administration approved large arms exports to Ukraine, but the country must finance these purchases independently.

Ukraine’s financing through international mechanisms

A significant part of Ukraine’s financial support is currently provided through the ERA loan mechanism, created by the G7 and the European Commission. A total of 45 billion euros is planned to be provided, partly financed by frozen Russian assets.

Experts warn that whether donors can maintain this level of assistance in the long term remains uncertain.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has targeted another Shahed drone storage facility in Russia’s Tatarstan, 1,300 km from Ukraine. The SBU announced the destruction of ready-to-use attack drones and foreign components in the latest strike.

Ukraine’s systematic targeting of Russia’s drone infrastructure aims to disrupt Moscow’s ability to launch nightly swarms of 100+ Shaheds that build reserves before unleashing massive coordinated attacks of 500+ drones against Ukrainian cities. 

Russia’s expanding drone production network now manufactures over 5,000 Shaheds monthly, transforming Iranian designs into a cornerstone of its terror campaign against Ukrainian civilians far from the front lines.

This is the second such strike within a week, as Ukraine continues to target Russia’s weapons supplies deep within the country. The most recent strike on 9 August destroyed attack drones and foreign components using a domestically-produced Liutyi drone with 75-kg warheads to hit a logistics hub in the region.  

Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan is home to the main production facilities for Shahed drones used by Russia, particularly the Yelabuga facility located within the Alabuga Special Economic Zone. 

Latest strike targets Shahed logistics

The SBU Special Operations Center “A” announced that their long-range drones struck a logistics hub in Kzyl-Yul, Republic of Tatarstan. 

Videos taken by local residents confirm the strike on the warehouse. 

The series of strikes is “aimed at reducing the enemy’s capabilities for ‘Shahed’ terror in Ukraine,” the SBU reports. They add that “operations at enterprises that provide weapons to the Russian military machine will continue.” 

Strikes expand to defense plants

The Tatarstan operations also follow drone strikes on two defense plants in Orenburg and Stavropol regions within 24 hours.

On 11 August, Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) drones struck the Orenburg Helium Plant, Russia’s only helium production facility located 1,200 kilometers from the front line. In the early hours of 12 August, HUR drones also targeted the Monocrystal JSC plant in Stavropol, sparking a fire approximately 480 km from the frontline. 

Ukraine’s expanding deep-strike campaign

These strikes continue Ukraine’s systematic targeting of Russia’s drone production network throughout 2025, striking warhead labs, antenna plants, and control system factories deep inside the country. 

This week’s operations follow previous Ukrainian strikes on Shahed infrastructure, including January strikes that destroyed over 200 Shahed drones in storage facilities in Russia’s Oryol Oblast and attacks on the Yelabuga industrial zone, which houses Russia’s largest known Shahed production facility.

Russia has launched thousands of Iranian-designed Shahed drones against Ukraine since fall 2022. Western media reports that each Shahed-136 drone costs as low as $20,000, making them cost-effective weapons for mass attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and cities.

Ukrainian special forces reported the destruction of radar in Abrykosivka, a fixed TRLK-10 Skala-M complex in Russian-occupied Crimea. The overnight strike on 9–10 August 2025 was carried out by resistance units of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, according to an official statement on the command’s Facebook page.

Officials said the loss of this installation will significantly limit the Russianability to use aviation against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure. Crimea has two Abrykosivkas, one in Yevpatoriia district closer to the western coast, another in Feodosiia’s in the east. The report does not specify which of the two had the radar site. 

Euromaidan Press could not independently verify the operation or its outcome.

Special operations take out Soviet-era radar in occupied Crimea

Militarnyi reports that the TRLK-10 Skala-M was a Soviet-Russian stationary route radar complex with both primary and secondary air target detection capabilities. It was designed for controlling air traffic, including on routes and in approach zones, and served as a crucial element in the occupied peninsula’s airspace management system. With a range of up to 350 km, the radar could track aircraft over vast stretches of the Black Sea and southern Ukraine.

The Special Operations Forces command reported the strike but did not disclose which weapons or systems were used to destroy the radar. The mission was executed in the settlement of Abrykosivka, deep inside Russian-occupied territory. The destruction of this installation, according to the command’s statement, will weaken the adversary’s ability to coordinate and execute air missions that have repeatedly been used to strike civilian targets.

The 1st Corps of the National Guard Azov has taken defensive positions on the Pokrovsk front, moving to block Russian forces advancing in Donetsk Oblast, according to the corps’ official statement.

The recent Russian breakthrough towards Dobropillia threatens the defense of Pokrovsk. Russian forces have been trying to take the city and surrounding areas since early 2024. 

The deployment of one of Ukraine’s most disciplined and combat-experienced brigades comes as Russian forces have advanced more than 23 kilometers deep into Ukrainian positions toward the Dobropillia-Kramatorsk road. 

Regular Ukrainian defensive units have proven unable to halt the advance in this critical sector, according to Ukrainska Pravda. The 23-kilometer Russian salient now sits equidistant between Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka.  

Elite units replace faltering defenses

The corps moved into what has been described as “one of the most difficult sections of the front.” The area was previously defended by Tactical Group “Pokrovsk,” which “absolutely could not cope with defense on this section,” according to military sources.

“The situation remains complex and dynamic,” Azov stated. “The enemy, trying to advance in that direction, suffers significant losses in personnel and equipment.”

Corps units have “planned and implemented measures to block [Russian] forces in the designated area,” though results will be announced later.

Recent weeks saw intensified pressure, with three sabotage groups of 50 personnel each infiltrating Pokrovsk itself. Ukrainian forces eliminated approximately 120 attackers while capturing others. 100,000 Russian troops are currently stationed in the area. 

23-kilometer Russian salient threatens encirclement

Russian forces have dramatically expanded their breakthrough along the Pokrovsk-Kostiantynivka road. What began as a 10-kilometer salient in May 2025 near Malynivka, Nova Poltavka, and Novoolenivka has now extended to 23 kilometers.

On 11 August, DeepState analysts reported a Russian advance northeast of nearby Dobropillia, warning that “after final consolidation and accumulation, there will be mandatory attempts to move deeper into the territory.” 

