Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum, only for War on the Rocks members. Each Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.American coverage often narrows the view to the battlefield — these pieces widen it, revealing the texture of daily life, politics, and public argument in a nation at war.

Air Vice-Marshal Adrian Burns on why Esports ca

The U.S. Navy’s newest destroyer, the future USS Ted Stevens has arrived in Alaska, bringing the latest Flight III configuration of the Arleigh Burke class to a region directly adjacent to Russia. The destroyer arrived in Whittier on September 27 ahead of its formal commissioning ceremony on October 3, marking the first U.S. Navy ship commissioning held in Alaska since 2013. The arrival places one of the U.S. Navy’s most advanced surface combatants in the immediate vicinity of the Russian Far East.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday that Moscow has no intention of scaling back its objectives in Ukraine, and that its army will continue fighting until they are resolved.

Lavrov, during his speech, outright rejected a pause in fighting during negotiations and told the world that the war was a fight for the security and rights of Russians and people living in regions of Ukraine that Moscow considers Russian.

What Lavrov Said

Tu-160 Bomber from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons

Tu-160 Bomber Russian Air Force.

Getting the gun to fit the shooter🎯
BFBS For

Russia plans to increase defence spending to 17.1 trillion roubles ($202.6 billion) in 2027, representing an increase of approximately 27 percent over the 13.5 trillion roubles originally allocated for the year, according to Russian government budget documents reviewed by Reuters. The planned allocation would be the highest level of Russian defence spending in over 30 years. The documents indicate that Russia expects to spend approximately 50 trillion roubles on defence over the three-year 2027–2029 budget period.

Back on September 9, Al Jazeera reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had claimed to have captured a Dive-LD vessel, an unmanned U.S. submersible, near the Strait of Hormuz, during the early-September period when the U.S. and Iran were exchanging attacks.

What We Know 

A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron “Thunderbirds” performs during the 2026 Sioux Falls AirShow: Power on the Prairie at Joe Foss Field, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, July 17, 2026.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt departed San Diego on Sunday for what is anticipated to be an extended Middle East deployment, which would make it the fifth U.S. aircraft carrier to have been committed to operations connected to the Iran war since it began seven months ago.
According to an Aug. 26 report by USNI News about the Roosevelt’s deployment, the carrier’s 5,000-strong crew is expected to head to Central Command’s area of responsibility, where the aircraft carrier will relieve the USS George Washington.

The last month has been a comparatively quiet period in the Iran War, with The Wall Street Journal recently describing the last few weeks as occupying a “liminal space between war and peace.”

However, that period has nevertheless taken a toll on United States service members.

According to a report Monday by Task & Purpose, which cited an update to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, nine Marines and 29 sailors were wounded in the month of September in “overseas operations,” as part of their support of the Iran War.

Local communities have expressed frustration over rising diesel prices as fuel costs hover near record highs. Prices have shot up in recent weeks due to the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz and repeated attacks on oil refineries as part of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The rise has prompted some Republicans to call for a ban on diesel exports ahead of the forthcoming midterm elections.

Prices Rising
The average price of diesel reached a record high of $6.53 per gallon on Tuesday, 22nd September, and stayed around $6.50 over the weekend.

President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend. By Monday, however, there was less agreement on whether a new round of talks was planned.

“I reject their proposal,” Trump said to reporters Saturday.

A B-1 Bomber, 77th Weapons Squadron, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, performs a fly by for the crowd during an Air Force Firepower Demonstration at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nev., Oct 8.

Russia Launches Major Drone Strikes Against Kyiv: Russia attacked the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, with drones again on Monday. The drones hit the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine building, setting it on fire.

One Person Killed 

Vladimir Putin in Syria. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Putin in Briefing. Image Credit: Russian Government.

Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said that as a result of the attack on the academy, one person was killed and three were injured.

“The time is right now for us to improve the pe

Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Continues to Reach New Lows – U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains at uncomfortable lows just five weeks before the midterm elections.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week found that the President’s approval rating stood at just 32% — the lowest of his political career under any Reuters/Ipsos survey.

President Donald Trump holds a Cabinet meeting, Thursday, April 10, 2025, in the Cabinet Room.

