August 2026

August 30, 2026

Featured • Ukraine Buckling: New Russian Strike Strategy Savages Kiev Round-the-Clock as True Motives of CIA Moscow Visit Revealed, Simplicius, Aug 29, 2026

Now to tie it all together.

It’s obvious that European forces wish to engineer an escalation of some kind in order to save Ukraine, which is now being pummeled and finished off by Russia.

We have seen Ukraine’s budget shortfall means Kiev is increasingly wasting its precious few resources on an ineffective strike campaign against Russian warehouses and refineries. Now Russia is ratcheting up its own far more devastatingly impactful strikes in a number of ways: from churning out far more jet-powered Geran drones, new types of Iskander missiles, and new batches of North Korean ballistics as well.

...It appears more and more likely, then, that the CIA director’s true mission to Moscow was essentially an attempt to stop Russia from finishing off Ukraine. There are multiple possibilities for how this could have worked. One of them is that he carried with him an implied threat of European escalation. By warning Russia not to escalate against Europe, he may have instead dropped the obvious hint that Russia itself would be forced into a European escalation if Russia does not back its foot off the gas on Ukrainian strikes.

...Evidence is mounting that everything playing out today is downstream of Russia’s escalated campaign to wipe out Ukrainian logistics. Even top pro-UA analysts have figured this out:

...Read the last bolded portion again: Ratcliffe’s visit was essentially to beg Russian officials to convince Putin into negotiations.

It’s now clear: Ukraine is dying, and the West is truly becoming desperate in ending the war.

August 29, 2026

 • VIPS MEMO: Dangerous Talk of Putin’s ‘Loss’ in Ukraine, Consortium News, Aug 28, 2026

August 28, 2026

Featured • Why Russia Is Winning, Peter Haenseler, SONAR21, Aug 28, 2026
Good overview.

Featured • Ratcliffe’s Moscow Trip: A Visit Before the Storm, Prof. Glenn Diesen, Glenn Diesen's Substack, Aug 28, 2026

Featured • Funny Media Speculations About CIA Ratcliffe’s Russia Visit, Moon of Alabama, Aug 28, 2026
Funny, if not so serious. The NYT spins and twists to maintain its overall narrative about Ukraine.

August 27, 2026

 • Germany wants to fund UK nukes – Telegraph, RT, Aug 27, 2026

 • UK military sites could become targets – Moscow, RT, Aug 27, 2026

British military facilities and equipment in Ukraine and beyond could become legitimate targets for Russian strikes if Kiev continues to use UK-supplied weapons for attacks on Russian territory, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned.

The comments come amid rapidly deteriorating relations between Moscow and London, and a day after Ukrainian forces reportedly used British-French Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles in a strike on Donetsk that wounded at least eight civilians, including two children.

“We have repeatedly warned that the response to Ukrainian strikes using British weapons against Russian territory could be directed against any British military facilities and equipment in Ukraine and beyond,” Zakharova said during a press briefing on Thursday.

Those responsible for attacks on Russian civilians will be punished, she added, warning that their “accomplices and instigators” will also face consequences.

Zakharova accused successive British governments of pursuing a long-term objective of inflicting a so-called “strategic defeat” on Russia, and urged “all residents of the United Kingdom to think about the inevitable, catastrophic consequences of the hostile steps taken by their own authorities.”

Ukraine strikes Donetsk with Storm Shadow missiles – governor (VIDEO)

The spokeswoman called on the British government to “immediately, decisively and unequivocally” abandon its aggressive policies that threaten to push the conflict “to a fundamentally new level.”

Earlier this week, Britain approved the transfer of classified technology needed to help Ukraine assemble Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles domestically.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by accusing Britain of “participating in this war on the side of the Kiev regime” and warning that Russian forces are gathering intelligence on sites involved in producing missiles and other military equipment in Ukraine in order to destroy them.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also warned last week that Moscow has “every right to regard the proudly proclaimed direct involvement of British missile forces in strikes against Russia as participation in the war, with all the consequences that entails.”

Repeated claims that Ukraine is about to turn the tide against Russia and achieve a military victory are like being trapped in a time loop, a former White House official has told RT. The latest wave of media reports predicting a breakthrough in Kiev’s military campaign came on the heels of an escalation in Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian oil refineries, retail warehouses, and cargo ships. Ukrainian officials claimed the attacks would pressure Moscow into accepting Kiev’s terms for a peace settlement.