Ukraine’s Dnipro command disputed the implications of these advances, stating that Russian infiltration attempts “never lead to territorial capture” and that Ukrainian troops have eliminated infiltrators “in the shortest possible time.”

Russian propaganda threatens Azerbaijan with war over support for Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin media have intensified anti-Baku rhetoric, escalating accusations against the country of being “Western sellouts.” 

On 11 August, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree allocating $2 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine following Russian strikes on the state-owned SOCAR’s oil depot in Odesa Oblast and a gas compressor station that transports Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine.

The funds will be used to purchase electrical equipment for Ukraine.

“The Russian propaganda has launched a new wave of harsh anti-Azerbaijani rhetoric, ranging from accusations of being ‘Western sellouts’ to direct threats of war,” says the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

Moscow is losing control over the South Caucasus 

As explained by the Center, the Kremlin is increasingly losing influence over Azerbaijan and can no longer impose its political or economic will. Therefore, Kremlin propaganda intensifies pressure through threats and war rhetoric to rally its domestic audience.

“Moscow can no longer dictate its political or economic will to Azerbaijan. Thus, propaganda tries to compensate for the loss of real leverage with threats,” the Center notes.

Azerbaijan strengthens its fight against Russian propaganda

Baku is actively freeing itself from Russian dominance: recently, the “Russkiy Dom” was closed, and the activities of Russian propaganda media have been restricted in the country.

The “Russkiy Dom” in Baku was a Russian information and cultural center functioning as a representative office of the agency engaged in strengthening Russia’s humanitarian influence abroad, in Azerbaijan. The center faced accusations of espionage activities disguised as cultural work.

Overnight drone strikes have reportedly hit two major Russian industrial sites linked to the defense sector — Ukraine’s intelligence drones targeted Russia’s only helium plant in Orenburg, and a separate attack struck the Monocrystal synthetic sapphire factory in Stavropol, causing a fire. The results of both attacks are so far not known.

Ukrainian drones target rare helium facility in Orenburg

Militarnyi, citing a source in Ukrainian military intelligence, reported that drones from the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry attacked the Orenburg Helium Plant on 11 August. The facility is the only producer of helium in Russia and one of the largest in Europe, with an annual capacity to process about 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas. It belongs to Gazprom Pererabotka, a subsidiary of Gazprom. Orenburg is about 1,250 km from the warzone.

That evening, Orenburg Oblast authorities claimed that two drones had been shot down after a UAV danger regime was declared in the region. Officials did not confirm any direct hits or falling debris.

Stavropol sapphire producer hit hours later

In the early hours of 12 August, Russian Telegram channel Astra and Ukrainian Supernova+ reported that drones attacked the Monocrystal JSC plant in Stavropol, sparking a fire. The facility is located about 480 km from the frontline.

Synthetic sapphire from Monocrystal is used in optical systems, protective sensor elements, and laser components, including those in military devices. It is also applied in missile guidance systems, UAV camera housings, and aircraft and spacecraft instrumentation.

Local residents reported hearing at least five explosions and seeing flashes in the night sky before smoke appeared over the site. The city’s mayor, Ivan Ulyanchenko, claimed the UAVs were “suppressed by our electronic warfare systems” and that no one was injured, although windows in one community facility were shattered. He added that emergency services were working at the scene and that a UAV danger regime remained in effect across the region.

Russian ministry claims interceptions

Later on 12 August, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that overnight its forces had shot down 22 Ukrainian drones over Rostov Oblast and three over Stavropol Krai. The statement did not address the reported damage at either site.

Recent strikes

The attacks follow a series of recent Ukrainian drone operations against industrial and energy facilities deep inside Russia. Bloomberg has reported that Rosneft’s Saratov oil refinery, struck on 10 August, halted crude intake after a drone strike.

Starting college can feel like stepping into a whirlwind. There are new schedules, new places, and way too many things to remember. Between rushing to class, managing assignments, keeping up with your social life, and figuring out meals, it’s easy to feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. The right gadgets won’t solve everything, but they can make a big difference.

You’re probably already carrying your phone, laptop, and headphones—but what about the tools that help you stay focused, save time, or just make life easier? Tech has come a long way, and there are now smart, compact, and student-friendly devices designed to fit your routine and budget.

We’ve rounded up seven practical, everyday gadgets that help students stay on track, get around, and make the most of campus life. 

1. Smart transportation: Getting around campus made easier

Some campuses stretch across miles. Even if you live close, getting from one end of campus to another between classes can be a hassle. Public transport isn’t always reliable, and walking everywhere takes time and energy—especially when you’re running late.

That’s why many students are turning to high powered electric bikes. Electric bikes help students save time, skip the traffic, and get to class without showing up sweaty. They’re perfect for commuting between classes, dorms, and off-campus hangouts. Most fold down easily, so you can store them in small dorm rooms or shared apartments. They also come with features like app connectivity, built-in lights, and hydraulic brakes.

You don’t need a special license to ride one, and charging is simple. If you’re tired of wasting time walking across campus, this might be the most helpful gadget you invest in all year.

2. Noise-Canceling headphones for study and downtime

Let’s face it—college isn’t always quiet. Whether you’re in a noisy dorm, crowded library, or buzzing coffee shop, distractions are everywhere. A good pair of noise-canceling headphones helps block out the noise so you can focus when it matters.

Over-ear models usually offer better sound and more comfort for long study sessions. If you’re always on the go, in-ear buds with active noise cancellation might be more your style. Either way, you’ll thank yourself during finals week.

Plus, they’re great for more than studying. Use them to unwind with a podcast, listen to music, or enjoy a movie without annoying your roommate.

3. Smartwatch that does more than tell time

Smartwatches aren’t just for fitness buffs. For students, they offer a simple way to stay organized without constantly pulling out their phone. Most models let you check your calendar, set class reminders, reply to texts, and even track your sleep and heart rate.

Some connect directly to your phone while others work with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. You can use them to control music during workouts, track steps on busy days, and get alerts for upcoming deadlines.

They help you stay focused, too. Instead of getting distracted by social media when checking your phone, a quick glance at your wrist gives you just the info you need.

