Exclusives
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America has sided with Russia against Ukraine. Europe should stop pretending and build a coalition against Russia, China, and even the US. In three days, Washington sanctioned the court that issued Putin’s arrest warrant, lifted its own sanctions on Russian diesel, called for Zelenskyy to step down, and declared an “energy ceasefire” that asks only Ukraine to stop firing. These are not the acts of an ally. |
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Ukraine’s 3rd Army Corps took the lessons of the failed 2023 counteroffensive into Operation Vivaldi. It fought small, and won.. Five months in, it has erased 18 months of Russian advances toward Sloviansk. |
Military
Ukraine blocks Russia from outflanking its fortress cities in Donbas, retaking 277 square kilometers and hitting 8,000 Russian troops. “Four seasons of ‘Vivaldi’ are complete. But the music continues. Until we meet again!” the Third Army Corps noted.
Intelligence and technology
“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government”: Musk says Trump, not SpaceX, is behind cut hitting Ukraine. The ordinary Starlink on drones is capped at about 160 km/h, too slow for some missions, so faster flight needs the military StarShield version.
“Trump and Musk must be held accountable”: US senator warns Starlink network failing over Ukraine could cripple its shield against Russian missiles and drones. Ukraine’s air defense leans on Musk’s Starlink.
“Trump was looking for any opportunity to undermine our defense capabilities,” top Ukrainian volunteer, who supplied 291,502 FPV drones to front, says of sudden Starlink limit. Ukraine had stopped hitting Russian oil refineries as Trump asked, yet the Starlink limit still landed.
NATO country that pays for Kyiv’s Starlink warns Musk as his cap breaks Ukraine’s drone missions: “As your European customers, we are watching you”. “Are you playing politics with your products again?”, Poland’s foreign minister challenges Musk
Planned capacity of 12,000 interceptors a year, under 100 seconds to target: US firm pitches a low-cost drone killer. The fastest model cruises at 540 km/h, which may be enough to catch Russia’s jet Gerans, a defense news outlet suggests..
Ukraine-NATO AI built to forecast Russia’s front-line drone attacks from past data and weather is ready to plug into the army. Drone types, areas, time windows: the model was tested on real data. A second tool ranks artillery plans and is now in trials.
New Starlink restrictions disrupt Ukrainian drone missions. Kyiv adviser says move is tied to “political situation”. SpaceX may have imposed the restrictions at the Trump administration’s request, activist Serhii Sternenko suggested.
Ukrainian OSINT channel: Russia turned a bare field into a Geran-5 launch site in a month—and drones are already arriving. Eight launcher spots, 32 drone-prep pads, and a layout the channel likens to Tsymbulova, a Russian drone base Ukraine keeps striking.
Ukraine sent a spiked tank and a Bradley into Russian drone fire. The spikes held, and Ukraine’s own drones got them home. Armored vehicles aren't dead on arrival anymore on the drone-patrolled battlefield. Friendly drones can escort them to the fight.
International
“He thinks Ukraine is a weak link and that it needs to be squeezed into giving in”: diplomat on why Trump pressures Kyiv, not Moscow. Trump is using aid and intelligence as levers over Kyiv.
“It finances an economy geared toward total war”—Ukraine’s third president on the Russian diesel Washington just cleared. Viktor Yushchenko invokes the Budapest Memorandum and Pearl Harbor days after the US waived sanctions on Russian diesel until April 2027.
Humanitarian and social impact
Russia attacked Ukrainian retailer Epicentr’s warehouse 10 times in one day, destroying about 85% of goods, company says. The Khmelnytskyi hub had been effectively Epicentr’s only surviving large warehouse complex, after Russia destroyed its two largest logistics complexes in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast.
1,125 Kyiv residents injured in Russian attacks since the start of 2026, more than a third of them in five weeks from late August, Kyiv health chief says. Kyiv emergency medical teams have responded to 1,920 calls related to Russian attacks since the start of the year, according to the city’s health department head.
Ukraine warns of “a new type of humanitarian crisis” as Russia aims at its biggest cities. Even border and frontline oblasts are further along on resilience plans than the capital, Zelenskyy says.
Russia bombs Sloviansk’s warming center as the day’s attacks wound four Red Cross workers. The 250-kg bomb injured eight people and damaged five apartment blocks, and the wounded workers belonged to a Red Cross branch that had relocated from Lyman for safety
Three days after Washington announced an energy ceasefire, Russia fires 39 ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s grid. Zelenskyy says Russia has never shown America such disrespect. At least 600,000 people lost power, and four died in Kyiv.
New developments
Russia-linked bot networks kept their weekly rhythm after drone strikes on three Yandex data centers—disinformation monitor LetsData. One network that spread fake Die Welt sites now pushes a fake Ukrinform site about mobilization in Ukraine, its analysts found.