Exclusives
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Can Europe buy independence for €1 trillion—or is that the wrong question? (INFOGRAPHICS). Rutte says true autonomy would require 10% of GDP—but deterring Russia costs far less. |
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AP: Russia traffics Bangladeshi workers to frontlines with fake job offers. Russia promised them jobs. Instead, they were sent to die. |
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A Russian soldier dressed as a penguin was doing a pretty good job avoiding thermal drones. Desperate to hide from heat-sensing drones, Russian troops are wearing some pretty silly thermal camouflage. But silly isn't the same as ineffective. |
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Europe must stop negotiating its own defeat. In 2024, Europe backed international law. Now it's negotiating Putin's demands. |
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Ukraine will build 7 million drones in 2026—and it still won't be enough. Manufacturing volume has roughly doubled every year since 2023 |
Military
"We hold the advantage": Ukrainian air assault crew downs 43 Russian drones in 72 hours near Pokrovsk (VIDEO). Single team destroys nearly $95,000 worth of Russian Mavics.
Poland became Europe's model for military buildup. Ukraine's war revealed why that might be problem. Russia's war evolved into something European armies can't handle.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry rewards bonuses to drone units based on battlefield results. Birds of Magyar tops leaderboard after 820,000 targets hit in 2025
Russia uses nuclear treaty expiration to pressure US into abandoning Ukraine peace efforts, ISW reports. The Kremlin is leveraging the New START treaty, set to expire in February 2026, as a bargaining chip to distract Washington from finalizing a peace settlement and convince the Trump administration to concede to Russian demands on Ukraine.
Drones now account for over 80% of all strikes on enemy targets, Zelenskyy announces. Official figures confirm that the UAVs overtook artillery as the primary means of destroying enemy forces, equipment, and positions.
Intelligence and technology
Russia and China deploy reconnaissance forces near Japan simultaneously and US air base.
Ukrainian drones forced a change. Russia now pays more per shell to fire from farther away. 1.1 million artillery rounds ordered. Long-range variants prioritized amid Ukrainian drone assaults.
Ukrainian RK-3 "Korsar" at Belarus KGB base raise questions about direct war involvement. Ukraine never exported these missiles. Now they're at the KGB base.
Security Service of Ukraine blocked 14,000 Russian attacks since 2022. More than 3,000 cyberattacks hit Ukraine in 2025, most targeting energy, transport, and defense enterprises, the Security Service reported
International
Germany puts €1 million on the table to unmask Berlin blackout arsonists. The public has until 24 February to submit tips on the early January attack that cut power to thousands of households in the German capital, with government sources saying the massive reward signals investigators currently have no leads on the perpetrators.
Ukraine reveals its foremost military needs for 2026 to French delegation in Kyiv. Ukraine also gave its representatives intelligence on Russia's 2026 plans.
Polish grassroots campaign delivers 230 generators to Kyiv as "Warmth from Poland" raises over $2mn in 10 days. Donated industrial units can power hospitals, schools, apartment buildings.
Germany says it can't spare more Patriots for Ukraine – while Russian ballistic attacks surge. Berlin has transferred over a third of its air defense capacity.
FT: Washington links Ukraine security deal to Donbas withdrawal. A senior Ukrainian official told the Financial Times that Washington "stops each time the security guarantees can be signed."
Slovakia sends generator trucks to Chernihiv and Sumy after raising over $620,000 in three days.
Humanitarian and social impact
Ukrainians liberated Auschwitz in 1945. But 70 years later, Russia built torture chambers in Ukraine. Holocaust killed 6 million. Russia's war kills thousands daily.
Russia is creating conditions for technogenic catastrophe, as generators can't save Ukraine's steel plants with 500K people involved. 400,000 jobs, 7.2% of GDP, $4.17 billion economic multiplier — all dependent on power that Russia is systematically destroying.
Repeated Russian strike causes "colossal" damage to Odesa energy infrastructure.
Russia strikes Odesa residential areas, leaves 80% of Kharkiv without power in overnight attacks. Russia launched a three-front infrastructure assault overnight 26-27 Jan., destroying apartments in Odesa where 22 were injured, plunging Kharkiv into emergency blackouts affecting 80% of the city and oblast, and leaving one woman injured in Mykolaiv
Read our earlier daily review here.