4. Portable power banks to stay charged on the go

College students rely on their phones and laptops for everything—class schedules, group chats, emails, and more. But what happens when your battery dies between classes?

That’s where a portable power bank comes in. It’s one of those items you don’t realize you need until it saves you. Look for one with fast charging, multiple ports, and enough capacity to recharge your devices more than once. Slim, lightweight designs are easy to carry in your backpack or even your pocket.

If you’re out all day, having backup power means you won’t miss a call, a class notification, or a deadline.

5. Compact printer for last-minute assignments

Yes, many assignments are digital now, but not all of them. Some professors still require physical copies. And campus printers? They’re often broken, crowded, or out of ink at the worst possible time.

A compact printer in your dorm room solves that. Modern printers don’t take up much space. Many are wireless and work with phones, tablets, and laptops. Some even print directly from cloud services.

You won’t need it every day, but during midterms or finals, you’ll be glad you have it.

6. Digital note-taking tools that beat pen and paper

Typing notes isn’t for everyone. If you like writing things out by hand but hate carrying notebooks or losing pages, digital tools are the way to go.

Tablets with stylus support are perfect for this. Apps let you highlight, organize, and sync notes automatically to the cloud. You can also draw diagrams or mark up readings directly on screen. Another great option is smart notebooks. These let you write with real ink, then scan your pages into a digital format you can save and search later.

These tools help you stay organized and save space. You won’t have to carry piles of paper or worry about losing your notes.

7. Bluetooth tracker tags to keep track of essentials

Losing your keys when you’re late for class is the worst. And it happens more often than you think when you’re juggling books, coffee, and bags. Bluetooth tracker tags are a smart fix.

These little gadgets attach to your keys, wallet, or backpack. If you lose something, use your phone to make it ring or find its last known location. Some even have reverse features—tap the tag to find your phone.

They’re inexpensive and easy to use. If you’ve ever been late because you were digging through your room for something important, you’ll appreciate having one.

Tech doesn’t have to be flashy to be useful. The best gadgets are the ones that quietly help you manage your day, save time, or reduce stress. Each item on this list solves a real problem college students face—whether it’s getting to class faster, staying focused while studying, or keeping track of your stuff.

You don’t need to buy everything at once. Start with what makes the most sense for your daily routine. If you’re always running late, consider an electric bike. If your study space is loud, start with headphones. The goal isn’t to own every new device—it’s to pick the ones that actually make your life easier.

Switzerland adopted the European Union’s 18th sanctions package against Russia, implementing new restrictions that came into effect on 12 August, according to the country’s government press service.

The Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research announced that the measures respond to Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, originally approved by the EU on 18 July.

Under the new sanctions, Switzerland added 14 individuals and 41 companies to its blacklists. The targeted entities include “Russian and international firms that manage the ‘shadow fleet’ to circumvent price restrictions on Russian oil, trade it, or supply equipment for the Russian military-industrial complex, including companies from third countries,” the department reported.

The sanctions extend beyond Russian territory, affecting 105 vessels from third countries that are now prohibited from purchase, sale, and servicing. These are “mainly tankers transporting Russian oil or military goods,” according to the announcement.

In a significant economic measure, Switzerland lowered the price ceiling on Russian oil to $47.6 per barrel, with the new limit taking effect from 3 September.

The country also imposed stricter export controls on 26 companies, including those outside Russia, “due to attempts to circumvent the ban on drone supplies,” the government reported.

Beyond Russia-focused measures, Switzerland implemented additional EU sanctions against Moldova and Belarus. Regarding Moldova, “seven individuals and three companies involved in Russia’s attempts to influence the EU membership referendum and the 2024 presidential elections” faced restrictions. For Belarus, limitations were imposed on “eight defense industry companies.”

The sanctions package reflects Switzerland’s continued alignment with EU policy despite its traditional neutrality, as the country maintains its response to what it characterizes as Russia’s aggressive actions in Ukraine.

Ukraine has tested the revolutionary Starlink Direct to Cell technology for the first time. It allows smartphones to connect directly to satellites without special antennas or equipment. The technology could keep communications running even during massive attacks and blackouts, says Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko.

How Starlink Direct to Cell works?

Unlike traditional Starlink, smartphones connect to satellites like they would to a mobile tower, using standard LTE or 5G.

“Ukraine has become one of the first countries in the world where Starlink Direct to Cell works — direct satellite connection without antennas or additional hardware, requiring only 4G and a SIM card,” explains Svyrydenko.

The technology offers global coverage, from mountains and steppes to remote villages and even the ocean. As early as autumn 2025, Kyivstar plans to launch the first stage, enabling SMS messaging from anywhere in Ukraine-controlled territory.

Why is it critical during wartime? 

From 2022 to 2025, Russia destroyed around 73% of Ukraine’s thermal power plants. Continuous strikes on energy and communications infrastructure have caused long rolling blackouts.

“In wartime, when the Russians deliberately target energy and communications, this technology is a matter of security. Ukrainians will be able to stay connected even in the most remote locations,” Svyrydenko stresses.

Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov has confirmed, “We successfully exchanged our first text messages via satellite directly from smartphones.”

When Starlink Direct to Cell will launch?

The technology is being rolled out in partnership with the US, Australia, Japan, Canada, and New Zealand. Beta testing is underway, and an official launch in Ukraine is planned for the fall of 2025.

Davyd Chychkan, a Ukrainian artist known for his anarchist political views and socially engaged artwork, died 9 August from wounds sustained while repelling a Russian infantry assault in southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast. He was 39 years old.

Why was an anarchist artist on the front lines? Chychkan had his reasons.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, European cultural institutions offered him thousands of euros monthly to relocate and continue his work abroad. He refused. Making money off Ukraine’s war while safely abroad struck him as morally bankrupt, according to military colleague Mykyta Kozachynskyy.

Instead, Chychkan volunteered for a mortar crew.

The decision fit his philosophy.

“True anarchists must share the most difficult hardships that their people experience,” the Resistance Committee—an organization of anarchist fighters—quoted him saying. 

