. @mylovanov.bsky.social on X 👇🏼🙏🏼

@nachristakis.bsky.social: "When I arrived in Kyiv, it felt like Casablanca." Russia bombs Ukraine daily. Yet, say Christakis, the Kyiv School of Economics runs classes up to 16 hours a day. “Students filled every space — classrooms, hallways, staircases.” Washington Post. 1/

Ukraine is building its own Iron Dome — for a country 30 times larger than Israel. Israel never shared its system. Ukraine had no choice but to design one from scratch — El País. 1/

19-year-old Vladyslav Stepanchuk led 21 soldiers out of encirclement during a four-hour firefight. Zelenskyy awarded him the title Hero of Ukraine — he is the youngest Hero of Ukraine, reports Suspilne. 1/

Iran killed a French soldier with a Shahed drone. Zelenskyy: The US and Gulf states asked Ukraine for anti-drone systems. We remember how long we waited for help in the first days of the war. Now we help those who helped us first. 1/

Russia built a new secret assassination unit after GRU Unit 29155 was burned across Europe. Center 795 was designed to be harder to trace, more autonomous, able to do from battlefield sabotage in Ukraine to killing abroad. It was compromised by Google Translate, The Insider. 1/

KSE and ETH Zurich — one of the world's top 7 universities — built an electrical engineering master's program together. From scratch. During a war. 1/

Ukraine will train the German army. Berlin agreed that Ukrainian military instructors will teach German troops combat lessons from the war against Russia as NATO prepares for a potential confrontation by 2029, Reuters. 1/

We closed KSE’s winter support campaign. This is not a “heartwarming story.” It was an operational problem under pressure: blackouts, cold apartments, overloaded suppliers, and a university that still had to run. Most universities in Kyiv went on winter break. We refused. 1/

Ex-CIA director Petraeus: Ukraine will make 7 mln drones this year. They are already throwing 10,000 a day at the Russians in various forms, suicide drones, surveillance. The US produces probably 400,000. Ukrainians produce them at a much lower cost and generally are more effective. 1/

“I had a $700,000 salary in Seattle. I still went to fight in Ukraine.” Andrew Webber, a U.S. Army captain and Iraq–Afghanistan veteran, left his corporate law career and joined Ukraine’s International Legion in 2023. He died in combat on July 27, 2023, reports hromadske. 1/

Europe is finally acting. Belgian special forces seized a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker, "Ethera," in the North Sea and brought it to the Port of Zeebrugge as sanctions enforcement. Macron said French Navy helicopters helped the Belgian boarding operation, Bloomberg. 1/

Zelenskyy appoints former UK prime minister Rishi Sunak to his International Advisory Council for the Economic Renewal of Ukraine — in an unpaid role, — Telegraph 1/

Hodges: I was on a train in the Netherlands this summer. The top of my train exploded. That happened in 5 places between Schiphol and The Hague and Utrecht the same day. Those are not teenagers. Somebody orchestrated attacks on the rail system. This is from the Russians. 1/

Sergeant Serhii Tyshchenko stayed at the front for 471 consecutive days. Drones hunted down every vehicle sent to reach him. The road out was more dangerous than staying. FT: This is Ukraine kill zone. 1/

“I left my Manhattan apartment for Ukraine’s front lines. Now I’m fighting drones.” Viktoriia Honcharuk quit her dream job at Morgan Stanley in 2022 to become a combat medic. She evacuated up to 100 wounded soldiers a week from one of the war’s deadliest fronts, The Times. 1/

Zelenskyy was supposed to fall in days — via assassination or flight. Russian agents rented apartments near Bankova Street with orders to eliminate him. Instead, he posted a dark selfie: “We are here.” Four years later, he’s still in office, CNN. 1/

French baker Loïc Nervi bakes bread in Troyeshchyna, Kherson, and Kramatorsk. Locals call him Vitalik. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he has been baking bread for elderly people in frontline and hard-hit areas, writes Hromadske. 1/

McFaul: As an American, I feel ashamed of my country. I cannot look Ukrainian soldiers in the eyes. I hope it is not too late to reverse this course and put government back on the side of democracy against tyranny. I am a patriotic American. I want to feel proud again. 1/

Ukraine struck the main Missile and Artillery Directorate of Russia in the Volgograd region with six FP-5 “Flamingo” cruise missiles, General Staff of Ukraine. This is one of Russia’s largest arsenals, where Russia stored missiles, ammunition, and explosive materials.

The IOC disqualified Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych from the Winter Games minutes before his race. Vladyslav Heraskevych's "helmet of remembrance" honors the two dozen Ukrainian athletes killed since Russia's invasion, Reuters. 1/

Brittney Shki-Giiziz, Canadian volunteer in Ukraine: My first day fighting was absolutely excellent. I destroyed a train station with a tank. Being at war was physically easier than the training the Canadian Army puts us through. It prepared me very well for war. 1/

Ukrainian POWs were forced to exhume civilians killed by Russia in Mariupol. Marine Serhii Hrytsiv: “Over four weeks, we dug up around 800 civilian bodies.” Russia made prisoners clean up the crime scene — then blamed them for it, Slidstvo.Info reports. 1/

From Morgan Stanley to the front line. At 22, Ukrainian Viktoriia Honcharuk had a Manhattan banking job, Midtown apartment. Two weeks later, she was evacuating wounded soldiers under Russian fire, NY Post. 1/

Vsevolod, Kyiv resident: When it’s +2°C inside your apartment, you can’t do anything there. We spend the day at our volunteer hub, then crash wherever friends can take us for the night. There’s no heating almost for a month. 1/

