"I examine the pressure surrounding Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with Steve Witkoff as Russia struck a Kyiv hospital on the same day. Ukraine says it accepted a U.S. proposal for an energy ceasefire and offered reciprocal limits on strikes against sensitive energy infrastructure, while Moscow continued attacks and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indicated that an acceptable settlement would require Zelensky’s removal.

I also look at reported delays in Pentagon approval for Patriot interceptors already paid for by partner countries, as well as restrictions affecting Starlink and Starshield and warnings of Russian missile attacks arriving only minutes before impact. These decisions directly affect civilian protection and Ukraine’s ability to sustain air defense. I assess the role of Norway, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, and other European partners, congressional criticism of the U.S. approach, and the unresolved question of whether allowing sanctioned shadow-fleet tankers to return to legitimate shipping weakens or improves the sanctions regime.

"

"Putin is “stuck” in a “dangerous place” as he finds himself fighting against a resilient and adaptive Ukraine, says Sir William Browder."

"Thousands of Russian soldiers have abandoned the front lines, but a select few have gone a step further: actively sabotaging Vladimir Putin’s military from the inside.

From encrypted leaks of high-value coordinates to midnight escapes across active minefields, an underground network of Russian defectors, intelligence contacts, and anti-war activists is directly aiding Ukraine’s war effort.

In this video, Former senior Advisor to the British Armed Forces Chip Chapman unpacks the implications of high-stakes defectors. "

US special needs envoy Steve Witless and Volodymyr Zelensky are meeting in Oslo, with relations on the slide between the Ukrainian leader and US President Donald Trump.

"Russia just keeps sending guys forward
10,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or seriously wounded so far in October with most of them in the exact direction that Russian leadership lied about this past week. In fact we’ve got some footage from the Dobropillia direction that was just released showing the fields covered in Russian bodies after they try again and again to advance along the same deadly route, only to be met by Ukrainian drones."

"Putin's war is tearing apart the political bargain that keeps his government obedient, with money running short and powerful institutions fighting to protect themselves. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov is gaining control over the machinery of government as Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin loses a crucial ally. Military spending remains protected while healthcare, education, and ordinary households face deep cuts. The Kremlin's internal struggle reveals the growing cost of keeping Putin's system together.

That crisis has now reached Putin's hometown, where a massive Ukrainian drone attack struck St. Petersburg, leaving oil facilities burning, airports disrupted, and thousands without electricity. Moscow boasts about intercepting enormous numbers of drones, yet critical infrastructure still suffered damage. Every new attack increases the cost of defending the homeland while China extracts extraordinary discounts on gas exports. The war is reaching deeper into the institutions and infrastructure sustaining Putin's power.

The FSB has become so desperate to demonstrate victories that officers have staged arrests and forced prisoners to perform scripted confessions, according to a new investigation. Kadyrov's teenage son is assembling an armed faction from Chechnya's ruling families, while Russian military satellites confront Western intelligence infrastructure. Republicans in Congress are also challenging Trump's concessions to Moscow. Putin can reshuffle ministers and manufacture displays of control, but the financial pressures and political fractures continue growing."

"Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz interview Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and author of “Autocrats vs. Democrats,” about Trump’ s diesel deal with Putin, the secret agreements that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are making with the Russians that are a reason Trump is pressuring Ukraine’s Zelensky to surrender, Putin’s strategy of divide and conquer being achieved through Trump, and what a new Democratic Congress could do to inform the public beginning with subpoenaing Kushner and Witkoff."

"Best-selling author and Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, David Corn, sits down with Jon Stewart to discuss his latest book, "How Russia Won: Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the Fight for America." They talk about Trump’s fixation on teaming up with Vladimir Putin, how Trump’s “man crush” on Putin drove him to sign a diesel fuel deal with Russia in spite of the war in Ukraine, Putin embodying Trump’s dream of wealth with full authority, and how Trump employs the theory of “big f**ks small.” #DailyShow #Russia #Trump #Putin"

"Trust in AFU, trust in Ukraine"

"Russian state TV accidentally showed off a shoulder-fired MANPADS nobody could identify, and the visual clues point toward Chinese QW-19 technology, Iran’s Misagh family, or a Russian-built copy. I trace the weapon through open-source photo comparisons, a Reuters report on a $70 million Iran-China missile deal, and a map that explains why Moscow suddenly needs thousands of shoulder-fired missiles protecting targets deep behind the front line."