The group confirmed his death after he suffered severe injuries during combat on 8 August. His death was also confirmed by his wife Anna Wtikenwneider.

Artist’s exhibitions were attacked or canceled

Chychkan’s political views had been causing trouble for years.

His exhibitions faced repeated attacks. In 2017, more than a dozen people broke into a venue showing his work, assaulted a security guard, destroyed the exhibition, and stole four paintings.

This January, Odesa National Art Museum canceled his planned exhibition “With Ribbons and Flags” after critics claimed he equated Ukrainian and Russian soldiers.

Why the hostility? Chychkan was an anarcho-syndicalist who saw art as a tool for working-class liberation.

Born into an artistic family in 1986, he was largely self-taught and worked across graphics, posters, painting, street art, and performance. His pieces often featured political messaging that challenged conventional patriotic narratives.

“Anarchist convictions are my escapism, a wonderful world and a pillow into the existential pit, to fall more softly,” he once explained his political philosophy that advocated for decentralization and solidarity.

Devoted to his comrades and his country

BBC defense correspondent Jonathan Beale met Chychkan last December near Kupiansk in eastern Kharkiv Oblast. The encounter stuck with him.

“In many ways, he didn’t seem like an archetypal soldier,” Beale recalled. Chychkan’s unit was an eclectic mix—the artist fought alongside a vegan chef, software developer, and engineer.

But Chychkan’s commitment was clear. He shared his artwork with fellow soldiers and spoke passionately about politics and social justice.

“I didn’t know David very well, but he seemed sensitive and thoughtful to me. In many ways, he didn’t seem like an archetypal soldier, if such a thing exists. But he was clearly devoted to his comrades and his country,” Beale noted.

During their meeting, Chychkan was eagerly awaiting his son’s birth. “It pains me greatly that he won’t be with Anna to watch him grow up,” Beale said.

What he left behind

Chychkan’s wife Anna described him as someone who “loved life very much, but gave it for Ukraine, for the democratic, truly social country he dreamed of.”

Her Facebook post revealed both grief and anger—grief for the husband and father who won’t see his son grow up, anger at those who “persecuted him, insulted him, disrupted exhibitions and threatened him.”

The Resistance Committee remembered him differently than his critics did. They described someone who “always approached any work conscientiously, never hid behind others’ backs or behind his own social capital” and shared “deep thoughts about politics, ethics, and social justice” with fellow soldiers.

At the Odesa Museum of Modern Art, staff noted that visitors consistently lingered at Chychkan’s exhibits during the city’s Biennale. His art, they said, was dedicated to “the fight for freedom”—a fight he ultimately joined with more than brushes and paint.

A Russian military court sentenced 54-year-old Ukrainian citizen Olena Ipatova to five years and two months in prison for serving as a medic in a Ukrainian Armed Forces battalion six years before Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don found Ipatova guilty under Article 205.4 Part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code for “participation in a terrorist organization,” according to Russian media Mediazona, which cited the court’s press service.

Russian authorities detained Ipatova on 14 March 2025. She was initially held in custody until 2 April, then released on a travel restriction order before being arrested again in the courtroom following her sentencing.

The prosecutor’s office of the Russian-annexed Donetsk People’s Republic alleged that Ipatova served as a “combat medic” in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Aidar assault battalion from January 2018 through spring of the same year. Prosecutors did not claim she participated in battalion activities after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has been searching for Ipatova since 20 February 2025. Her wanted notice lists Sievierodonetsk in Luhansk Oblast as her place of birth.

The case reflects a pattern of Russian courts imposing lengthy sentences on Ukrainian citizens from occupied territories who resisted Russian forces. The courts typically prosecute such cases under terrorism and “state treason” charges.

In August, the same Southern District Military Court sentenced 20-year-old Daria Kulik from Russian-occupied Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast to 18 years in prison plus a 600,000-ruble fine. The court found Kulik guilty of “state treason,” attempted terrorism, participation in a terrorist organization, and illegal storage of explosives.

In June, the court handed down sentences to a Melitopol family: 29-year-old Artem Murdid received life imprisonment, his partner Hanna Voshkoder was sentenced to 20 years, and his mother Hanna Murdid received 22 years.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky arrived in Kyiv for meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiha and Deputy Prime Minister Taras Kachka, according to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs press service.

The ministers visited the memorial on Independence Square, where Sybiha presented Lipavsky with a medal for supporting Ukrainian diplomacy. “For me it is an honor to receive a medal for supporting Ukrainian diplomacy,” the Czech minister said.

During their press conference in Kyiv, both foreign ministers outlined concrete military and political support measures. Lipavsky said that Czech Republic delivered 1.5 million large-caliber ammunition rounds last year through the Czech ammunition initiative.

The Czech ammunition initiative reportedly helped change the Russian advantage from 10 to 1 to 2 to 1. This is a five-fold increase in real potential.

Ukraine expects to receive approximately 1.8 million artillery shells by year’s end through this Czech initiative, Sybiha said. 

During Lipavsky’s meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Kachka, they discussed Ukraine’s EU membership prospects.

“Our position is clear — Ukraine should be in Europe, and Czech Republic supports its membership as it meets standard conditions,”  Lipavsky wrote on X.

Economic cooperation between the two countries continues expanding despite the war, Lipavsky said. Trade growth increased 21.4% last year, and “I think this trend is growing more and more,” he added.

The ministers also signed a contract for the “School of Superheroes” project initiated by Prague. “This money will help children with severe forms of disabilities and diseases by expanding school opportunities in the region. We also plan to work more in eastern Ukraine and in the most dangerous regions, because we should not be afraid of Putin, and these regions also need our presence,” Lipavsky explained.

The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the symbolic significance of the memorial visit: “The bloody events on the Maidan in 2013 and 2014 took more than a hundred lives. We must remember their fate, as Ukrainians are again dying for their freedom. The foreign ministers of Czech Republic and Ukraine honored their memory on Independence Square — a historical memory.”

The head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov has conducted an inspection visit to Zmiinyi Island and Black Sea gas production platforms, the Defence Intelligence Directorate reported on 12 August.

