Anders Östlund

Zelensky stood 1.3 km from Russian positions and 500 meters from the gray zone during his Kupyansk visit, DeepState map shows.

Putin: "We've taken Kupyansk"

Zelensky: "Here I am in Kupyansk"

The United States has a clear message for you: Don't come and visit.
Tourism to the U.S. will evaporate.

Will be nice for Austrians, Belgians, Hungarians and Slovaks to, for the rest of their lives, carry the shame of having been on Russia's side in its genocidal war against Ukraine. We remember few things as well as who did what and who supported who during a war.

President Orban? Hungary’s Leader Plots Post-Election Future Trailing in the polls, the EU’s longest-serving leader and nationalist firebrand is considering how to stick around.

Orban's plan to abolish democracy altogether in Hungary and appoint himself to life time all-powerful president?

Keep in mind that the Russian "opposition" saw two major problems with the war in Ukraine: 1. That their army was too corrupt to get the job done properly, and 2. That they, the "opposition" would have a harder time getting visas to the EU.

Navalnaya is at best irrelevant, but more likely she is part if the problem. No mention of Ukraine when talking "difficult moment". What an idiot or, worse, chauvinist she is.

They Droned Back Young journalists expose Russian-linked vessels circling off the Dutch and German coast

"Seven German journalism students tracked Russian-crewed freighters lurking off the Dutch and German coast—and connected them to drone swarms over military bases."
Well done by the students. How come the authorities didn't figure this out? Or did they just not tell us about it?

Whatever is agreed by Ukraine with the US or Russia, both superpowers will anyway break the agreement like the Budapest one. Never trust a superpower. That is the reason they force smaller parties to sign agreements: to humilitate and rob them.

EU plans to treat Belgium like Hungary if it doesn’t back Ukraine loan Frozen out and cold-shouldered: The reality facing Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever if he torpedoes the EU’s plan.

The pro-Russia Belgium PM is about to come under real pressure to break with his master in the Kremlin.

EU approves legal workaround to sideline Orbán, keep Russian assets frozen forever The EU’s decision undermines the Kremlin’s hopes of unfreezing the money under a post-war peace settlement.

Very big, and mostly positive news. Should get more attention.

Putin is winning because he has reactivated his assets in the West. If not for them he would have lost long ago.

The worse it gets, the more aggressive Russia will become. Ukraine is well aware of this but the rest of Europe should prepare for events that will look just like the worst possible terrorist attacks, with Russian deniability as part of the plan.

Most Ukrainians oppose major concessions to Russia, even as Donald Trump claims the public wants a quick deal and is pressuring Kyiv to pursue a negotiated settlement.

www.kyivpost.com/post/66053

The EU aims to agree by Friday on a long-term freeze of Russian central bank assets, a major legal shift that would remove the need to renew the freeze every six months. This would block veto threats from Hungary or Slovakia and pave the way for using the €210B as collateral for loans to Ukraine.

None of the clever banks appears to consider the risk that Russia wins the war and keeps moving west. Then we can talk about pretty high risks.

🇺🇦🇪🇺🇺🇸 In 2025, Kyiv received the least military support from its partners during the entire war. European aid more than halved: €4.24 billion in the fall compared to an average of €9.9 billion earlier, — EurActiv.

Tankers full of unsellable Russian oil continue to flood the world's oceans.

The longer it sits, the lower the price goes.

There will be street protests all over Hungary. One reason Orban is joining the rush to get Ukraine to surrender is that he needs Putin's and Trump's support to stay in power.

Notice that Europe is not part of the suggested five.

My guess is that russians will massively protest only when there will be empty shelves in shops.

Have empathy with Ukraine. Think you are a mother who hear your children being beaten, raped or murdered in the room next to yours, would you stop fighting for them?

I am thinking that Russians might only react when their lives are at risk. No water, no heating, no electricity, shortage of food might cut it though. Maybe when those resources are cut off the Russians will come out in the streets. Who will eventually be in charge after that? Maybe another crook?

What we have to wait for is for the average Russian (or whatever is left of the elite) to protest. I wonder when Russians will have had enough. Millions of casualties is clearly not enough. Losing international middle class status is not enough either. Running out of gasoline will not do it either.

Don't believe the Russian welfare fund will ever run dry though. It might decrease more but never run dry. Kremlin will tighten the belt instead. They rather starve some Russians to death than empty the coffer completely. There will still be meat to throw into battle too, Kremlin will force them.

It's not just the state coffers to watch in Russia. Companies, households, banks, regional governments - they are all about to run out of money at the same time. Could be a perfect storm coming.

One thing the fascists have in common is that they lie almost all the time. It was the same with the Nazis. Lying, lying and more lying. Truth is really a victim of fascism. No wonder they hate serious media so much.

Ukraine has halted a Russian oil platform in the Caspian Sea. SBU used long-range drones to strike Lukoil’s Filanovsky platform, causing at least 4 hits. The attack shut down oil and gas extraction from over 20 wells. “Any facility aiding Russia’s war is a legitimate target,” one SBU source said.

Chances are that if Zelenskyy retires there will be a more energetic president in his place, someone who will be much more aggressive. The Ukrainian people are probably way less interested in compromises compared with Zelenskyy.

I am waiting for European leaders to tell us the truth about the United States. The U.S. is becoming a hostile fascist state and we have to be prepared to deal with it. The U.S. is gone as an ally.