Portuguese Azov Sergeant Tuga: Russians know that Azov is there and they heard English. Usually they kill themselves. We just talk in English or broken Ukrainian. They easily understand we are not Ukrainians. They yell. We heard shots inside and after that nothing more. 1/

Russia wants to push Ukraine into the Stone Age — to freeze us, exhaust us, and leave us without a future. That will not happen. This why Kyiv School of Economics is hosting a 3-day Science Mini School for high school students and early-year undergraduates, right now in Kyiv. 1/

A Russian missile shut down a Kyiv heating plant — underwater. Ukrainian divers crawled through a flooded tunnel buried beneath the Dnipro river and sealed missile-caused cracks by hand, Hromadske. 1/

Ukrainian energy workers are doing a titanic job. After every Russian strike, they go back and save the power system again. At -15°C, they drive to destroyed power plants and boiler houses to restore heat and electricity to homes, hospitals, and schools. 1/

Serhii Sternenko — the new advisor to Ukraine’s Minister of Defense on UAVs. Serhii Sternenko is 30 years old. He is a volunteer, civic activist, and one of the key public figures behind Ukraine’s wartime drone movement. 1/

There is no good Russians on the screen of a thermal scope — Daria “Hilka”, commander of the Ukrainian all-women Typhoon drone unit. I believe that those who come onto our land with weapons are only temporarily alive. Their thoughts or dreams don’t matter to me. They must get out. 1/

These days are the most surreal of my life. Daryna, KSE student: Lately, I’ve been spending more and more time thinking about whether I will even be able to wake up, because the cold is unbearable and I do wake up — but from shivering, not from the alarm clock. 1/

Fedorov is the best Ukraine can offer right now. New Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov: The top 50 of 400 drone units deliver 70% of enemy losses. Grow the rest, and results explode. Leadership will be judged by results, not titles. 1/

Ukrainian troops have raised the flag over Kupiansk City Hall after a successful liberation operation in the Kharkiv region, United24 Khartia Brigade of the National Guard led the assault and took full control of the city center. They continue to clear the remaining russians. 1/

Why does a book matter in captivity, where you can be broken at any moment? For Vladyslav Dutchak, it was a way to keep himself and others from breaking, reports Suspilne. 1/

Kellogg: Zelenskyy's a tough son of a b*tch. He's stubborn. He has his opinion. He's unafraid to say that. He knows how to use media. I said [to Trump] he was an embattled and courageous leader. We in the United States have not seen a leader like him since Abraham Lincoln. 1/

Zelenskyy on Maduro's capture: If this is how dictators can be dealt with, then the US knows what to do. 1/

I was born 51 years ago. What is the purpose of my life? I have lived several lives in my lifetime. A happy but oblivious childhood in the Soviet Union, focused on family, mathematics, and sports. The gangster 1990s in Ukraine focused on survival and money. 1/

Kyiv School of Economics in Ukraine is raising $4m to fund 800 full scholarships for students hit by Russia’s war ($5k each: tuition + accommodation). I meet them every day—studying between air-raid alerts and power cuts. Please donate: foundation.kse.ua/en/donate-to... 1/

Meloni announces that Italy will donate a large number of power generators to Ukraine to help the country withstand Russia’s attack on its energy infrastructure — Visegrad24

Germany’s Merz says frozen Russian assets for Ukraine must be a shared EU risk — and Belgium cannot be left carrying the burden alone — Reuters. Merz writes in FAZ that EU states must incur an equal share of the risk, as a function of their respective economic performance. 1/

Kellogg: Russia and its allies can field about 100 fifth-generation fighters. The U.S. can deploy 400 in Europe. It’s a warning to Russia: if you want to dance with us, we’ll dance. And as a former KGB officer, Putin understands the optics. 1/

Zelenskyy: Andriy Yermak has submitted his resignation as Head of the Office of the President. I want there to be no questions about Ukraine — from anyone. That is why today we are making several internal decisions. 1/

This is my “game-theoretic” read of the leaked transcripts between Witkoff, Ushakov, and Dmitriev: 1. The US is steering the peace track and using a calibrated mix of pressure and incentives on Russia. 1/

I told CNN I’m optimistic about peace talks because Russia is keeping quiet and Trump’s shifts create openings. Also, remember the U.S.–Ukraine minerals. First, it was draconian, but then became workable. This case is of course harder 1/

Rubio in Geneva peace talks: It's probably the most meaningful meeting so far. We have a very good work product built. Our teams are working on suggestions and making changes to get closer to something both Ukraine and the United States are comfortable with. 1/

The Telegraph has leaked the full 24-point European peace proposal for Ukraine. 1. End the war and ensure it cannot restart. 2. Full unconditional ceasefire on land, in the sky and at sea. 3. Immediate technical talks on ceasefire monitoring with US and EU participation. 1/

I told WSJ that given the leverage the US seems willing to exert, Zelenskyy would need to consider the peace proposal seriously, even though the current version would be impossible for Ukrainians to accept The real question is whether Ukraine can get a better deal. 1/

Putin has no plan for winning in Ukraine. His losses are catastrophic – 984k-1.44m casualties, up to 480k dead and all he has achieved is expanding NATO and wiping out a generation of young Russian men, writes The Economist. 1/

Russia’s oil export revenues fell to $13.4B in September, a decline of $200M compared to the previous month. Crude revenues increased by $200M, but this gain was fully offset by a $400M drop in oil product revenues, KSE Institute reports. 1/