During the visit, Budanov inspected positions held by fighters from the special unit Timur on Zmiinyi Island and examined the forces and equipment involved in defending the maritime area. The inspection included the Boiko drilling platform, which Ukraine regained control of in 2023.

As part of his trip, Budanov held a meeting with officers regarding further actions within the overall strategy and awarded fighters from the Timur special unit. The visit also included commemorating fallen soldiers who died during the liberation of Zmiinyi Island and Ukrainian territorial waters in the Black Sea from Russian occupiers.

“Our effective struggle against the aggressor at sea, on land and in the sky has proven to the whole world – a united Ukrainian nation is capable of defeating even the strongest enemy. Whatever anyone says – only we ourselves determine Ukraine’s future. The struggle continues,” Budanov said.

Liberation of Zmiinyi Island

Russian forces captured Zmiinyi Island on the first day of their full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, leading to active combat operations around the strategic location.

On 30 June 2022, Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command reported that after strikes by Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russian occupying forces hastily evacuated the remaining garrison using two high-speed boats and abandoned Zmiinyi Island in the western Black Sea.

Russia’s defense ministry confirmed the withdrawal of their forces from Zmiinyi Island, calling it a “gesture of goodwill.” The Pentagon disputed the Kremlin’s version, saying that Ukrainians had successfully applied significant pressure on the Russians occupying the island.

According to Forbes calculations, Russians lost equipment worth nearly one billion dollars during the strikes on Zmiinyi Island. On 7 July 2022, the Ukrainian flag was raised over the island again.

On 20 September 2024, the State Border Guard Service published footage from Zmiinyi Island, emphasizing that Defense Forces prevent enemy aviation and military vessels from approaching the Ukrainian coast. The published footage showed the island littered with burned occupier equipment and shell fragments.

US President Donald Trump confused Alaska with Russia, falsely claimed Ukraine started Russia’s invasion, and pushed for Ukrainian territorial concessions during an 11 August press conference. The President announced he was “going to Russia” for his 15 August Putin summit, apparently forgetting the meeting is in Alaska, while declaring Ukraine must accept “land swapping.”

This comes as Russia continues its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

President mistakes US state for aggressor nation

The Independent says that Trump told reporters from the White House briefing room:

“I’m going to see Putin. I’m going to Russia on Friday.” 

Trump’s geographical confusion sparked immediate social media reaction, WION notes. Users asked whether the US plans to give Alaska to Russia as part of Ukraine negotiations.

USA Today reports the president confirmed the meeting location on Truth Social last week, writing:

“The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska.”

Trump falsely claims Ukraine started Russia’s invasion

Trump also returned to Russian narratives by suggesting Ukraine somehow started Russia’s invasion of itself. Axios reports that Trump falsely suggested Zelenskyy chose to start the war. The President said he was “a little bothered” by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s weekend assertion that ceding territory would violate Ukraine’s Constitution.

Reuters says Trump told the press conference:

“He’s got approval to go into a war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap?”

Axios notes this represents a return to hostile treatment of the Ukrainian president after months of apparent warming between them.

Trump pushes territorial concessions despite Ukrainian rejection

“There’ll be some land swapping going on,” Trump declared, claiming to know this “through Russia and through conversations with everybody, to the good of Ukraine.“

USA Today says Trump claimed some moves would allegedly benefit Ukraine, while others would not.

“It’s very complex, because you have lines that are very uneven,” Trump stated per the outlet.

European leaders reject concessions before ceasefire

EU policy chief Kaja Kallas said:

“Russia has not agreed to full and unconditional ceasefire, we should not even discuss any concessions.”

Kallas emphasized that “transatlantic unity, support to Ukraine and pressure on Russia” were needed to end the war. The outlet notes she warned concessions would not prevent “future Russian aggression in Europe.”

Trump reveals negotiation strategy without Ukraine

According to Axios, Trump said he would call Zelenskyy after meeting Putin. The US President stated per the outlet:

“I may say, ‘lots of luck, keep fighting.’ Or I may say, ‘we can make a deal.'”

Trump also claimed he would know “probably in the first two minutes” whether progress with Putin was possible, according to Reuters. Trump plans to “feel out” Putin’s willingness to reach an agreement. 

President cites misleading Ukrainian opinion data

Axios reports that Trump falsely cited a poll claiming 88% of Ukrainians want immediate peace. The outlet clarifies the true Gallup figure is 69%, though this still represents a dramatic increase. Nevertheless, the desire for peace does not imply the support for ceding territories.

According to Reuters, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on 11 August. According to a Downing Street readout cited by Reuters, they agreed peace “must be built with Ukraine – not imposed upon it.“

Russian demands

Kremlin officials reportedly demand Ukraine cede strategically vital unoccupied territory in Donetsk Oblast and freeze frontlines elsewhere as ceasefire conditions. Putin appears to offer deliberately unacceptable proposals to delay sanctions and meaningful negotiations while blaming Ukraine.

Exclusives

Ukraine built a drone wall to stop Russia—then fiber cables made it useless. Electronic warfare became obsolete overnight, thanks to Beijing.

Russia punches narrow hole in Ukraine’s Pokrovsk front — can Kyiv close it before it widens?. A 10-kilometre Russian advance has left Ukrainian commanders racing to prevent a deeper breach in Donetsk.

Belgium’s biggest Ukraine military aid is 30 F-16s it won’t deliver until 2028. The country also controls €180 billion in frozen Russian assets that help bankroll Kyiv’s defense.

Ukraine’s draft evasion problem is a symptom of a deeper crisis. Why do Ukrainian men refuse mobilization, hide in their homes, and let their wives, sisters, and mothers do the everyday heavy lifting? Why does Ukraine’s mobilization system no longer work?

CS2 Wiki explained: How to use it for smarter skin trading. In a trading environment where milliseconds and margins matter, the wiki can mean the difference between scoring a deal and getting left behind.

Military

DeepState: Russians breach near Pokrovsk, cut highway toward Dobropillia in Donetsk Oblast. The OSINT project warns the wedge could endanger Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, and Kostiantynivka unless Ukrainian reserves regain the roads.