Russia instead intensified its own strikes, virtually paralyzing crucial Ukrainian trade through Black Sea ports and inflicting other damage. On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin said Kiev was the one that “opened Pandora’s box.” “I feel like the old American movie ‘Groundhog Day’,” conservative media host Steve Gill, who served in the office of the US Trade Representative under Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, told RT.

“How many times do we have to hear, ‘oh, it’s the spring offensive, the fall offensive, the summer offensive, the winter offensive that is going to win things for Ukraine? And it is the same cycle of promise and despair, promise and failure that, again, has done nothing but cost the lives of both Russian and Ukrainian men and increasingly women,” he added. Gill also suggested that Ukrainians who want to end the hostilities are in no position to do so because the country does not determine its own foreign policy.

“The ones who are making the decisions in Western Europe – and some in the United States, some who have the ear of President [Donald] Trump – are feeding misinformation and disinformation both through media and through the policymakers that is continuing the violence, continuing the death, and continuing this folly of Ukraine thinking that they’re somehow winning on the battlefield when nothing could be further from the truth,” he explained.

August 25, 2026

Featured • Dependence Day, Tarik Cyril Amar, Aug 25, 2026
If you could only read one article about Ukraine, read this one.

Featured • Is Europe ready for Ukraine’s defeat?, Michael von der Schulenburg, RT, Aug 25, 2026

European NATO states are only harming Ukraine with their illusions of victory and wonder weapons, and must finally base their policy on a more realistic assessment of how the war is unfolding. It is therefore time to consider what would happen if the Ukrainian army’s resistance were to collapse one day and Russia were to capture Kharkov and Odessa as well. Any remnant of Ukraine that remained would scarcely be viable. It must be in the top interest not only of Ukraine but also of its Western backers to prevent such a scenario. But how?

Certainly, this cannot be prevented through direct military intervention by NATO. This would make the situation only much worse – also for Ukraine – as such a course of action would inevitably entail the risk of a nuclear war, which nobody can win. Diplomacy therefore remains the only realistic option. After almost five years of war, it is high time that the European NATO states actively sought dialogue with Russia. Germany – given its role as the strongest country in the EU, its geographical location, and its historical responsibility – should take the first step.

To move beyond the entrenched positions of both governments, an initial rapprochement through a civil-society initiative involving respected and influential figures may be advisable. Such an approach could open a first, cautious pathway toward renewed understanding after years of silence and mutual demonization. Europe needs peace, and lasting peace can only be achieved with Russia, not against it.

There is not much time left for this.

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 with a goal of excising the Russian-speaking Donbas region, American and Western European officials have repeatedly said they and their countries are duty-bound to support Ukraine because, as Nancy Pelosi put it, “The battle for Ukraine is a battle for democracy itself.” That notion has been growing ever more farcical over time, as President Volodymyr Zelensky refuses to hold elections that were supposed to happen back in the spring of 2024. Over the weekend, Zelensky doubled down on his preference for martial law, telling journalists it would “destroy the country.”

Speaking to a group of journalists over the weekend, Zelensky firmly rejected calls for elections in his supposed bastion of democracy: “I believe that if we want to destroy the country, then during such a war we can move in the selection of elections… I believe that during such a war, elections in general are big risks. Elections right now are a tsunami for the state that will split Ukraine.” Zelensky pointed to the logistical and security challenges of balloting during wartime, noting that it would require “the participation of the military, in frontline territories, abroad, where millions of our citizens have gone, fleeing the war” and the risk of “strikes and shelling.”

The subtle threat of the Vatican’s scheme is that the resources offered by the papacy are de facto tied to conservative circles within the American 'deep state'. At the same time, the Holy See is attempting to legitimize a permanent ideological foothold and cordon sanitaire in the 'fragments of Ukraine' under the shadowy control of representatives of the European 'black aristocracy'. Given that the Russian Orthodox Church lacks sufficient room to maneuver under severe sanctions pressure, Rome is convinced that Moscow will lose this order’s bargaining game through subtle psychological maneuvering due to the lack of personnel figures of comparable intellectual caliber.

The EU keeps providing “loans” to Ukraine despite knowing that its government will never repay them, the country’s former prime minister, Nikolay Azarov, has said. In a post on X on Sunday, Vladimir Zelensky called funding the Ukrainian military one of the “major challenges” his government is currently facing. “A lot of money is needed,” he wrote. Making sure that the second tranche of a €90 billion ($105 billion) transfer approved by the EU earlier this year arrives in Ukraine is “an extremely difficult task,” but he is working on it with Germany and France, Zelensky stressed.

