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Ukrainian troops claim Kupiansk gains as Russian capture narrative unravels
Ukrainian forces have recaptured parts of Kupiansk and encircled a Russian grouping inside the city, only weeks after Moscow declared the northeastern rail hub had fallen. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to the frontline town on 12 December, as Kyiv argued…
Drone strike reported on Yaroslavl refinery as Russia cites overnight wave of attacks
A drone attack was reported overnight in Yaroslavl, north-east of Moscow, with social-media footage showing a fire in an industrial district and open-source accounts identifying one of Russia’s largest oil refineries as the apparent target. Yaroslavl lies more than 700…
Ukraine targets Russian Caspian oil platform in long-range drone strike
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has claimed responsibility for a long-range drone strike on a major Russian offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea, in what Ukrainian officials describe as the first attack of its kind on Russia’s hydrocarbon production infrastructure…
Putin’s ‘Novorossiya’ Rhetoric Returns as West Floats Territorial Deal
Vladimir Putin has brought the term “Novorossiya” back into his public vocabulary, declaring at a press conference in New Delhi that the “liberation” of both Donbas and “Novorossiya” by Russian forces is inevitable. The intervention comes as United States envoys…
Black Sea Attack: Ukrainian Naval Drones Hit Sanctioned Tanker Bound for Novorossiysk
Ukrainian Sea Baby naval drones have struck a sanctioned oil tanker described as part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” in the Black Sea, in the third reported attack on such vessels in two weeks. According to sources in Ukraine’s Security Service…
Ukraine, Russia and the Future of NATO: Europe Wakes Up to a Long War
Europe’s security debate is shifting from the language of “hybrid harassment” to that of a low-intensity war. A recent Financial Times analysis argues that Russia is conducting a systematic campaign of sabotage across the continent, using parcel bombs, arson, cyber…
Chernobyl Containment Shield Damaged in Drone Strike, IAEA Warns of Lost Safety Function
A protective steel shell built to contain the remains of Chernobyl’s destroyed Reactor 4 can no longer perform its main safety function following a drone strike earlier this year, the UN’s nuclear watchdog has confirmed. The International Atomic Energy Agency…
What the President of Finland keeps silent about and what Ukraine must shout about
Western faith in multilateralism and “value-based realism” conceals a deeper strategic crisis, Hanna Hopko argues, as Ukraine and other “in-between” states become the decisive battleground in an emerging global confrontation. Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote an article for Foreign Affairs…
“We Do Not Give Up Our Territory”: Syrskyi Sets Red Lines for Any Peace Deal
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, has given a detailed account of the current state of the war with Russia, describing a critical battle around Pokrovsk, a transformed battlefield dominated by drones, and a strategic reliance on deep strikes inside Russia…
Druzhba Pipeline Blast and Depot Fire Target Russian Oil Infrastructure
Ukrainian strikes have hit key oil infrastructure deep inside Russia in recent days, with an oil depot in Tambov region set ablaze, fuel tanks damaged in Voronezh region, and a separate sabotage attack reported against the Druzhba oil pipeline –…