Olena's home was hit by a Shahed and she's asking folks to donate to Ukraine's crowd-funded air defense. On her recommendation I just donated to Come Back Alive's interceptor drone fundraiser and you should too. Find the link for "Dronefall" under her post here 👇

If President Trump wants to make progress on ending Russia's war in Ukraine, he should use tomorrow's meeting with Viktor Orban to push for Hungary to drop its veto over Ukraine's EU accession and stop buying Russian energy, writes James Batchik for @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social.

Here's yet another sign that the anti-democratic movement is a global one, with authoritarians reaching out to strengthen each other across national boundaries. It's also a call for democrats across the world to band together.

Every single county in Virginia shifted Blue.

I'm looking forward to this important conference at @giwps.bsky.social on Russia's campaign to erase Ukraine and its people. The Kremlin still isn't interested in peace in part because this war isn't just about land or politics—it's genocidal in nature. giwps.georgetown.edu/events/inten...

“Individuals on the ground sent a message that reached us Monday morning that 1,200 were dead,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said. “By that evening, they said 10,000. By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”

New from 404 Media: you can't refuse to be scanned by ICE's new facial recognition app, according to internal DHS document I obtained. Photos captured by the app are stored for 15 years, including U.S. citizens. We've seen officers scanning faces w/ phones on streets www.404media.co/you-cant-ref...

The Blue Angels flying over DC today!

It was great to moderate this #UkraineActionSummit panel on why U.S. security assistance to Ukraine is essential (and why it should resume). Thanks to Laura Cooper and @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social’s Amb. John Herbst for joining me!

Credit where it’s due, these sanctions are most welcome and sorely needed. Sanctioning Russian oil just as Ukraine is pounding its production is good policy to help end the war. Better policy is to keep escalating sanctions to make sure Moscow stays under pressure to make peace.

Big day in the Senate as these bills passed through the Foreign Relations Committee: -Sanctions on China for supporting Russia's war on Ukraine -Strengthening the REPO Act to transfer frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine -Designation of Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism Time to pass them!

Trump’s “failure to apply more pressure on Russia is all the more frustrating because Ukraine is making good progress in applying pressure on its own,” writes @maxboot.bsky.social.

Photo of the day.

Ukraine had a full-court press in DC this week expecting big announcements today—a US-Ukraine drone deal, energy support, maybe even Tomahawks. Putin appears to have successfully dashed those hopes by offering Trump yet more talks. We’ve been here before.

It’s amazing how Trump is convinced that China and others screwed us for years, but think Russia is a good partner.

Here we go. Trump and Zelenskyy speaking now with press. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz8n...

Perhaps more important than whether or not the US gives Ukraine Tomahawks is whether it sanctions Russia—if Putin just convinced Trump to oppose congressional sanctions legislation, that's a massive win for Moscow that will prolong the war.

Istanbul, Alaska, now Trump is preparing to meet Putin in Budapest. If he doesn't want a repeat of the last 9 months, it'll require the White House following through on arming Ukraine and sanctioning Russia.

What could a US-Ukraine drone partnership look like? We're already getting a glimpse with Artemis, co-developed between Washington and Kyiv as a Ukrainian version of the Shahed drone. Already passed tests in Russian airspace and entering mass production.

Here's the best piece yet on potential Tomahawks for Ukraine. How they work, how many the US has to give Ukraine, what they'd be used for, and what the bar is for Trump to make Tomahawks an actually effective pressure mechanism rather than symbolic.

What a pleasant surprise to walk into a bar and see my former @razomforukraine.org colleague Allegra on @jeopardyofficial.bsky.social tonight! Go Allegra!

Aw, is someone nervous about the U.S. helping Ukraine strike Russian oil refineries?

Credit where it’s due, helping Ukraine strike Russian energy sites is excellent policy. Even better would be sanctioning what Russian energy does make it to market to truly squeeze Putin and force him to the table. Big scoop from @christopherjm.ft.com.

Anticorruption is a winning issue for pro-democracy movements across the world. Impressively, Ukrainians even built their post-2014 revolutionary democracy on it. As it finds its footing, the pro-democracy movement in the United States should learn that lesson. @davidsirota.com for @thebulwark.com.

It’s a beautiful day in Washington, our government has shut down, and I’ve got a hiking trip to get to. Perfect time to try taking a @bikeshare.bsky.social e-bike to the airport!

"To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police. Carrying on in this fashion, ICE brings indelible obloquy to this administration and everyone who works in it."

Split-screen at the White House tonight—pro-Palestine protest chanting “from the river to the sea” and a handful of pro-Trump demonstrators trying to drown them out playing the song “America f*** yeah” and Zach Brown Band saying “Palestine isn’t real, name the first president of Palestine.”