In an interview with RT on Saturday, Azarov said that “loans and Western assistance that amounts to about three-fourths of the state budget of Ukraine are covering the budget deficit, funding arms purchases and sponsoring the Nazi terrorist and corrupt regime.” When the European Commission and major EU countries, who have been the main supporters of Ukraine after US President Donald significantly reduced American aid to Kiev, “grant these loans, they know that they won’t get this money back,” he said.

“And this causes some irritation among EU bureaucrats because they understand that the money of the American and European taxpayers is being embezzled in a very outrageous manner,” the former prime minister said. Inside the Ukrainian government, there is “an organized criminal group that embezzled the funds that Ukraine received as part of these loans,” he said. According to Azarov, that is the reason why EU ambassadors held a meeting in Kiev with the investigators of the Western-backed National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and “supported actions to expose corruption in the country,” particularly in Zelensky’s office.

August 24, 2026

Featured • Ukraine at 35, RT, Aug 24, 2026
Good compilation of perspectives on three themes from the RT team. The greatest single barrier to U.S.-Russian relations, although at this point the foundational anti-Russian perspectives that lie beneath this conflict should be obvious to all. Let's be frank. Since Clinton, the aim has been the conquest of Russia, the permanent destruction of Russian sovereignty, one way or another. But sovereignty is not allowed in general, if it threatens U.S. hegemony, aka the "rules based international order."

Featured • The West on the Path to World War, Prof. Glen Diesen, Glenn Diesen's Substack, Aug 20, 2026

The most important question of social systems is what creates order by managing competing interests? In international security, we must therefore ask the question: How do we manage the competing security interests of states?

We have not asked this question in a long time as the post-Cold War world order was organised around the collective hegemony of the West. A hegemonic system does manage competing security interests of states, rather it seeks stability, order and peace through dominance. However, that hegemony is now gone and we must yet again address competing security interests of states.

...

As the West prepares itself for perpetual war with the promise of delivering perpetual peace, the rules that legitimised the hegemon will be sacrifised. Freedom of speech, freedom of navigation, the rules of international financial system, international trade, and other rules that ensured an open and connected world are being burned down. What were sacred principles are abandoned with the support of jihadist groups, fascist groups and by even making genocide acceptable. Diplomacy is dismissed as appeasement and even the fear of nuclear war is casually dismissed as giving in to nuclear blackmail.

By rejecting a system that seeks order and peace by managing competing security interests, the West has chosen war to restore its unattainable hegemonic peace.

The UK has announced plans to give Ukraine classified data to allow it to produce long-range missiles domestically.

Britain is directly participating in the Ukraine conflict and actively working to prolong it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said, responding to London’s announced plans to provide Kiev with classified technical information needed to assemble long-range cruise missiles domestically.

According to a Downing Street press release published on Sunday, the UK government has authorized European defense manufacturer MBDA to release classified information concerning UK-made components for SCALP, the French-produced version of Britain’s Storm Shadow. The air-launched missiles use shared French and British technology and have a range exceeding 250 km.

Kiev “let the genie out of the bottle” by striking economic infrastructure, and is now reaping the retaliation, the Russian president has said.

Ukraine is facing a “catastrophic scenario” from Russian retaliatory strikes after it “opened Pandora’s box” with its attacks on economic and civilian infrastructure, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.

In spring, Kiev sharply escalated its long-range drone attacks on Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure, thereafter extending the strikes to e-commerce warehouses and civilian logistics facilities. Russia retaliated by targeting Black Sea shipping and key port facilities it said were handling Ukraine’s military-related imports, effectively severing the country’s main export route.

Kiev is now reaching out through intermediaries to try to “prevent this situation from developing into a catastrophic scenario,” Putin said in an interview with Russia 1. However, their trajectory is apparent, he added.

Ukraine initiated this with its “massive missile and drone strikes on our civilian targets and logistics,” the president stated.

It has opened Pandora’s box itself.

