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The summer is producing unexpected difficulties for both the presidents of Ukraine and Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy overhauled Ukraine’s top military leadership, a move forced on him by public protests over his dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov, the popular defense minister who’s been a key architect of its successful drone strategy.
New army chief Mykhailo Drapatyi is an advocate of the same tech-driven reforms as Fedorov, who’s openly lobbying to get his job back.
That’s posing an awkard challenge to Zelenskyy’s authority as he visits the UK today to meet new Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Britain says it’ll share innovative “Stone Cloak” technology with Ukraine, capable of blocking Russian airdefense systems from tracking and targeting drones.
That spells more trouble for President Vladimir Putin, who appears helpless to stop Ukrainian drone attacks across Russia.
A demonstration in support of Fedorov in Kyiv on Friday.
Photographer: Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg
Strikes on warehouses of Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries are rippling through the economy as thousands of small businesses calculate losses from inventory destroyed in the fires. It’s adding to anger among ordinary Russians over fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries.
Putin suddenly looks far from all-powerful at home. Kazakhstan’s president even told him to his face that he should stop the war during a visit to Russia on Saturday, which would have been unthinkable a few years ago.
Zelenskyy will be in Washington tomorrow for talks with US President Donald Trump, seeking to capitalize on the recent improvement in their relationship.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, accuses the US of abandoning what it sees as understandings reached at last August’s Alaska summit between Putin and Trump on a deal to end the war.
With no sign of progress in peace talks, Zelenskyy and Putin are on the back foot domestically.
Zelenskyy’s difficulties may lead to a reinvigorated Ukrainian military in the fall.
Putin’s may show up in public discontent at parliamentary elections in September. — Anthony Halpin
Smoke rises from the area of the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft’s Moscow oil refinery.
Source: AFP/Getty Images
Zel meets Andy Burnham today and Krasnov tomorrow.
That staunch Ukraine freedom supporter Professor Phillips P. OBrien has written a lengthy OpEd on the Loomer-Zel meeting. Here are some extracts :
While Loomer was in Ukraine, preaching about now seeing the light, she also revealed (once again) where her true and deep devotions have and always will lie. She remains a racist, conspiratorial and destructive Trumpist, calling for disenfranchisement of people she does not like, gross discrimination, and the prosecution and imprisonment of enemies. Indeed, she continued espousing all of these stances the entire time she was in Ukraine. Her ignorance and hatred were so intense, she also insulted Ukraine’s Muslim population as she was getting ready to leave.
“One thing I really love about Ukraine is I haven’t seen a single Muslim here.”
There are hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Muslims still living in Crimea who are suffering greatly for their loyalty to Ukraine, and at the same time many who also now live in Kyiv—it is just that Loomer was too hate-filled to see that.
Moreover, in Ukraine, while she was supposedly having this Damascene moment, she was still airing conspiracies, some of which are deeply harmful to Ukraine. In her televised conversation with Zelensky, she asked him about the Russian propaganda claim that he and President Macron of France had snorted cocaine together. Indeed, she spent much of her time in that interview (which I believe Zelensky will live to regret) trying to get the Ukrainian president to state that Trump was the greatest president in US history. Here is a transcript of their exchange, which reveals her sycophancy to Trump and the dilemma Zelensky faced in meeting her.
LAURA LOOMER: I mean, I think President Trump. Who do you think is a better president, Donald Trump or Joe Biden?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Had great results, 70-70. The best president is, first of all, the president for your country.
LAURA LOOMER: I—
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Donald Trump for today.
LAURA LOOMER: Donald Trump, you believe he’s the best president?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: The best president of the United States?
LAURA LOOMER: Yeah.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Now history will answer, because I think that Lincoln.
LAURA LOOMER: Yeah, he freed the slaves. But after Lincoln, who do you think is the best?
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: Ah, you, I know a lot.
LAURA LOOMER: President Trump is going to watch this interview.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: No, Trump is good. He gave you a MAGA hat.
I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the point by now. Loomer is not the kind of friend Ukraine needs or should have. The price of her support is publicizing everything that is destructive in US and European politics and society today.
It Is All One Fight
Loomer, Tommy Robinson, Trump (plus Viktor Orban, Robert Fico, Nigel Farage, Tucker Carlson) etc., are all together in one thing—even if they disagree over an occasional issue. They are trying to destroy civil society in the USA and Europe and replace it with some authoritarian, anti-liberal, discriminatory state, which uses state power to harass and imprison its enemies and denies citizens their rights.
To remind you, here are just some examples of Trump saying pro-Ukraine/anti-Russian things between January and October 2025.
* 22 Jan 2025 — Trump threatened Russia with “high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia” if Putin did not agree to a deal.
* 7 Mar 2025 — A week after the famous Oval Office confrontation with Zelensky, to lessen the political fallout of his blunder, Trump pretended to get tough with Russia: “I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia.”
* 8 Jul 2025 — A month before Trump welcomed Putin to Anchorage, he pretended he was angry with the Russian dictator. “We get a lot of bullshit from Putin”, he declared.
* 13 Jul 2025 —A few days later Trump continued play-acting that he was mad at Putin: “He (Putin) talks nice, and then he bombs everybody in the evening”. Fox News
* 14 Jul 2025 — While meeting with Mark Rutte, Trump claimed that the US would put “very severe tariffs on Russia if we don’t have a deal in 50 days”.
* 28 Jul – 6 Aug 2025 — The deadline for the very serious tariffs to be placed on Russia was cut from 50 days to 10–12 days.
* 13 Sep 2025 — Trump offered “major Sanctions on Russia” contingent on all NATO states doing the same and halting all Russian oil purchases (which he knew would never happen as Orban was always going to buy Russian oil).
* 23 Sep 2025, after meeting with Zelensky, Trump called Russia a “paper tiger”.
* 12–15 Oct 2025 Maybe the most outrageous lie; Trump claimed “If this war doesn’t get settled, I may send Tomahawks” to Ukraine.
Every time Trump made one of his verbal pivots, it very effectively gave him time and breathing space. It lessened the pressure that he actually help Ukraine, and allowed Putin flexibility to escalate and expand the war, etc. And here we are, more than a year and a half into Trump’s second term: all US aid to Ukraine has been stopped, Ukraine is basically running out of Patriots, Russia is selling whatever oil it can ship, and Ukraine has no effective defense from Russian ballistic missiles.
Trump’s recent rhetorical changes on Ukraine are not some change in outlook; they came about because he finally understood that Ukraine is doing much better militarily than he expected and that Russia is struggling. In other words, he finally understood that Ukraine has cards, and he does not want to be left with no influence or options over Ukraine as Russia continues to strategically falter on the battlefield.
Maybe there will be a vote on Graham-Blumenthal this week, but maybe not. And even if the bill passes Congress (who knows what happens in the House), Trump is under no obligation to bring in the sanctions. He can do what he wants. The passage of the bill without Trump choosing to actually bring in the sanctions is just a further delaying tactic.
Full article can be seen on the prof’s Substack.
Loomer tried to pressure Zel into paying an undeserved and absurd tribute to Krasnov by saying : “the president will be watching.”
Gross.
“One thing I really love about Ukraine is I haven’t seen a single Muslim here.”
Apart from Rustem Umerov and the thousands of indispensable Ukrainian Muslims fighting in the ZSU.