🔴 BREAKING: Ukrainian forces secure fire control over Donetsk airport. The 14th Regiment’s Unmanned Systems Center established combat oversight of the airfield to disrupt its use as a Russian logistics hub and Shahed drone launch site, marking the first operation of its kind in Ukraine’s history.

If you’re still on Elon Musk’s X, ask yourself this: why? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... by @jonathanliew.bsky.social "...we should start to stigmatise X usage for what it really is: a small and selfish part in making the world measurably worse."

More egregious US Nat security threats: Rodney Cook, Trump‘s ballroom commissioner, tasked with building the ballroom, and the secure bunker under the new East wing, with obvious national security concerns, is in Russia, leading the US delegation at Putin‘s St Petersburg forum:

👏US Senator Bill Keating challenged Marco Rubio over Ukraine, citing the Budapest Memorandum and saying Washington gave Kyiv its word after Ukraine surrendered the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal. He also criticized Trump envoy Steve Witkoff for saying Putin deserved trust. #US

These are the kinds of changes that will be harder to reverse

For the first time ever, Brussels is directly punishing a third party - Kyrgyzstan with export bans after an 800%+ surge in re-exports of critical tech to Russia’s war machine. A new precedent in the sanctions regime? ridl.io/eu-s-20th-sa...

“It sets him up to corrupt either the November vote or its results. People are being too blase about this election. Trump has a party that is completely under his sway and a federal government that is staffed by uber loyalists. It gives him terrible and powerful options to subvert democracy.”

Ann Coulter is back to promoting Donald Trump. This can only mean she saw dollar signs as she has no morality or conscience.

“As Russia loses ground on the battlefield, Putin is escalating attacks against Ukrainian civilians.” Business Ukraine editor Peter Dickinson joined Turkey’s TRT World after another major overnight Russian bombardment of cities across Ukraine left dozens dead and wounded

China and Kazakhstan are actively developing alternative logistics routes to Europe bypassing Russia. Despite more complex logistics, Beijing and Astana are advancing the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (Middle Corridor).

Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries set a record in May, threatening to further hurt processing that’s at a 16-year low and risking domestic fuel shortages just as summer holiday demand picks up, Bloomberg reports www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

NEW: Ukraine is attempting to strangle Russian logistics with a new drone campaign that might be the most significant development of the war this year. kyivindependent.com/analysis-how...

Free weekend update just released. People surprised that the Ukrainians are taking the initiative just were not listening. For many months the Ukrainians were open on what they wanted to do (I told you in January). Listen to them not the western press. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

Ukraine’s Defense Forces hit 17 oil refineries in Russia in May According to the Unmanned Systems Forces, more than half of the targeted refineries are currently offline or suspended operations during the month⤵️

BREAKING: Canadian warship transits through Taiwan Strait despite warning from China and just ahead of Chinese foreign minister's visit to Ottawa: www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

Our World in Data is the best website on the internet. It's incredible. And free!

All these threats about wiping out Kyiv that the Russians are sending to Trump reveal two important things. First is that the Russians are getting hurt badly by Ukrainian ranged strike. Second, they view Trump as their patsy.

⚡ Ukrainian drone campaign has knocked out six major Russian oil refineries this month alone, taking down a quarter of Russia's total refining capacity. united24media.com/war-in-ukrai...

Ukraine’s middle-strike drone campaign is isolating Russia’s southern logistics, forcing occupation authorities to ban civilian truck traffic on the P-280/M-14 corridor. The route links Russia to occupied Crimea and is now under sustained Ukrainian fire pressure. #Ukraine

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney published a photo wearing a Ukrainian vyshyvanka, traditional embroidered shirt "Ukraine’s fight is our fight, their cause is our cause, and their independence will be our victory," he said 📷 MarkJCarney

Just sent out this post. US losses across the board fighting Iran, but particularly involving aircraft, are revealing worrying signs that US military efficiency is in decline and not what it was. The loss rates are many times higher than Vietnam and Desert Storm. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...

"On the present trajectory, Iran will emerge from the conflict many times stronger and more influential than it was before the war. It will exercise leverage with dozens of the richest nations in the world." From Robert Kagan, @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Please enjoy my cartoon for Friday's Toronto Star

MAGYAR: Ukraine is the victim, and it has every right to protect its territorial sovereignty and integrity by all means at its disposal. I would also like to emphasize this, because independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine were guaranteed by Budapest Memorandum in 1994.

