With various actions, most recently the oil deal with Russia to lift sanctions and purchase diesel, President Donald Trump has been accused of acting with the midterm elections in mind.

But a new report says Iran is also eyeing those elections in its own decision-making.

Twenty-six ships from 13 partner and allied nations steam in formation with Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) during a multinational maritime exercise as part of Fleet Exercise (FLEETEX) 250 in the Atlantic Ocean, June 25, 2026.

After securing an historic military agreement with Greenland, U.S. President Donald Trump is looking to capitalize on the deal and begin exploiting the Arctic island’s enormous natural resources – but his recent comments about American companies drilling for oil in Greenland are facing competition from European Union figures who are preparing to change the political bloc’s approach to oil and gas exploration in the region.

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 week, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.Western 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.

Defence Medical Academy have won the championsh

Russia launched 16 ballistic missiles at the Kyiv region overnight on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy subsequently accused Washington of failing to share critical intelligence on the devastating assault.

This latest aerial onslaught came as tensions between Washington and Kyiv over U.S. intelligence contributions continue to climb.

Tu-160 Bomber. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Tu-160 Bomber Russian Air Force Photo

Yet Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday denied that the U.S. had halted any sharing, suggesting technical issues might be to blame.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants a Trump-Xi summit to discuss the future of Ukraine — without President Zelenskyy, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Putin proposed talks between the three leaders in November to negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on terms favorable to Putin.

Putin June 2026 Kremlin Photo Handout.

Putin in October 2021 Creative Commons Photo

According to a former Russian intelligence officer, the Russian president broached the idea during a phone call with Trump earlier this month.

Iran has launched an intensified campaign of attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, right as Washington was celebrating a meaningful increase in daily traffic.

The attacks are again driving up oil prices.

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99) arrives at Pier 88 during the International Naval Review (INR) 250 Parade of Sail in New York, July 4, 2026. The Parade of Sail marks the opening of INR 250, a multinational maritime celebration commemorating the 250th anniversaries of the U.S.

Over the weekend, Ukraine launched one of its most massive drone attacks against Russia since the beginning of the war.

According to some claims, Kyiv launched more than 1000 attack UAVs on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Putin in Meeting In January 2023 Creative Commons Photo

Drones were detected in multiple Oblasts, with Saint Petersburg as the main focus of the air raid.

Vice President JD Vance faced criticism after a tense exchange with the husband of an American soldier killed during the war with Iran.

During a CBS town hall, Joey Amor questioned whether American military leadership had adequately protected US personnel: Amor’s wife, Master Sgt. Nicole Amor, was among six American service members killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait on March 1.

F-15 in museum. National Security Journal Photo.

F-15 fighter at Museum. National Security Journal Photo.

RAF Brize Norton has been undergoing a major £

Western countries are looking to replenish ammunition supplies, creating demand on energetics material used in warheads and propellent.

Denmark has reaffirmed its sovereignty over the semi-autonomous territory of Greenland after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed the island would soon begin major oil, gas, and mineral extraction.

Washington and Copenhagen signed a deal last month that ended a near two-year standoff over the island’s future, which Trump has repeatedly claimed is essential to U.S. security.

Oil Platform. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Generic Oil Tanker Image. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The Army fired a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile f

The airman who died in a rappelling demonstration gone wrong on Saturday night was a Tactical Air Control Party instructor with 15 years of service in the Air Force.
The Air Force identified the airman as Tech. Sgt. Ian Patterson, a Tactical Air Control Party instructor assigned to a 6th Combat Training Squadron detachment operating out of Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. 
Patterson was part of a four-person demonstration at Saturday’s football game between the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Navy.

President Donald Trump is pushing ahead with plans to renovate and transform a public golf course in Washington, D.C., into a world-class championship venue, even though a federal judge ordered his administration to halt some of the work already underway.

On Sunday, October 18, the president said the East Potomac Golf Links will close on November 15 for about 15 months while his administration prepares to dramatically redevelop the century-old site.

President Donald Trump signs Executive Orders in the Oval Office, Thursday, April 24, 2025.

Elbit Systems has secured a contract worth around $235m to supply EXTRA-MR rockets and PULS rocket artillery to an unnamed European customer.