The Army has a saying, “Ain’t no use in looking down, ain’t no discharge on the ground.” But for some old World War II sailors, looking down might have revealed a DD-214—just not the kind of DD-214 that are discharge papers.
That’s because the destroyer and minesweeper USS Tracy was commissioned as DD-214, the Navy’s 208th destroyer, so numbered because DD-200 through DD-205 were canceled.
Also Read: Bulova recreates iconic A-11 World War II watch for ‘Jimmy’ movie
USS Tracy actually predates World War II.

Everyone remembers the SignalGate scandal in March 2025, when journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic was accidentally added to a Signal group chat that included Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other top government officials.

Just as he would later that year with the Iranian nuclear program, President Donald Trump claimed that he had “decimated” the Houthis, the Iran-backed militia who were the targets of the attack that was being planned in that Signal chat.

Modern CASEVAC operations in Ukraine are hampered by new types of battlefield lethality, particularly massed use of drones.

The Iran War Puts America’s Middle East Bases Near the Strait of Hormuz in Question – For decades now, the United States has relied on its bases throughout the Middle East for military support, whether that’s launching aircraft and moving supplies or directing naval operations to respond quickly to regional crises. Those bases are a fixture of American foreign policy, but the war with Iran has exposed those facilities in ways many thought weren’t possible.

Iran Is “Fully Prepared for War,” Foreign Minister Says: Iranian top officials last week made a rare visit to the United States, with the nation’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, addressing the United Nations General Assembly, becoming the first foreign leader ever to do so while his country was at war with the United States.

In his speech, Pezeshkian urged the United States to return to the June Memorandum of Understanding framework, which temporarily halted the war before the deal collapsed the following month.

President Donald J.

By the time Lance Corporal Grace Cussons reache

Suspects arrested near RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire. Photo: Visegrád 24 / Zero Hedge

Update: All Five Suspects Released On Bail — Investigation Continues
All five men arrested near RAF Fairford on suspicion of explosives and terrorism offences have been released on police bail following extensive interviews and enquiries. Counter Terror Police chief Laurence Taylor said the men will face stringent restrictions on their movements and contact with others.
“To be very clear, this does not mean that the investigation is over.

At least two people have been killed and a further eight injured in overnight attacks on Kyiv. Russian drones pounded the Ukrainian capital into the morning of Monday, 28th September, with civilian targets struck. It comes after a weekend of major bombardment on Kyiv and across Ukraine, with Russian drones targeting civilian infrastructure including kindergartens and schools.

Ukraine War Update: Food Market Attacked

Putin Back in 2009. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Putin in May 2025. Image Credit: Russian Federation Government.

The Indian state-owned aviation firm Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has been excluded from the competition to build prototypes of the country’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) stealth fighter after failing to meet technical requirements, India’s Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh has confirmed. Singh said HAL “didn’t qualify on some fairly routine technical grounds which they somehow failed to meet,” although he did not disclose the specific requirements in question. The decision represents the first time that HAL has been excluded from an indigenous Indian fighter program.

Iran is “fully prepared” for a return to all-out war with the United States but is hopeful of a diplomatic solution, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Abbas Araghchi, who has been in the U.S. over the past week for the United Nations General Assembly, was speaking to NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday, 27th September, when he made the comments.

B-2A Spirit Stealth Bomber USAF Image.

The U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team performs during the 2025 Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Air Show in San Diego, Sept. 27, 2025.

Amprius Technologies has received a US Department of War grant worth up to $75m to support domestic production of batteries for UAS.

The service academies went two-for-three during a dramatic Week 4 in which four points or fewer decided all three games.
Army and Air Force earned their first conference victories of the season, while Navy dropped its second consecutive American Conference game. The weekend included a late Army touchdown in Philadelphia, two costly Navy turnovers in Birmingham, Alabama, and an Air Force double-overtime thriller in Reno, Nevada.

Former Ukraine Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said drones account for 95% of battlefield strikes and called for a new “Army of Robots”.

Over the weekend, the German and Russian foreign ministers held a rare meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where the Associated Press reported that Germany called on Russia to get off what it described as a “dangerous path of escalation” toward NATO.

However, the Russians rejected that supposition, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in a speech to the full assembly, accusing Germany of serving as Ukraine’s top sponsor and also of failing to learn the lessons of World War II.

The Netherlands and Electro Optic Systems signed a letter of intent to advance works on the Apollo High Energy Laser Weapon system.