Bloomberg: Ukraine drone attack stops Saratov oil refinery powering Russia’s heartland. Fires broke out after an 10 August drone strike forced one of Russia’s largest Volga-region oil plants offline.

Frontline report: Ukrainian gas pipeline deep strike on Russia achieves swift economic damage where Western sanctions lag. While Western sanctions crawl forward through bureaucracy, Kyiv delivers its own economic warfare with immediate, devastating precision of drone attacks, cutting power to key Russian military plants.

Drone strikes sanctioned plant producing military aircraft control systems deep inside Russia [updated]. The Arzamas Instrument-Making Plant manufactures gyroscopic instruments, control systems, onboard computers, steering mechanisms, and testing equipment for Russian military aircraft and spacecraft.

Frontline report: Russia’s oil barges pile up — India’s ports won’t take them

. When tariffs threatened $186 billion in US trade, India’s Russian oil deal ended overnight.

Intelligence and technology

HRU reportedly attacks major Russian provider of services to security services. Ukrainian intelligence destroyed 800 terabytes of data and disabled 600 virtual machines belonging to the Filanko group, a major Russian IT provider serving security agencies

Rheinmetall to double production of 155mm shells at new plant in Ukraine. Production of 155mm artillery shells will begin at Rheinmetall’s new Ukrainian facility in 2026, with capacity reaching 300,000 rounds annually after a two-year ramp-up period

International

“Alaska opposes tyranny”: Protest is organised in Alaska ahead of meeting between Putin and Trump. Alaskan activists will stage a counter-demonstration in Anchorage on 14 August, challenging their governor’s endorsement of hosting Putin for talks with President Trump the following day.

Kallas’s pre-Trump summit warning: No concessions without ceasefire—and EU’s preparing more sanctions

. Europe’s top diplomat insists on proper sequencing as Putin tries to flip script with territorial demands.

Zelenskyy: diplomatic push creates real chance to achieve peace. President Zelenskyy declared “now is the moment when there is a real chance to achieve peace” during a phone call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, while rejecting any territorial concessions days before a planned Trump-Putin meeting.

Zelenskyy and European leaders to talk to Trump before his meeting with Putin – European Commission. Eight Nordic and Baltic countries demanded that any diplomatic settlement preserve Ukraine and Europe’s “vital security interests” as Trump prepares to meet Putin with proposals that could cede occupied territories to Russia.

Modi tells Zelenskyy India opposes deciding Ukraine’s fate behind its back. Ukraine and India will meet at the UN General Assembly in September to discuss peace initiatives and sanctions against Russian energy exports

The Times: Europe spent € 72 billion on Ukraine — but has no role in Trump–Putin peace talks. Why?. Europe outspent the US on Ukraine aid but is “years away” from defending it — and absent from the Trump–Putin summit.

Nordic-Baltic nations remind before Trump-Putin meeting: international borders must not be changed by force. Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden released a joint statement three days before Trump’s Alaska summit with Putin, demanding “robust and credible security guarantees” for Ukraine.

NATO chief: weapons keep flowing to Ukraine—even if Trump cuts a deal with Putin in upcoming Alaska meeting

. The meeting on 15 August excludes Ukraine initially, but Rutte insisted that any substantive negotiations on territory and security guarantees “will have to be—and will be—involved” Ukrainian participation.

Humanitarian and social impact

Foreign volunteers killed in Russian strike on training camp near Kropyvnytskyi – NYT. An American recruit from Florida witnessed “at least 15 dead soldiers and more than 100 wounded” when Russia targeted a mess hall packed with international volunteers eating lunch at a training camp in central Ukraine.

Russia bombed Azeri energy assets in Ukraine. Now Baku sends millions in aid to Ukraine. The Russian missile attacks targeted facilities crucial to Azerbaijan’s new energy corridor to Europe, with sources close to the Azeri’s president saying restrictions of weapons deliveries may also be lifted soon.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine receives third $ 1.9 bn payment from EU’s frozen Russian assets program. The European Union announced its third transfer of €1.6 billion generated from frozen Russian assets, with 95% of the funds now flowing through Ukraine’s loan cooperation mechanism

Read our earlier daily review here.

Ukraine reportedly cleared villages in Sumy Oblast possibly after discovering untracked Russian infiltration attempts. The Ukrainian military says 225th Assault Regiment expelled enemy forces from Stepne and Novokostiantynivka on 11 August. 

Mystery liberation raises questions about Russian tactics

The General Staff announced the clearing operation in its 11 August night report. Militarnyi reports that monitoring resources never showed these villages as occupied. Neither DeepState maps nor the General Staff’s daily battlefield updates marked Russian presence there.

The 225th Assault Regiment reportedly pushed enemy units back across Ukraine’s state border. Militarnyi suggests Russia attempted a stealth breakthrough on this border section. The operation may have involved assault groups or reconnaissance-sabotage units.

Today, there are a lot of updates regarding the Russian Navy. 

Recently, it’s been a bad few days for the Russian Navy, as the Ukrainian campaign has been reinforced by nature and even the Russians’ own incompetence. 

Spanning from the Black Sea and St. Petersburg to the Far East, Russian naval power and projection is falling apart at the seams.

Russia officially scraps Admiral Kuznetsov after years of failed repairs

The biggest news is that after years of repairs and accidents, Russians officially lost their last aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov. The massive ship has now been decommissioned and is to be scrapped for parts. 

The main reason for this is that the ship spent most of its service life in port and under repairs, and the ability of the Russian military to maintain an expensive and very vulnerable aircraft carrier has disappeared. Western naval analysts joke that when the boat was not on fire, the massive smoke plume from its diesel exhaust made it seem like it was.

Most notably, the aircraft that make up its air wings are no longer in production, and due to the ramp on the flight deck putting too high a strain on the front gears, if the weight was too high, their fuel load and therefore operational range were already largely limited.

The list of incidents during its service is also long, with a few notable examples being the approximately 300,000 ton oil spill onto the Irish coast, five of its jets crashing into the ocean during operations as the arresting wires kept snapping, or they simply ran out of fuel, and several crew members dying because of the water filtration system’s failure during its maiden voyage. 

