Lesia Dubenko

For some Ukrainians, Secretary Rubio's aid suspension threatens vital support programs serving thousands. For others, it offers a chance to clean house.

If Trump chooses to, then he has all “the tools to really hurt Putin”, but he needs to be fully convinced. The best person to convince him is none other than Putin himself.

Potential Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will have their fates decided this week

Russia's goal is to render Ukraine a vassal state - the first step towards reassembling the old Russian Empire, says James Gilmore, who served as US Ambassador to OSCE during the first Trump administration.

Putin is too old for peace deal in Ukraine and plans to seize more territory within 18 months, says Michael DiCianna, a research fellow at the Institute of World Politics in Washington.

His latest interview with the NYT is filled with self-praise on how the Biden administration managed the Russo-Ukraine war. But a critical assessment shows a slightly different picture of what has happened over the years.

"You put all of your eggs into the Democratic basket; now you need to improvise," says Filip Styczynski, a former TVP World chief now directing operations at Washington's Center for Intermarium Studies.

"All these Russian sabotages, undersea cables being cut off, and arson attacks. How much more needs to be done for Europe to actually respond?"

But it may not be all doom and gloom for Putin’s regime - or his war on Ukraine

Nothing has been able to convince Europe to step up, leaving Putin in precisely the position that he wants to be, which is with large parts of Europe helpless before him, says Keir Giles.

A combination of falling oil prices and unrestricted military aid to Ukraine could expose Russia as a "hollow shell" that Trump could effectively pressure, explains Dr. Fred Hoffman, who spent three decades in military and intelligence before moving to academia.

Romania's establishment was stunned when TikTok-powered outsider Călin Georgescu leapt from 6% in polls to 22.94% in Sunday's presidential vote, but former foreign ministry counselor Eusebiu Slavitescu sees social media algorithms at work, not shifting allegiances.

Only seven of Europe's NATO members now fall short of minimum defense spending targets, but they include economic powerhouses Italy ($2.0 trillion GDP) and Spain ($1.4 trillion).

Ukraine sees opportunity in Trump's seemingly contradictory cabinet picks: hawks in charge of foreign policy, while controversial anti-Ukraine nominees face Senate blockade.