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Might Russia’s illegitimate president be ready to negotiate an end to the Russian war against Ukraine? One of America’s leading Russia experts, Thomas Graham, thinks so. Noting that both Russia and Ukraine are experiencing enormous human and economic losses that can only get worse, Graham argues that a window of opportunity currently exists for a peace deal brokered by the Trump administration.

Can the Ukraine War End? One Idea 

F-16 in Sunset US Air Force Photo

Graham’s logic is persuasive, but his rationally grounded belief that Putin wants peace is, alas, unfounded.

Ukrainian esprit de corps is palpable throughout the country, from Lviv near the Polish border to Kharkiv, a university town just 12 miles from the frontline, where schoolchildren study in metro stations and once-abandoned nuclear bunkers. Ukrainian men who evaded service are largely gone, and those who remain contribute to their country’s military industry, rescue, and reconstruction, if not on the frontline itself.

Iran Keeps Pouring Cold Water On A Deal – But Does It Matter? – Iran has once again thrown efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz into disarray, publicly disputing Washington’s description of how negotiations are progressing only hours after the U.S. suggested that an agreement could be announced as soon as Wednesday, August 5.

The most recent confusion arose when Axios reported early today, citing two regional sources and a U.S.

The EU has received the latest tranche of funding from Russian windfall profits accrued from frozen Central Bank of Russia funding.

Mistral and Uvision have completed the first Lot Acceptance Tests (LAT) for the HERO 120 loitering munition, a key US Army requirement.

According to President Donald J. Trump, negotiations with Iran are progressing steadily, with a deal that could allow Iran to retain partial control of the Strait of Hormuz alongside Oman.

Over the last few days, the war in Iran slowed down once again, which, according to the President, was due to ongoing negotiations between the two sides.

Airman 1st Class Tommy Day (left), Senior Airman Phillip Ruiz (center) and Tech. Sgt. Dwayne Bolles prepare to load a BDU-56 bomb on a B-2 Spirit bomber at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on April 11, 2005.

Russia launched a large missile and drone attack against the Ukrainian capital city, Kyiv, as well as its suburban environs overnight on Wednesday, managing to land more than a dozen strikes on Ukrainian sites. The hits ignited several blazes throughout the city at a time when Ukraine is facing an acute shortage of missile defense interceptors — a fact that the Kremlin is seemingly keen to leverage.

Ukraine Has a Missile Problem 
“Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a post on X.

The Air Force plans to stick with the M18 pistol as its sidearm, which the service has been issuing to airmen for the past several years, an Air Force spokesperson said.
Made by Sig Sauer, the M18 pistol is a compact variant of the Army’s Modular Handgun System. Since 2017, all the military services have adopted the M18 and the full-sized M17 to replace the M9 pistol, which first entered service in 1985. 
“The Air Force is satisfied with the M18 Modular Handgun System currently employed across the department,” the service spokesperson told Task & Purpose.

Russia Air Strikes Kill At Least 21 In Kyiv: Russia conducted another deadly ballistic missile attack on Kyiv and its suburbs, as they hammer home the fact that Ukraine is woefully short of interceptor missiles.

The attack, early on Wednesday, killed at least 21 people and wounded dozens more, Ukrainian officials said, as the attack set off large fires that filled the skies over Kyiv with heavy black smoke as rescue workers combed through the rubble searching for survivors.

Skyfall Missile Russian Flying Chernobyl. Russian Government/Screenshot.

Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Ukraine and the Philippines have reportedly begun negotiating a new defense partnership that could give Manila access to some of the world’s most battle-tested drone technology, as the Southeast Asian country seeks new ways to counter mounting pressure from China in the South China Sea.

The news comes as Ukraine begins to prove itself to the world as a wartime innovator, going on the offensive against Russia and targeting the country’s biggest and most critical oil refineries and other energy infrastructure.