Kamchatka earthquake devastates Russian Pacific submarine bases

The bad days continue, as one of the largest earthquakes in recent history caused a tsunami to sweep along Russia’s far eastern shores.

Recently released satellite footage shows extensive damage to Russia’s two main naval bases here, one of which houses a large part of Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet, with the submarines visibly missing from the photos and possibly under repair.

Additionally, the Russian Academy of Sciences reports that the southern part of Kamchatka shifted two whole meters to the southeast as a result of the earthquake, causing speculations of much larger damage to Russian naval facilities not visible from satellite footage.

Ukraine obtains classified plans for Russia’s newest nuclear submarine

Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet then took another hit, as Ukrainian military intelligence revealed it had obtained a full set of classified documents and schematics on Russia’s newest strategic nuclear submarine, the Project 955 Aborey class. 

They released some of them online and stated that the classified documents include information about the submarine’s survivability systems, which entered service just over three weeks ago.

Ukrainian military intelligence also made a statement, saying they had already identified several weak points in the Russian sub right before Zelenskyy authorized a new series of covert operations. The details of which remain unknown. 

Single Ukrainian drone forces Russia to cancel Navy Day celebrations

Lastly, during Navy Day, celebrating the temporary existence and history of Russia’s fleets,

as well as its specialized naval infantry units currently fighting in Ukraine. Russian warships from all four Russian fleets were scheduled to hold a parade and gun salutes through the harbor of St. Petersburg, as well as air shows and ground troops conducting displays on land.

However, the parade and all its surrounding events were canceled due to safety concerns, as a single Ukrainian Liutyi drone was spotted flying over Leningrad Oblast.

As there were no reports of any confirmed hits, Ukrainians likely simply decided to fly a drone in the general vicinity and let Russia cancel the parade themselves, unable to intercept a possible threat from the skies.

Russian naval decline accelerates across Pacific and Baltic theaters

Overall, the loss of their only carrier is significant, as these types of ships allow a navy to exert strong military influence and capabilities on a global scale.

Extensive damage to its military bases and possibly also vessels on the Pacific coast results in a serious deterioration of both its regional influence and strategic deterrence capabilities. 

Ukraine having found weaknesses in the new Russian submarine’s defenses through classified documents and the news of additional covert operations being in the works only exacerbates this effect. 

With Russia’s global dominance already increasingly deteriorating, and parades meant to counteract this trend are being called off, this is another strong hit to Russian military geopolitical relevance, as more pressure is shifted onto the already strained Russian ground-based assets.

In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

At least a dozen foreign volunteers serving in Ukraine’s military were killed when a Russian missile struck a training camp’s mess hall near Kropyvnytskyi on 21 July, according to The New York Times report citing soldiers with knowledge of the incident.

The attack targeted recruits from the United States, Colombia, Taiwan, Denmark and other countries during lunchtime, when soldiers had gathered at picnic tables for their meal. The Ukrainian Army confirmed the strike killed and injured soldiers but declined to provide specific casualty figures.

An American recruit from Florida, who witnessed the attack, described the explosion as “the loudest he had ever heard” in a telephone interview with the publication. The soldier, who requested anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly, said he observed “at least 15 dead soldiers and more than 100 others who were injured” following the blast.

The missile strike also ignited an ammunition depot at the base, triggering secondary explosions that sent “debris and shrapnel whistling through the air” as survivors attempted to assist the injured, according to the American soldier’s account. He reported applying tourniquets to gravely injured personnel and helping transport them to ambulances, trucks and private vehicles for evacuation to hospitals.

The base’s air raid alarm failed to sound before the strike, the witness noted. He expressed dismay at discovering that “first aid kits were nowhere to be found around the mess hall” in the aftermath.

Volodymyr Kaminskyi, spokesman for the international legion under Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR, confirmed an investigation into the strike was underway but said casualty figures could not be released during the ongoing probe.

Two foreign soldiers who had trained at the facility, known as Camp Krop, told The New York Times that lax security had been a source of complaints before the attack. They identified the practice of gathering soldiers for communal meals as a particular vulnerability.

The strike represents one of the deadliest attacks on foreign fighters during the war. Since 2022, hundreds of international volunteers have passed through the HUR training site, with recent recruits predominantly from South America. Colombian fighters have been drawn to Ukraine by salaries ranging from $1,000 to $1,750 in base pay monthly, plus combat bonuses exceeding $3,000 per month.

Ukraine’s commanding general Oleksandr Syrskyi said that soldiers at training sites “must respond to air raid alerts and Russian drones immediately.” He announced plans to relocate training operations to “sheltered underground sites as much as possible.”

The Kropyvnytskyi attack follows previous deadly strikes on training facilities. Russian missiles hit a base in Yavoriv near the Polish border during the war’s first month in 2022, killing or injuring dozens. Last year, more than 50 soldiers died in a missile attack in Poltava, while three recruits were killed and 18 injured in a 29 July strike on a training academy.

The American recruit, who had been at the base for less than a week and had not yet received his rifle, said he had “accepted risks in joining the Ukrainian Army” due to his desire to “assist a struggling democracy” but “had never thought people would be killed in training.”

“We can not let history repeat itself,” Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna warned on Monday, speaking to Estonian Public Broadcaster’s main radio station Vikerraadio, drawing parallels between Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement and potential Ukraine concessions.

“If we agree to aggression today, we will only encourage similar steps in the future.”

The warning comes as Trump sends mixed signals about Friday’s summit, promising to “try to get some territory back for Ukraine” while simultaneously warning there will be “some swapping, changes in land” — precisely the diplomatic ambiguity preceding 1938’s catastrophe.

Why Alaska echoes Munich’s warnings

Tsahkna’s historical parallel gains urgency from Trump’s contradictory signals about the summit. The president promised Monday to “try to get some territory back for Ukraine” while simultaneously warning there will be “some swapping, changes in land between Russia and Ukraine.”

The Alaska meeting comes after Trump’s self-imposed deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire, which expired Friday, without the additional sanctions he had threatened. Instead of punishment, Putin gets a summit — exactly the pattern that encouraged Hitler’s appetite in the 1930s.