Russia’s retaliation struck Ukraine’s “most sensitive economic sectors,” including agricultural exports, which are its main source of revenue, Putin said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has “questions to answer” about corruption in his government, his sacked defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has told the BBC. Fedorov, a popular minister who modernised the armed forces and pioneered drone warfare, was fired last month after reportedly falling out with the head of Ukraine’s armed forces. He told the BBC a money laundering investigation announced last week raised questions about Zelensky’s awareness of potential corruption in his inner circle.

Fedorov also reiterated that “democracy should not be the hostage of Putin” – but stopped short of declaring his own political ambitions days after he posted a video calling for elections in Ukraine. There were angry protests over his sacking but his support dwindled and demonstrations ended on Wednesday, after Fedorov’s replacement was confirmed. His call for a wartime vote has been largely rejected. Asked whether he missed his old job, the 35-year-old replied “No”, citing the relentless stress of managing Ukraine’s war with Russia while transforming its defence ministry.

The politics of Vladimir Zelensky’s Ukraine remain a smelly swamp, producing a ceaseless seepage of scandals occasionally percolating to the surface in big, toxic bubbles that pop with a noxious stink.

...Ukraine does not need personnel change; it needs a massive reset.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that Berlin has concluded an agreement with the United States to purchase Tomahawk conventional cruise missiles and ground-based Typhon Mid-Range Capability launchers for permanent deployment on German territory. The procurement agreement, formalized through a Letter of Intent signed at the NATO Summit in Ankara, establishes a sovereign, German-financed and German-operated long-range precision strike force to replace a halted U.S. Army deployment plan. This acquisition systematically expands the strike radius of the Bundeswehr up to 2,500 kilometers, filling a critical conventional deterrence gap against regional deep-depth infrastructure without relying on combat aircraft or allied launch authority.

August 16, 2026

Featured • Ukraine's Air Defense Crisis Turns Global as Russian Ferocity Puts Country on Brink, Simplicius, Aug 8, 2026
Clearly the gloves have come off in Russia. Ukraine -- and NATO -- have sown the wind. Ukraine is now reaping the whirlwind. Instead of forcing Russian oligarchs to get rid of Putin, Ukraine's air campaign is rallying Russians around him and creating the political conditions for the destruction of YOUR country. Zelensky: please, please spare what is left of Ukraine by giving up all 5 contested provinces, declaring neutrality, and purging the Nazis. If you don't do that Ukraine may lose Odessa and the Black Sea coast. Even sooner, sudden poverty and pain will be widespread. Meanwhile, the loss of lives on both sides creates bitterness, as it has since time immemorial, which complicates the future for everybody. The continuity of U.S. policy there is more striking than its supposed change under Trump. A bloodthirsty Congress is very much at fault as well. Western strategy-making is deeply bent, because it is focused at bottom on hurting Russia, rather than creating security for Ukraine. Ukrainians have been easy to manipulate, after fanning the flames of hatred for so long. When will Ukrainians come to understand that NATO doesn't care whether they live or die? One lesson we need to draw for ourselves: if you hand over your country to a cabal self-interested oligarchs, it is very hard to get it back.

 • Russian top diplomat’s takes on why Ukraine conflict cannot be halted along contact line, TASS, Aug 14, 2026

Moscow will not stoop to Kiev’s methods but will take much tougher measures to destroy everything that fuels the Ukrainian military machine from the West: “We will not stoop to Kiev’s methods, but we will toughen our own measures to dismantle everything the West uses to sustain its military machine. We are already doing so, and they are beginning to feel the pressure.” More and more voices from across the region are “calling for an immediate halt”: “That will not be an option. We need to stop only once there is a long-term, reliable and sustainable settlement.”

Resurgence of Nazism in Europe

“Metastases of Nazism” are appearing in German society under Chancellor Friedrich Merz who openly speaks of the need to make Germany Europe’s leading military power again: “Does he understand what the word ‘again’ means in this case? I am not sure.” The European Union has portrayed itself as the “Fourth Reich” and is blackmailing Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic by exploiting his commitment to European integration: “The pressure is brazen and outrageous. They act as if they are already the ‘Fourth Reich.'”

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has for years bragged about its interception rate of Russian drones and missiles. Each day it published how many drones and missiles the Russian side had fired, and how many of those the Ukrainian side had wiped off the skies.

The Ukrainian ‘success’ rate was far above of what any others country’s air defense would hope to achieve.

...I am not aware of anyone who did believe those numbers. The news items did however contribute to the western media narrative of “Ukraine is winning“.