This video describes the military situation in

WarZone
With the job of launching giant tubes packed with explosives and extremely expensive national security payloads on top, if anywhere could use lasers, it’s the Cape

John Li, Proceedings
Without careful consideration of the limits of robotics, the Navy risks building brittle uncrewed platforms and falling short of its uncrewed objectives.

Stars & Str.
An Army special operations soldier died during an airborne training event in Nevada, U.S.

Naval Tech.

Bloomberg
As U.S.

Nine Marines and more than two dozen sailors were injured this month in support of the Iran war, the Pentagon revealed late last week.
The sharp uptick came as fighting in the war restarted this month, following a lull in August. The new figures — showing nine Marines and 29 sailors — were announced in an update to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the Pentagon’s database for wounded and killed in action personnel.

This video describes the military situation in

NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Adm. Pierre Vandier, returns to the studio to discuss how the alliance is continuously adapting to a new era of warfare driven by software, data, and uncrewed systems, and where it still lags. He explains why NATO is favoring field experimentation, how allies can build sovereign defense tech ecosystems without sacrificing interoperability, and what the right balance between unmanned and legacy platforms might look like.Image: 1st Sgt. Austin Berner via DVIDS.

I spent more than 20 years in U.S. Army air defense, much of it in cramped control stations where the difference between a successful engagement and a catastrophic loss came down to the soldier at the console. The radar did its job. The fire control system did its job. But the responsibility, the weight, and the trust sat on one person making a call in seconds, sometimes less.Now I sit on the other side of the fence, as vice president of space, air, and missile defense for business development at Leonardo DRS.

This video describes the military situation in

The Republic of China Army has publicly demonstrated the locally developed Cheetah 105mm wheeled armoured vehicle in live-fire exercises, providing the first detailed look at the production-standard configuration of the new eight-wheeled combat vehicle. The demonstration was conducted by the Republic of China Army at the Southern Training and Evaluation Centre in Tainan, at the far south of Taiwan Island, with the vehicle engaging both moving and stationary targets using its main gun.

China’s FK-2000 short-range air defence system has appeared in Turkmenistan for the first time during a military parade marking the country’s 35th anniversary of independence, highlighting the increasingly prominent role of Chinese weapons in the country’s air-defence network. Images from the September 27 parade show FK-2000 vehicles among the equipment displayed by the Turkmen Armed Forces, following confirmation from government sources that new military equipment would be on parade.

British authorities arrested five people early Sunday morning on suspicion of planning terrorist actions near a base used by the U.S. Air Force. 
The United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement that the incident started shortly before 1 a.m. local time Sunday, when police got a call about a trio of “suspicious vehicles” moving towards RAF Fairford in southwest England. Five suspects, who authorities have not yet identified, were arrested on suspicion of plotting terrorism and explosive actions. The exact nature and scale of the suspected attack was also not disclosed.

This video describes the military situation in

A former soldier was sentenced to 70 months in prison last week for a spree of various cybercrimes spanning years, while he was an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Hood.
Cameron James Wagenius, 22, was sentenced to prison on Friday, more than a year after pleading guilty to hacking telecommunication companies and extortion schemes tied to stolen data. 
According to the Justice Department, between April 2023 and December 2024, Wagenius was part of a group that conspired to hack and defraud at least 10 organizations.

The U.S. Navy has moved its new W93 nuclear warhead and associated Mk7 re-entry body into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase, marking the first new American nuclear warhead and re-entry system programme initiated in almost four decades. The warhead is intended to modernise the nuclear strike capabilities of the U.S. Navy’s submarine-launched ballistic missile fleet, and will be carried by the U.S. Navy’s Trident II D5 ballistic missiles.

The U.S. military is no stranger to slang, acronyms, and nicknames. It seems like American troops have a language all their own at times,. Some of their new words are self-explanatory and others are inside jokes, but the language isn’t meant to be understood by everyone, or even acceptable to everyone. There are some words that make no sense at all; we just continue to use these term because everyone seems to know what it means.
And some of them are just not that nice.
Falling into this latter category comes the term, “dependa.

This video describes the military situation in

All-Gurkha team takes on challenge of World&#82

China’s reusable spaceplane the Shenlong has demonstrated a sophisticated sequence of orbital manoeuvres involving the repeated release, pursuit and recapture of a small satellite, providing new evidence of the vehicle’s ability to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations in space. Tracking data indicate that the spacecraft released the same object in June, retrieved it approximately three weeks later, released it again in August and then manoeuvred back towards it for another apparent capture in September.