Got to be honest, loosening sanctions on Russia before we’ve even tried any basic demand-side measures is not filling me with pride or joy

CARNEY: We will be cooperating with other partners in critical areas like Ukraine, where it's outside of direct NATO responsibility but consistent with our values as Canada. We stand there, Ukraine is going to triumph, and we're going to be on the right side of history for that.

Canada has, in the span of a year, nearly doubled its defence spending to hit 2%/GDP; stood up a project to build America's much-needed icebreakers; and is (finally) creating its own defence industrial base. So, naturally, the U.S. is suspending a shared defence panel that's been around since 1940.

Russia is very afraid that Europe remains united around Ukraine and is increasing its military capacity. Russia wants a weak and scared Europe, and Europe is moving away from that.

Here’s hoping!

Stalin’s deportation of the Crimean Tatars on May 18, 1944, remains one of the gravest crimes against humanity. Today, Russia continues many of the same repressive patterns and must face full legal accountability. 🧵 1/11 ⬇️

Just incredible footage if real. Muscovites finally getting a small taste of what Ukrainians have been living through. Drivers must be unaware of the fire directly under them? Crazy the freeway hasn’t been shut down.

Ukrainian drones were partially flying in formation when striking Moscow, Russia, this morning. At this point they are mocking the Russian air defense capabilities.

A vivid illustration of the poor state of Moscow's air defenses, showing why Putin rightly feared an attack on his little May 9 Red Square parade. The proof is visible to all now - Ukraine has the capacity to strike Moscow at will, and Russian air defenses can do little about it.

A Ukrainian FP-2 drone shooting missiles at Russian targets. Wow!

“Iran appears to be borrowing directly from Russia's negotiation strategy: Prolong talks, seek concessions incrementally, and avoid making meaningful commitments while maintaining the appearance of diplomacy.” www.rferl.org/a/coffey-hud...

FRANCIS: The bottom line of Putin's security desires for Europe is he doesn't want Ukraine to exist anymore, and he doesn't want NATO to exist anymore. That's his bottom line. So he can talk in these terms all he likes, but we're not talking about person with whom we can reason.

Good example of the expanding impact of health misinformation.👇 Babies Are Bleeding to Death as Parents Reject a Vitamin Shot Given at Birth www.propublica.org/article/more... "...hospitals have seen a rise in parents opting out of the shots for their newborns, often driven by unfounded fears."

It is amazing how little the press is willing to dissect US decline under Trump. The US got no help with Iran, was scolded on Taiwan, says it got a small Boeing deal (China has not confirmed) and Trump appeased on Chinese students, microchips, etc. Xi even insulted US power.

First he abandoned Ukraine and now he is abandoning Taiwan. Sucks to be a democratic friend of the USA these days.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence (SVR) warns Russians that Ukraine launched a program last year that's been purchasing big Russian Telegram channels, Ukraine finally doing to Russia what Russia has been doing to the world since 2005. Lets see how Russians like divide and conquer at home.

Farage on his £5 million “gift” from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne: 14 May 2026: “Frankly, it was given as a reward for campaigning for Brexit for 27 years.” 9 May 2026: “There was nothing political in its nature at all.”

Putin’s magic is that he can always get close to Trump. But Trump’s magic is that he turns everyone who approaches him into a loser.

Please enjoy my cartoon for Thursday's Toronto Star

Trump seeks favours from China while China assists Iran, just like Trump’s relations with Russia. Embarrassing for the USA.

💯

The Trump administration is now openly stealing from Europe. They are taking in funds through PURL, supposedly to provide arms for Ukraine, but refusing to deliver the weapons. www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/202...

Another key development: Ukraine is starting to establish Low Air Superiority (below 1,000 feet) over important Russian supply lines in the occupied territories, making it more difficult for the invaders to supply their forces in the south-central region.

KALLAS: Putin is in a weaker position than he has ever been before. Russians are losing on the battlefield. Support for Putin's war is going down. There is growing discontent in Russian society. Ukrainian deep strikes have made a real impact. So actually, Putin is not standing that strong.

Nothing says “restoring trust in public health” more than having a right-wing economist who has never practiced medicine in charge of the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control. You can really tell he has literally never treated a single patient or a single infectious disease.

Putin doesn’t honour the terms of any peace/ceasefire deals just as Trump doesn’t honour his trade deals. Can’t trust the word of either.