It did not take long for that delusion to evaporate. Ukraine, and more or less all of NATO, has run out of air-defense missiles. It no longer has the capability to even touch low-and-slow flying cruise missiles.

August 8, 2026

 • Ukraine Faces Growing Air Defense Crisis As Patriot Supplies Dwindle, ZeroHedge, Aug 8, 2026

August 7, 2026

Featured • HIROSHIMA 81: SCOTT RITTER — Let It Remind Us, Consortium News, Aug 6, 2026

Faced with the inevitability of conventional military defeat in either of these scenarios, the administration of President Donald Trump has undertaken a review of U.S. nuclear posture with an eye toward making it easier for the United States to employ tactical nuclear weapons in the early phases of any future war with either Russia or China.

This is, of course, the exact opposite direction one should be taking under the current conditions.

Let Hiroshima be the reminder.

There is no greater need than the present moment for the soothing balm of nuclear arms control. The fact that the United States has willfully embarked on a Highway to Hell condemns the rest of the world — especially Russia and China — to join us.

If the great minds of America seem impervious to the inevitability of nuclear Armageddon, blinded as they are by the consequences of a failing Empire and a desire to hold on to power regardless of the consequence, then the source of new and novel thinking regarding arms control must come from elsewhere — from Russia and China.

Because there will be no victors in a nuclear war. The destination that the Highway to Hell arrives at will result in global catastrophe. Let Hiroshima remind us.

August 6, 2026

Featured • Pentagon draws up new nuclear weapons strategy for war with Russia and China, Natasha Leake, The Telegraph, Aug 5, 2026

 • Russian Missiles Pound Kyiv, Killing at Least 17 People, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Aug 5, 2026
A different story than yesterday re the UAVs. What is true?

August 5, 2026

Featured • NATO is being installed into Ukraine’s military, RT, Aug 5, 2026

If Ukraine’s military capability increasingly depends on production facilities, engineering teams, software, financing, and logistics distributed across several European countries, then the conflict can no longer be viewed solely through the prism of military operations inside Ukraine. The challenge becomes broader than the battlefield itself.

This does not automatically dictate a single response. It does, however, suggest that military operations alone are unlikely to address every element of the system that has emerged over the past several years. Industrial cooperation, technology transfer, logistics, financing, and political decision-making become part of the same strategic equation.

That, ultimately, may be the most important consequence of the trends described above.

The debate is no longer limited to how many tanks, missiles, or drones Western countries are prepared to deliver to Ukraine. Increasingly, it concerns the emergence of a military-industrial network in which Ukrainian companies, European manufacturers, and NATO technological standards are becoming interconnected.

Pandora’s box, as the saying goes, is far easier to open than to close.

Of course, it is shocking to see how western élites can be manipulated through relentless PR. Yet Wolff’s comments are more than gossip column triviality. They reflect a mass psychosis taking hold. It is not rational, but rather is pushed by interests and monied cabals that have their own purposes.

Look at the pattern...

And so, today, the ‘hard men’ who have never heard a shot fired in anger, such as Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen, cheer as Trump trudges up the escalation ladder. The ever-present nuclear risk has now, as we have seen, been joined by the risk of a wider war.

Should it arrive, the conflagration between East and West so desired by Zelensky (the risks of which even the usually comatose New York Times now seems vaguely aware) will ultimately pit the old order against the new. The former will be buttressed by a movement now well underway by middle and small powers toward neutrality, in the manner of the non-aligned movement of the Cold War era.

The American people and their leaders remain blind to these emerging realities at their peril. As the 2028 presidential race comes into view, one measure of political maturity will be the extent to which a candidate understands the stakes in the battle between the old order and the new, and can communicate the consequences of our current position clearly and without resort to the puerile pandering of American exceptionalism that has done so much to infantilize our politics and limit our possibilities as a country.

In the end, the new legislation is unlikely to be the knockout blow that forces Putin to give up on his core demands. The tariff provision may affect Russian oil and gas income on the margins, but its effect will be limited by the Trump administration’s higher priority political goals. Russia’s economy is under strain, but it can withstand the modest costs that Graham’s sanctions bill will impose while sustaining the war effort.

More importantly, the legislation’s underlying premise — that increased economic pressure is the key to ending the war in Ukraine — is as incorrect today as it was back in 2022. Putin has made clear time and again that he is willing to pay a very high price to achieve what he considers to be an acceptable outcome in Ukraine. He views the war as existential, for Russia and for himself personally, and has been largely insensitive to economic levers since the conflict began. This is unlikely to change.