Nordic-Baltic nations draw red lines

The warning escalated into collective action Sunday when eight Nordic and Baltic nations — Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden — released a joint statement with a clear message: “international borders must not be changed by force.”

Their statement declares: “No decisions on Ukraine without Ukraine, and no decisions on Europe without Europe.”

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys was blunt: “Ukraine’s borders, sovereignty and independence are non-negotiable. From Luhansk to Crimea, every inch belongs to the sovereign nation of Ukraine.”

Latvia’s Foreign Minister Baiba Braže warned, “Russian aggression must neither be rewarded nor justified. To this day, there has not been a single indicator on the part of Russia that would signal its genuine desire for peace and an end to aggression.”

The unified front reflects more profound European anxieties. As Tsahkna noted after Monday’s EU foreign ministers’ meeting, “26 member states expressed very unified positions” while warning that “the Munich Agreement that took place in 1938 cannot be allowed to happen again in Europe.”

Putin’s strategic gambit

Putin sees the meeting as a chance to cement Russia’s territorial gains and keep Ukraine out of NATO. Moscow’s conditions reveal the scope of its ambitions: Putin demands Kyiv cede the annexed regions and Crimea, renounce NATO membership, and limit its armed forces.

The meeting is a diplomatic coup for Putin, who has been isolated since the invasion. The Kremlin sought to portray renewed US contacts as two superpowers resolving global problems, with Ukraine being just one issue.

Europe mobilizes ahead of Alaska

Estonia’s warnings are spurring rapid diplomatic action. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to join a virtual meeting on Wednesday with Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and EU leaders — coordinated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to “discuss how to pressure Moscow ahead of Trump’s meeting with Putin.”

European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas warned that Putin wants to “go for the old-fashioned way of… let’s divide the territories and spheres of influence.” The frantic diplomacy reflects Estonia’s core fear: that Alaska could become 2025’s Munich moment without unified Western resolve.

Europe’s “without Ukraine” nightmare

The Baltic states’ urgency stems from fears that Ukraine might be excluded from its fate.

“Nothing can be agreed about Ukraine without Ukraine, and the same applies to Europe more broadly,” Tsahkna insisted. “The meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska on Friday will be one of the most important meetings in recent decades, and we will work very actively to ensure that our views are represented there.”

Stakes beyond Ukraine

For Estonia and its neighbors, Friday’s meeting tests whether the West learned 1938’s lessons. “Ukraine’s security is Europe’s security,” Tsahkna stressed, which is why Estonia has joined the UK-France coalition, which provides security guarantees to Ukraine.

In Minister Tsahkna’s words, the Alaska meeting will show whether it will be a “Churchill meeting” or a “Chamberlain meeting,” meaning whether Trump chooses Churchill’s resolve or Chamberlain’s appeasement.

The Trump-Putin summit is scheduled for 15 August in Alaska. It follows Trump’s expired deadline for Russia to halt attacks on Ukraine and comes amid reports that Putin has presented territorial concession proposals to the Trump administration.

On 12 August, 26 European leaders have reaffirmed Ukraine’s right to self-determination, with Moscow’s ally Hungary standing alone in its dissent. This collective stance comes as US President Trump prepares to meet Russian leader Putin in Alaska later this week, raising concerns over potential pressures on Ukraine to make territorial concessions to Russia, the aggressor state.

Before the upcoming Trump-Putin meeting, the European leaders’ statement emphasized that “the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine.“

European Union’s statement on Ukraine’s sovereignty

The European Union leaders issued the statement emphasizing Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity amidst the ongoing Russian invasion.

“We, the leaders of the European Union, welcome the efforts of President Trump towards ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and achieving a just and lasting peace and security for Ukraine,” the statement reads.

It underscored the importance of Ukraine’s freedom to decide its future, a principle that has garnered overwhelming support among EU nations.

The declaration from the European Council highlighted that “a just and lasting peace that brings stability and security must respect international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and that international borders must not be changed by force.”

This sentiment was echoed throughout the statement, emphasizing that “the people of Ukraine must have the freedom to decide their future.”

“Hungary does not associate itself with this Statement,” a final note in the statement reads.

A grassroots organisation in Alaska has called for a protest against the planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, scheduled for 15 August in the state.

Stand Up Alaska announced the demonstration will take place on 14 August in downtown Anchorage, one day before the high-stakes summit.

“Stand with us in Anchorage, Alaska, as we rally against the presence of an international war criminal in our great state. With the governor’s approval, the president has extended an invitation to Vladimir Putin, and we’re here to send a clear message to both Donald Trump and Putin: Alaska stands firmly against authoritarianism,” the organisation reported on its mobilisation platform.

The statement comes after the US President Donald Trump invited Russian President Vladimir Putinfor a peace talks which will take place on 15 August 2025 in the Great State of Alaska.

The summit comes amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to address the war in Ukraine. Trump has said any peace deal would involve “some swapping” of territory, a controversial prospect. European leaders rushed to understand the terms of the meeting and ensure Ukraine was not being left out of discussions about its future.

The White House is considering inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Alaska, according to NBC News. Online negotiations involving European leaders, the US, and Ukraine are planned for 13 August, one day before the scheduled protest and two days before the Trump-Putin meeting.

The demonstration in Alaska represents local opposition to what organisers characterise as accommodating an international pariah. Within an hour of Trump’s announcement, a protest was declared for 2 pm on that date in downtown Anchorage.

The protest organisers positioned their demonstration as a pro-Ukrainian initiative, using the hashtag #AlaskaStandsWithUkraine. “Join us in Anchorage, Alaska, to protest an international war criminal’s presence. Despite the governor’s support, the president invited Vladimir Putin. We’re here to tell Trump and Putin: Alaska opposes tyranny. #AlaskaStandsWithUkraine,” the group posted on Facebook.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy called Alaska “the most strategic location in the world.” The governor expressed support for hosting the summit in his state.

Social media users have suggested various forms of protest participation. Comments on Stand Up Alaska’s Facebook page included proposals for residents to display Ukrainian flag colours on rooftops and in yards, while others suggested welcoming signs reading “Welcome to Kyiv.”