Overview
- Reporting notes a grinding stalemate nearly four years into the full-scale invasion, with Ukraine striking deeper into Russia using advanced drones as Russia continues missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.
- President Trump recently spoke with Vladimir Putin and announced a meeting in Hungary in the coming weeks, yet efforts to spur talks have yielded little progress as he also floated the possibility of sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
- Richard Sakwa attributes the conflict to four interacting levels spanning Ukraine’s internal divisions, Russia–Ukraine tensions, a failed pan‑European framework, and U.S.–Russia relations, while warning of a dangerous drift toward a military resolution.
- Anne Applebaum argues the Kremlin is pursuing colonial ambitions over territories it deems historically Russian and says European financial and military aid now surpasses U.S. support by a large margin.
- A new Foreign Policy survey of recent books underscores disputes over Russia’s strategy and intentions, highlights full‑spectrum and hybrid tactics drawn from older doctrines, and concludes the war is unlikely to end soon.