Russia

In the Volgograd region, a dispatch building at a railway station on the Archeda railway junction caught fire. Relay cabinets that provide automatic train traffic control were also hit.

Some airports that Russia uses to launch long-ranged drones were hit a couple weeks ago and images show that stationary launch rails and storage sheds for drones were hit. A logistical center that supported Shahed drones was hit.

Ukrainian drones crossing Crimea hit an oil depot in Adler. There were other attacks in the Sochi and Adler region but information on what was hit or how much damage was done wasn’t released. A refinery in Krasnodar Krai and an oil depot in Millerovo were also hit.

Someone in Moscow provided on-the-ground-views of a factory near Moscow that produces anti-aircraft systems. 500 km from Ukraine, someone in Tver planted two charges under an Mi-28 helicopter.

Because of the threat of Ukraine’s long-ranged drones, Russia moved most of its transport aircraft to air bases in the far east.

Juliane Gallina is the deputy director for digital innovation at the CIA. Her son, Michael Gloss, was killed in 2024 fighting for Russia. Putin gave the Order of Lenin to Trump’s envoy Witkoff to pass on to Gallina.

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Ukraine

8,000 foreigners are in the Ukrainian army. 40% of them are South Americans, primarily Columbians, and many Columbians fight because the salary is more than they can make at home. Columbians have also been fighting in Sudan since the end of 2024.

Thousands of soldiers deserted from the Ukrainian army for various reasons, one of which was lack of trust in incompetent leadership. Ukraine implemented a simplified mechanism to return to service. From the end of November to August, 29,000 soldiers returned to duty.

The Ministry of Defense is providing $193 million to meet the urgent needs of units operating unmanned aerial and ground systems. They are spending an additional $24 million for anti-drone protection specifically for evacuation and logistics routes.

If you are in Russian, you can buy one of 294 Ukrainian children that are listed by gender, age, eyes and hair color, and how likely they are to perform tasks. By law, their names and date of birth can be changed in Russia.

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Diplomacy

The US withheld all information regarding the Russia-US peace negotiations from their Five Eyes intelligence partners, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK (with the US being the fifth partner).

Estonia is spending €17 million to construct the infrastructure for a German-Dutch corps. A German brigade was already planned to be fully deployed there by the end of 2027.

The EU cannot overcome Hungary’s veto of aid to Ukraine. All future aid must be contributed by individual nations.

A Polish company is investing in a joint drone manufacturing project with Ukraine. They will start with civilian drones first and then begin producing military drones. Poland is spending $55 million this year for drone purchases. The military reviewed 455 proposals, 100 of which were unmanned systems, and selected 90 to be produced and given to the military for testing.

Based on an agreement with NATO and Ukraine, the US announced a new system to rapidly provide equipment to Ukraine once it is purchased by NATO allies. The Netherlands is financing the first package for €500 million.

Azerbaijani oil travels in a 1700 km pipeline through Georgia and Turkey before arriving at Romania. A large amount of organic chloride contaminated the oil and is threatening to seriously corrode a Romanian oil refinery. The contamination was detected in Turkey and Italy and Czechia confirmed it reached their countries, as well. Organic chlorides can be used to clean wells and accelerate the flow of oil but must be removed before entering pipelines. An investigation is trying to determine if Russia was involved.

Armenia and Azerbaijan signed the agreement that would give the US exclusive development rights to the Zangezur corridor that would provide road and rail access between the separated lands of Azerbaijan and connect it to Turkey. It is called “Trump’s Roadmap for International Peace and Prosperity”, because of course it is. The leaders of both countries say they will nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump said he’s ending a war every month.

Wagner PMC is protecting the regime of the Central African Republic in return for resources, such as gold. Russia wants to replace Wagner with the African Corps and would like to be paid in cash. The regime doesn’t believe that the African Corps is as effective as Wagner and it doesn’t want to pay with cash.

The US Department of Defense sent 20,000 missiles meant for Ukraine to the Middle East, and they’ve tried to stop weapons shipments from going to Ukraine even though they were already approved. Now they are trying to send weapons built for Ukraine into US stockpiles which could divert billions of dollars of equipment that was supposed to go to Ukraine. When Congress passes a law allocating money, the White House must execute the law. But Trump has already broken a lot of laws passed by Congress so this is just one more thing.

536 Russian drones have been spotted over Germany in the last three months. There are a lot of regulations that make it difficult to eliminate these drones.

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(…to be concluded in the Part 4…)

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This text is published with the permission of the author. First published here.