We're hiring a @razomforukraine.org Government Affairs intern for this fall. If you're a student/recent grad in the DC area interested in foreign policy, apply here 👇 www.razomforukraine.org/government-a...

Here's a forthcoming book I'm excited for—JUN FUJITA: BEHIND THE CAMERA. For a decade I've been fascinated by the story of 1920s Chicago's Japanese-American photojournalist who shot mobsters, dodged internment, and beautifully captured a city in tumult. Link 👉 hatandbeard.com/products/fuj...

Europe’s single greatest defense asset is Ukraine. The largest and most experienced military in Europe is Ukraine. If Europe wants to be secure, it needs Ukraine at the heart of its security architecture. www.ft.com/content/2a4d...

“As Russia has failed to gain air and naval superiority or to break through the Ukrainian defences on land, Russian strategy seeks to outflank the Ukrainian position by attacking the will of the Americans and Europeans.”

We're hiring a @razomforukraine.org intern for the fall! This is an admin-focused role to support Razom's Government Affairs team in their push for pro-Ukraine policy in Washington. Apply here! www.razomforukraine.org/government-a...

V sensible advice from @alanderminna.bsky.social on the RU incursions into NATO airspace. NB: “… (EUR) NATO needs to be prepared for further escalation and de-escalation steps, should RU choose a tit-for-tat response in case that a European country ends up downing a Russian aircraft.” Yup.

"Trump doesn’t want to be dragged into a European war, and understandably so. But that danger is far less likely if Ukraine survives as a sovereign state allied with the West. After hardening his rhetoric, Trump will now have to harden his policy," writes @wsj.com Editorial Board.

Senator @chrismurphyct.bsky.social is spot on. I’d love for President Trump to help Ukraine and the political case is strong for it. But we haven’t seen that yet.

The Russians might have dismissed President Trump's statement that Ukraine can win, but it's harder to ignore his green light to NATO to start shooting down intruding Russian aircraft. I chatted with BBC News tonight about it.

Busy night, I’ll be doing an AMA on Zoom with @razomforukraine.org before heading over to BBC News at 10pm ET to talk Zelenskyy and Trump at UNGA and drones over the skies of Europe. Join me for either or both!

What you see if you look long enough ... magnificent open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

This is a very unpopular opinion but I think it’s a bit funny how Russia is so hell bent on being at war with us and we simply refuse to be at war with them

This isn't easy to come out for, but it's the right call from @postopinions.bsky.social Editorial Board. Deterrence has failed and Russia believes it can invade NATO airspace with impunity—it already knows our air defenses can't handle what Ukraine faces. Deterrence requires consequences.

The @washingtonpost.com Editorial Board comes out in favor of NATO Allies downing Russian aircraft. "The best path forward is for NATO leaders to make clear that any more Russian military aircraft entering their airspace will be shot down immediately."

According to @gideonrachman.bsky.social, Russia's goal of dividing the US from its allies seems to be having some success. "The suspicion between the Balts and the US is mutual," he writes, sharing how Trump admin officials complain of the "Estonianisation" of European policy.

Sanctions alone won’t bring Putin to the negotiating table. Russia has only gotten better at skirting them—Moscow’s Higher School of Economics even launched a master’s program in “sanctions evasion” this year. My @nypost.com article on what it’ll take for a shot at peace.

I know the United States wants to attract foreign investment, but we need to make some serious rule of law and anticorruption reforms first. Perhaps we can learn from Ukraine about holding government accountable?

In August alone, Ukraine’s deep strikes knocked out 20% of Russia’s oil refining capacity. Paired with sanctions on the oil Russia does produce, the United States can help Ukraine dramatically cut into Putin’s war chest.

Even if Trump keeps saying “this is Biden’s war,” the polls show that Americans think it’s his responsibility now.

The Russians threatened NATO airspace in another escalation today as the EU gives Trump a win by pledging to ban Russian LNG a year early. Republican voters overwhelmingly want to sanction Moscow and Speaker Johnson says he's "anxious to do it." Will Trump act? My latest for the @nypost.com.

If Brussels is smart, they'll use this to push Trump on sanctions by framing it as Europe giving in to his demand that NATO countries end purchases of Russian energy.

Republican senators "sick" of Trump-Putin "love affair." “They’re just testing how far we’ll bend over. It makes me sick,” one lawmaker said.

Trump says he’s ready for sanctions on Russia if: -NATO members stop buying Russian oil (Hungary and Slovakia sure aren’t stopping) -They put tariffs on China (the EU certainly won’t) These are poison pills. Trump doesn’t plan to sanction Russia. Congress has to force him.