In fact, the new legislation is much more likely to strengthen Russia’s resolve and work against peace. It may do this in two ways. First, it fuels Putin’s narrative that the conflict in Ukraine is really a war between Russia and the West, a storyline that can shore up domestic support and that increases the risks that the war eventually widens. Second, it confirms for Moscow that the United States is not actually interested in peace or in serving as a mediator but rather continues to harbor Biden administration-era hopes of weakening Russia over the long-term.

Many in the U.S. Congress probably realize this but will vote for the bill anyway, a virtue signaling gesture taken at the expense of the voters who elected them. In fact, if there is a loser from this legislation it will be the United States, which will face economic uncertainty and the loss of geopolitical influence as more countries tire of the United States using the dollar as a weapon and look for alternatives.

From the June 11th London visit that preceded the G7 assembly in Paris, things have not made sense when you compare Western narrative to the reality of events. The removal of Stefanishyna is simply just another datapoint. Western media say Ukraine has turned the tide on the war against Russia. Reality – Russia has methodically gained ground in Eastern Ukraine.

Western media say Ukraine has exceptional drone building and technological capabilities to share with allies. To highlight this expertise Ukraine held a drone exposition in Kiev; Russia blew it up killing hundreds of contractors. Media went silent. Ukraine drones attack Wildberries warehouses. Russia blows up drone manufacturing factories. Western media say Ukraine drone capabilities are the most remarkable testimonial to their military effectiveness. Zelenskyy fires the Minister of Defense responsible for the drone capabilities.

Western media say Ukraine is effective in stopping the Russian advancements in the Donbas region. Zelenskyy fires the military general in command of the Ukraine military in the Donbas. Western media say Ukraine long-range drones are striking deep into Russian oil refining capacity. Zelenskyy says he needs to build drone and missile factories in Great Britain. If you want to evaluate the war, go back to the timing of events right after Zelenskyy last went to London and met with King Charles. It was a few days before the G7 summit in Paris. Go back to that exact date and then read the headlines on Ukraine/Russia from that date to today.

If you can be emotionally disconnected from the spin, and just focus on what the headlines would mean in every other timeframe, what you will notice is that Ukraine is panicking. Every move is a panic move from that London visit to today. Every Russian move exists silently, almost in isolation from Western media. Every Ukraine move exists loudly, coordinated and promoted for maximum media value. It looks like an intelligence influence operation. Go look.

August 4, 2026

Featured • Disastrous End to Zelensky's 40-Day Operation Exposes a Dwindling Ukraine, Simplicius, Aug 3, 2026
As always, compare and contrast. I think the overall vector deduced is correct. It's a mistake to project U.S. attitudes toward discomfort and risk onto Russia.

August 3, 2026

Featured • Zelensky is Ukraine’s main problem – ex-spokeswoman, RT, Aug 3, 2026

Vladimir Zelensky has become Ukraine’s biggest problem and the principal beneficiary of the conflict with Russia, his former press secretary Yulia Mendel has said. She accused the Ukrainian leader of clinging to power by canceling elections and suggested that he is turning a blind eye to his inner circle engaging in rampant corruption.

Mendel, who served as Zelensky’s spokeswoman from 2019 to 2021, made the remarks in an interview with French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche published on Sunday. She delivered a wide-ranging attack on her former boss, accusing him of enabling corruption, authoritarian drift, and prolonging the conflict for his own political survival.

...Asked about media narratives suggesting that Kiev was gaining the upper hand in the conflict, Mendel disagreed. “Even if Russia is losing, it doesn’t mean Ukraine is winning. And Russia is not losing,” she said, adding that Moscow is adapting to long-range drone strikes.

The former spokeswoman urged the West to “stop this war” and “save Ukraine.” She cited Finland’s 1940 Winter War settlement with the Soviet Union as a model for a peace deal, noting that the country ceded territory but “saved its state, its people, and its freedom.”

Mendel has been a fierce critic of Zelensky, claiming in May that the Ukrainian leader’s drug use is “an open secret” in Kiev’s corridors of power. She also suggested that Ukraine’s delegation had been ready to accept “all of Russia’s demands” at the Istanbul talks in 2022 before Western pressure derailed the deal.

The strike on a crowded beach area near Gelendzhik also wounded around 40 people and damaged civilian infrastructure, according to Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.

