A failing Ukrainian brigade has become the army’s leader at coaxing its soldiers back. Over the past year, the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade cut unauthorized absences by 70% and now ranks first in the Ground Forces for troops returning to the ranks, after a new command team from the 3rdContinue Reading
Ukrainian troops have turned a worn-out armored carrier into a crewless bomb on wheels. Engineers fitted an old BTR, a Soviet-type armored personnel carrier, with a remote-control system, packed it with explosives, and drove it into Russian positions, where it detonated, says Andrii Kupriianov, callsign Darwin, a Hero of UkraineContinue Reading
Keeping Moldova out of the European Union does nothing to help Ukraine. Chisinau cannot answer for Kyiv’s internal reforms any more than Ukraine can push through changes in Moldova, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said in an interview with Válasz Online, arguing that stalling her country’s bid does nothing for itsContinue Reading
Ukrainian marines have shown off a Turkish automatic grenade launcher that was rebuilt in response to soldiers’ complaints about older models, from a simpler sight to a smoother ammunition feed. The 42nd Separate Marine Brigade released a video of its crews preparing and firing the 40mm RDS40-AGL, made by theContinue Reading
Europe is raising its defense budgets, but a Ukrainian defense-tech executive warns against spending the money on expensive systems that prove too ineffective to stop cheap drones at a sustainable cost. That is the case Taras Bublyk, CEO of the Ukrainian electronic-warfare firm UNWAVE, made in an interview with Ukrinform.Continue Reading
Ukraine’s army is loosening the reins, with its new commander-in-chief thinning the stream of reports he demands, though the general overhaul is still only partial. That is how Yurii Butusov, a front-line drone-company commander, describes the changes under Mykhailo Drapatyi in an interview with Apostrophe TV. In July 2026, PresidentContinue Reading
Ukraine’s top general has ordered a crackdown on medical boards that may approve sick soldiers for the draft. Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi signed the order on 28 October, and Dmytro Lykhovii, a representative of the Armed Forces’ Main Directorate of Communications, confirmed it to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The order tightensContinue Reading
Russia has fired more than 925,000 shells at Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast since late 2022 and now sends up to 6,500 drone attacks against it every week. Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration, set out the toll at the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional AuthoritiesContinue Reading
The lesson for NATO is not to abandon armored warfare, but to rethink how it is conducted. That is the argument Ukrainian military observer Oleksandr Kovalenko draws from Operation Vivaldi, the Third Army Corps’ counteroffensive near Lyman, which he says proves tanks still have a place on a battlefield manyContinue Reading
Ukraine should pass the bill to join Europe’s single euro-payment zone without delay, because it would save Ukrainians up to €100 million a year. For businesses that buy goods or equipment in the EU, the cost of a transfer would fall several-fold and settle in minutes or hours instead ofContinue Reading
Ahead of a harsh winter, the Netherlands is giving Ukraine €1.2 billion to keep the lights and water on under Russian strikes. Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sjoerd Sjoerdsma announced the aid during a visit to Kyiv on 28 October. The package comes as Russia targets Ukraine’sContinue Reading
Ukraine is remaking its air force on NATO’s model, down to the way its squadrons are organized and the aircraft they fly. The reforms are planned to be completed by 2035 and include modernizing its F-16s while pursuing the Swedish Gripen jets, Air Force Spokesperson Yurii Ihnat says, per TseContinue Reading
Ukraine has held its first international course in military surgery and resuscitation, under instructors from the American College of Surgeons and other Western trauma bodies, the Defense Ministry says. “Tryzub”, or Trident, has been conducted for front-line surgeons and anesthesiologists. The week-long drills put 16 doctors, eight surgeons, and eightContinue Reading