Britain’s top general has warned soldiers

Jon Steinbach has been tapped to serve as strategic technical advisor to Pentagon Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies as the CIO continues to add new members to her team and shake up the roster.
The appointment, announced Friday, comes amid a push by Davies to modernize the Defense Department’s IT and software, streamline procurement, and figure out the way ahead for the controversial Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.

Image: Roger Stone / Stone Cold Truth

This video describes the military situation in

Iran is stepping up attacks on commercial ships around the Strait of Hormuz as officials in Tehran seek to keep oil prices high before the November 3 U.S. midterm elections.

Two senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran has changed its tactics against vessels that defy its shipping restrictions.

Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Aircraft Handling) 1st Class Jose Mejiacastro, assigned to Air Department aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R.

Why Trump Is Appeasing Putin… And Why He’s Wrong For It – It’s hard, albeit not impossible, to understand why U.S. President Donald Trump is pursuing a new, cozier relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump has bucked the trend in the West’s handling of the Russian leader who, in some form or another, has been in charge since the turn of the century. Where others have ostracized Putin, Trump has welcomed him onto American soil. From a purely middle-ground perspective, Washington under Trump has led global efforts to find a peace agreement.

With the midterm elections now just over two weeks away, the news continues to be bad for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

According to the Washington Post, citing its own Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll, Trump now has approval from just 33 percent of adults, with twice that number, 66 percent, disapproving, the worst numbers yet in Trump’s time as president.

President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks on the Iran Strategy in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House, Friday, October 13, 2017. In Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by D.

Iran’s commanders believe round two (three?) against the US is coming. They want everyone to know they’re ready. According to a recent article on CNN, Tehran has spent the past month broadcasting that it is preparing for another round of war with the United States.

Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebbi set the tone in late September, saying, “The world will be amazed.” He added that the war isn’t over, that the IRGC has prepared itself for a long fight, and that Iran has new targets it hasn’t hit yet.

Around 6,000 sailors are trapped near the Strait of Hormuz as attacks on commercial ships mount, the head of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) warned, as Washington and Tehran battle over allegations that the Islamic Republic is threatening crews.

“The situation continues to be severe and critical when it comes to international shipping,” UN International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told Fox News Digital on October 18.

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Oil terminals located on Iran’s Kharg Island — the embattled Islamist regime’s main offshore conduit for sending oil abroad — have been empty for weeks, evidence that the American blockade of Iran is biting deeply into Tehran’s ability to move oil out of the country and on to markets abroad.

In fact, Iran is being forced to the unthinkable — not ship oil out over the open ocean.

Ukraine Launches Major Attack on Russia as U.S. Tensions Continue – At least one person has been killed and another five injured following one of Ukraine’s largest aerial attacks against Russia in the conflict so far.

Kyiv launched more than 1,000 drones towards its eastern aggressor overnight into the morning of Monday, 19th October.

T-14 Armata Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

T-14 Armata. Image Credit: Russian State Media.

It follows a weekend of further tensions between Kyiv and Washington.

Massive Strike on Putin’s Hometown of St. Petersburg 
St.

While the Army Black Knights and Air Force Falcons won during Week 7 of the college football season, a tragedy before Navy played at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Saturday overshadowed those games.
During pregame ceremonies ahead of the Midshipmen’s game against the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), an airman assigned to the U.S. Air Force’s 6th Combat Training Squadron, Detachment 2, fell during a rappelling demonstration as part of the annual Salute to Armed Forces and Veterans game. Tech Sgt.

Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Reaches a New Low – U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval rating has reached a record low, according to a new Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll.

The President’s approval stands at 33%, with 66% of Americans disapproving of his performance in office. More than half (52%) strongly disapproved of the President’s tenure so far.

Donald Trump Speaking at CPAC. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Donald Trump in 2021. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

A National Guardsman was shot in the leg when three soldiers exchanged gunfire with the alleged suspect while trying to break up a fight on a Washington, D.C. street Sunday night. A police official said the soldier is being treated at a local hospital for “non-life threatening injuries.”
At a press conference held at the scene, Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department interim Police Chief Jeffrey Carrol said that seven or eight guardsmen were parked in a van in Southeast Washington when they saw a fight break out among “some individuals” on a nearby sidewalk and intervened.

Iran’s Hardliners Call For Nuclear Weapons – Iran’s hardliners are done with the lies that its nuclear program was for “peaceful” purposes and only to generate power. According to the Financial Times, a growing faction inside the regime now argues openly that the time for nuclear weapons has come.