Six people, including three children, have been killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a crowded beach area near the Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik, according to Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev.

The strike wounded around 40 people, 17 of whom were hospitalized, and damaged civilian infrastructure, Kondratyev said. He described the attack as targeting civilian sites after debris from a downed drone fell on the resort village of Arkhipo-Osipovka.

Kondratyev called the attack a “tragedy” and said it deliberately targeted civilians.

“The attack was carried out against civilian infrastructure. Emergency and specialized services are working at the sites where the debris fell,” he wrote on Telegram.

The governor ordered the local authorities to provide all necessary assistance to the victims and the families of those killed.

Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik shared footage of the attack on social media, showing the moment a drone struck a densely packed beach near Gelendzhik, sending beachgoers scrambling for cover.

August 2, 2026

Featured • The Summer When Peace Died, Peter Haenseler, SONAR21, Aug 1, 2026
An excellent overview, even if (as Haenseler says) he does not include the whole picture. The unfolding environmental catastrophe underlies all, for example. Yes, World War III has started, as Pope Francis said. His conclusion -- "World War is here, economic collapse is coming, and humanity faces a long and horrific period of suffering" -- is spot on. He does not want his readers to be passive with respect to the catastrophes in progress, as he is not. Much suffering can still be avoided. Peace is possible, but not if we as a people keep slavishly sitting on our butts, or hating this or that person, faction, or country just like Big Brother tells us to.

 • US sees profits as key foreign policy goal, Russian diplomat says, TASS, Jul 31, 2026

Foreign policy is like a major game of chess in which the United States seeks to make profits at every turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told TASS. “This entire process should be viewed as a major game of chess taking place on a large chessboard. Every move is followed by counteraction and efforts to pursue certain goals and strategies. What is happening in different parts of the chessboard should be viewed through different lenses. The American lenses can change, but the key one – at least in the current situation – is about profits,” the diplomat said.

According to Miroshnik, the United States is doing everything possible to preserve and strengthen its hegemony. “The Americans can see the growing importance of energy resources. ‘You have oil — we’re coming for you!’ They first went after Venezuela and then Iran. They are also in favor of isolating Russia in terms of energy trade,” he added.

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 • ‘The Real Purpose In Making The Bomb Was To Subdue The Soviets.’ Now It’s Happening Again, On A Vast Scale. Why? – July 22 At Fuller Lodge, Los Alamos Reporter, Jul 19, 2023

 • Bulletin 330: "'The real purpose in making the bomb was to subdue the Soviets.'* Now it's happening again, on a vast scale. WHY?" A conversation with acclaimed historian Peter Kuznick and Greg Mello in Los Alamos, July 22, Jul 7, 2023

 • Ukraine War Makes it Harder to be a Nuclear ‘Dove’ | Our Land, Laura Paskus, New Mexico in Focus, Jun 30, 2023

 • Bulletin 329: Russia rules out nuclear disarmament negotiations; second week of Ukrainian offenses fail; what will US and NATO do? Build 60 projects in LANL's Pajarito Corridor?, Jun 17, 2023

 • Ukraine; Biden's Manicheism; the U.S. cannot even conduct a nuclear arms race, let alone win one, LASG friends ltr, Mar 16, 2023

 • Ukraine protest and updates, pit production delays and cost increases in NNSA's new budget, LASG friends ltr, Mar 14, 2023

 • Antiwar rally 2 pm Saturday in Albuquerque; LANL pits delayed, endorse the "Call for Sanity"; Ukraine update; the Nordstream investigation (and likely impeachment) "imperative" LASG friends ltr, Mar 11, 2023
 • Ukraine losses mount toward critical point; ANSWER rally against the war is now 2 pm (not 1 pm), March 18, Albuquerque; nearly half U.S. citizens believe WWIII is near, LASG friends ltr, Mar 7, 2023

 • Ukraine news and views; antiwar rally March 18; pending guest editorial; pit production precis, LASG friends ltr, Mar 3, 2023

 • Bulletin 325: Understanding the Nordstream sabotage and punishing those responsible, Feb 18, 2023

 • Ukraine news with comments and excerpts; bookmark for future reference if desired,LASG friends ltr, Feb 8, 2023

 • Bulletin 324: Opposition to Ukraine war gains visibility in New Mexico and via our web site, more broadly, Feb 6, 2023

