SIPRI reports global military spending hit $2.718T in 2024, up 9.4%—the sharpest rise since the Cold War. Europe and the Middle East led gains; NATO outlays reached $1.506T. Russia surged, Ukraine bore the heaviest burden, and Israel’s war costs spiked 65% overall.
Zelensky says fortified positions are the foundation for diplomacy, dismisses Moscow’s ceasefire talk as a stall, notes nearly 150 drones overnight and thousands of bombs, missiles and Shaheds since March 11, and urges tougher pressure, thanking Ukraine’s rescuers.
Kyiv’s view of Trump’s promised “peace deal” is shaped by rubble and funerals, not slogans. After the year’s deadliest strike on the capital, Nataliya Gumenyuk argues that Putin isn’t seeking peace and U.S. leverage over air defenses risks forcing a bad ceasefire.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha reports a massive wave of Russian missiles and drones striking Kyiv and other cities, framing it as deliberate attacks on civilians. His post is a call to keep global attention on Russia’s ongoing terror campaign and accountability.
After failing on the battlefield, Moscow shifted to cognitive war—seeding viral lies, funding U.S. influencers, and exploiting diaspora and EU networks—to stall aid and bend debate. The result: low-cost fakes reaching high offices and eroding support for Ukraine.
French priest Patrick Desbois, famed for documenting Holocaust mass graves, now records Russian-run torture in occupied Ukraine. His team concludes the FSB’s system aims to erase Ukrainian identity—meeting Genocide Convention criteria—and has filed evidence with EU courts
Facing massive armor losses, Russia is fielding 1950s-era GAZ-69 trucks—some with crude anti-drone cages—as assault transports. The move signals accelerating de-mechanization: civilian vehicles now fill combat roles, revealing shortages and rising battlefield risk.
After two Moscow meetings, Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told Tucker Carlson he found Putin “honest” and suggested Kyiv may need to relinquish occupied regions and NATO ambitions. Analysts blasted his remarks as recycling Kremlin narratives and misstatements about Kursk.
Russian President Putin orders military to capture Donetsk and Luhansk by March 2023, aligning with ISW’s forecast of a Russian offensive. Ukrainian intelligence reports redeployment of Russian forces. Despite efforts, ISW sees no evidence of restored Russian combat power to achieve objectives.
A film crew led by Portuguese war correspondent Antonio Mateus was attacked in Limany village, Ukraine. Journalist Andriy Kovalenko described the harrowing experience of fleeing while filming. Ukrainian authorities have opened 46 cases against Russian military crimes against journalists.