That isn’t a fringe idea whispered in a Qom seminary anymore. Men with titles are saying it on the record.

F-22 Raptor Stealth Fighter Flying. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

The latest is Ahmad Naderi, a member of the presiding committee of Iran’s parliament.

The US Army’s Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) has partnered with the Global Tactical Edge Acquisition Directorate (G-TEAD) to test drone-defence systems in Africa.

A specialized Army artillery battery focused on the European theater carried out its first test fire of a Tomahawk Land Attack Missile from a Typhon missile system in recent weeks.
Soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment, a long-range fires battalion, test fired the Typhon missile system almost a year after it was formally established. It was the first time the unit, one of a handful of Army batteries assigned the Typhon, had fired a Tomahawk.
The test took place on Sept.

When someone normally is told they have cancer, certain questions pop into their mind once the shock wears off.
Am I going to die? How is this going to affect my family? What are the next steps?
Retired Marine Corps Col. Hank Donigan probably had those concerns when doctors informed him in 2022 that he had brain cancer. But as surgery to remove a golf-ball-sized tumor from Donigan’s brain approached July 6, 2023, the military veteran had another query for his medical team.

The U.S. Air Force is exploring the possibility of returning up to four retired KC-10A Extender aerial refuelling tankers to flying condition for transfer to an undisclosed partner nation in North Africa. A contracting notice published by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center seeks information from companies capable of restoring the aircraft, obtaining flight clearance, delivering them to the recipient country and providing logistical support and training.

D.

Aviation W. With more than 80 satellites aloft, the U.S. Space Development Agency faces an integration challenge as future users count on the forthcoming mesh network.

Bill Gertz, The Washington Times The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center recently carried out a test launch of a new warhead carrier for the forthcoming Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile

Stephen Losey, Air & Space Forces The human F-22 pilot acted as an “airborne quarterback” for the YFQ-44 drone by sending it high-level tactical directives

Bruce Allen Lubbering, RCD Beginning in the 1960s, the U.S. Navy faced a growing threat from Soviet naval aviation and its developing antiship missile capabilities.

This video describes the military situation in

Who will take home top honours at the 2026 RAF

The United States and Japan have launched their largest-ever Keen Sword joint military exercise, bringing together approximately 57,000 American and Japanese personnel for manoeuvres running from October 19 to 29. The exercise will see Japan deploy its newly introduced Type 25 surface-to-ship missile system outside its permanent base for the first time, while the U.S. Marine Corps will deploy its Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) to Yonaguni Island, approximately 110 kilometres from Taiwan Island.

The Russian T-80BVM main battle tank’s long range targeting capabilities have gained newfound attention, after the state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec highlighted the unique combination of capabilities the vehicle provided. Describing the tank as a stealthy “assassin,” it highlighted its gas turbine engine, mobility and camouflage as advantages for conducting rapid flanking manoeuvres.

Can the RAF end seven years of hurt against the

This video describes the military situation in

As the United States seeks to rebuild its defense industrial base, Washington is scrambling to understand an industrial ecosystem that it no longer controls, nor largely understands. China has been able to achieve strategic advantage against the United States through the targeted application of export controls and licensing requirements on specific materials at specific supply chain nodes. U.S. responses, by contrast, have largely been broader in scope and shallower in effect.

Between May 10 and 13, 1940, German Panzer Group Kleist advanced through the densely wooded Ardennes Forest, which the French considered impenetrable to large, mechanized formations. Numbering five armored and three motorized infantry divisions, totaling around 41,000 vehicles, the entire panzer group moved along just four Rollbahnen, or axes of advance, creating the largest traffic jam in military history.When the leading XIX Armored Corps, commanded by Gen. Heinz Guderian, converged on the French city of Sedan, it epitomized the concept of Schwerpunkt, or point of main effort.

Image: CDR Salamander / Substack

There she is…just look at her—a B-52G in all her Cold War 1980s livery that says, “Yes, my belly is bright white, because I’m going to nuke you and don’t want to get all hot afterwards” glory.
For generations before us, and for generations to come, whenever a military competitor posed a challenge to our nation, you were usually one or two bullet points away from someone asking, “Hey, can we configure a B-52 to do that?”
As one finds with platforms with built-in flexibility and square footage, the answer is usually “yes.

A Russian helicopter was hit by a Ukrainian drone from behind. The helo never knew what hit them.
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