 • Anti-nuclear activist opposes helping Ukraine, encourages peace, Santa Fe New Mexican, Feb 5, 2023

 • Bulletin 323: "Nuclear Hotseat" interview / Ukraine war updates, Feb 4, 2023

 • Bulletin 322: Right and Left To Join in D.C. Protest: ‘Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine’ / Bulletin of Atomic Scientists resets clock, blames Russia, Jan 25, 2023

 • $10 Trillion for Nuclear War: Racing to the Nuclear Cliff, The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, Jan 10, 2023

 • Bulletin 321: Last day for 2022 donations! / A few quick updates, Dec 31, 2022

 • Bulletin 320: Neocon humiliation -- or nuclear exchange / The centrality of war resistance in moral politics / 3 days left for 1:1 donation match!, Dec 29, 2022

 • Bulletin 319: Ukraine; NDAA: omnibus appropriations bill; fundraising --thank you; some matching funds still available, Dec 21, 2022

 • Stop the war now, Jean Nichols, The Taos News, Dec 19, 2022

 • Bulletin 318: Speak out now against further U.S. escalation in Ukraine; daily updates for your use, Dec 14, 2022

 • Agenda for tonight's emergency Ukraine meeting in Albuquerque, and by Zoom, Nov 15, 2022

 • Bulletin 314: Reminder re next week's antiwar, disarmament, & nuclear safety events: come if you can or tune in, outreach needed; pit interview on KNME tonight 7 pm; fundraising drive continues; erratum, Nov 11, 2022

 • Bulletin 313: Important meeting about Ukraine next week; DNFSB hearing in Santa Fe; more, Nov 7, 2022

 • Biden Administration releases aggressive nuclear strategy envisioning "first use" of nuclear weapons in wars like Ukraine, press release, Oct 27, 2022

 • Bulletin 310: Speak up! We urge you to take up the call for peace in Ukraine, Sep 25, 2022

 • Pope Francis: "World War III has been declared." We agree. Stop LANL's pit factory; Stop the U.S. war against Russia, presentation, Jun 15, 2022

 • Bulletin 301: Oppose the war! Demand and create accountability for lawmakers who fund and promote more war in Ukraine, May 16, 2022

 • Grave dangers loom in Ukraine war votes and escalations; opportunities open for journalists and citizens; We urge news media to widen debate, pose questions, create accountability, press release, May 16, 2022

 • LASG friends ltr: Thursday evening public discussion in Albuquerque: Ukraine, propaganda, progressives supporting Nazis and war, May 10, 2022

 • Escalation in Ukraine: The Nuclear War Danger is Real, Brian Becker & Greg Mello discuss the U.S. policy of waging proxy war on Russia, BreakThrough News, May 4, 2022

 • Bulletin 299: Emergency call to action: stop Biden's proposed $33 billion war escalation, Apr 28, 2022

 • Bulletin 298: Talk on pits & renewed U.S. nuclear weapons production Tuesday evening 4/26/22; antiwar billboard; what you can do, Apr 25, 2022

 • The core debate, Searchlight New Mexico, Mar 23, 2022

 • Bulletin 294: Please consider forwarding this fine statement from UNAC re Ukraine, Mar 23, 2022

 • Nuclear expert speaks on the dangers of war between the US and Russia, World Socialist Website, Mar 15, 2022

 • A Proposed Solution to the Ukraine War, Consortium News, Greg Mello, Mar 7, 2022

 • Bulletin 293: Ukraine conflict: If you want a ceasefire (as we do), stop firing, Mar 5, 2022

 • Bulletin 292: Statement on the Ukraine conflict and war with Russia, Mar 1, 2022

 • "What can we in New Mexico do?," LASG letter, Feb 23, 2022

 • Bulletin 288: US nuclear weapons since 2020: continuity and change, Dec 7, 2021 (see discussion of US, NATO, and Russia)

 • Nuclear experts speak on the dangers of war between the US and Russia, World Socialist Web Site, Apr 15, 2017

 • US Leaders Reject “Nuclear Winter” Studies, Ignore Existential Danger of Nuclear War. Turn a Blind Eye towards Armageddon, Steven Starr, Global Research, Nov 1, 2016

 • The Ukraine Conflict: What's Behind It? Why Is It Important?, Sep 26, 2015

 • Bulletin 200: Warhead budget bloat; U.S.-caused Ukraine catastrophe at the brink; hello peak oil, Feb 8, 2015