Why does she think that person considers themself a “journal”? 
“I just felt it was time. We waited a long time,” Trump said in the Oval Office, after a meeting with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte to discuss peace negotiations.
The move comes one week after the UK slapped a similar sanctions package on Rosneft and Lukoil.
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The sanctions could be huge if properly enforced.
From Zelenskyy:
An important meeting with the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson. We highly value our relations with Sweden and all the support shown to our people. Today, one of the key topics of our negotiations is strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities. We are considering the JAS 39 Gripen aircraft as one of the most effective elements of this and expect to receive the first “Gripens” as early as 2026. We also discussed the air defense situation and the implementation of the PURL initiative. Special and particular attention is given to Ukrainian energy, its current needs, considering the ongoing attacks by Russia on energy infrastructure. We coordinated positions with the Prime Minister ahead of the meetings taking place this week in Europe: the European Council session in Brussels and the coalition of the willing in London. It is important to be united in our decisions to achieve the results we need.
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The Gripens sound great and all, but will they come fast enough?
From https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/23/europe/ukraine-sweden-gripen-fighter-jets-intl-hnk-ml:
The deal signed on Wednesday by Volodymyr Zelensky and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is a letter of understanding, meaning exact terms, costs and delivery dates for 100 to 150 Saab Gripen-E jets are yet to be determined.
And:
With that training, some observers have raised the possibility of Ukraine getting older Gripen models to tide them over until the E models arrive in about three years.
Still, Zelensky told a press conference in Sweden that he hoped his country could receive and start using the Gripens next year.
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Yeah there’s a lot of language here which isn’t particularly clear. It’s possible the “first Gripens” are 3 to train on. Still it’s a big step, this should’ve happened a long time ago and it’s better to get started in case the war doesn’t end soon which seems likely. Gripens are made for a war like this, probably better than F-16s.
It also shows exactly how much of an excuse it is when Trump says “Tomahawks take 6 months to train so we can’t send” (And Sullivan’s similar excuses before.)
https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1981250139206373457
Exclusive: China state oil majors suspend Russian oil buys due to sanctions, sources say
Putin:
New sanctions will not significantly affect our economic well-being.
The sanctions are an unfriendly act and do not strengthen Russian-American relations
Dialogue is always better than continuing war
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I look at the situation in Pokrovsk and remember the battles in Bakhmut and Avdiivka. Now holding a city like this is on the verge of being impossible: in addition to the fact that enemy infantry is constantly bypassing your position and constantly destroying artillery, drones also minimize the chances of evacuation. The guys who are holding the defense there deserve not only awards, but also a six-month discharge from service.
In Pokrovsk, the situation is far from the best, even very difficult, but the guys decided to fantasize about something in their reports and images of advances.
Now the SOU have temporarily stabilized the situation, the enemy has run into lines that he cannot cross and continue to advance to completely capture the city.
Last few weeks have been brutal in Pokrovsk. Russian casualties have jumped a ton, and typically Ukraine suffers more casualties in urban settings as well. It’s going to be a difficult balance for Ukraine here. I think no one has a clue what will happen after this falls too.
Looks like Russia now has a solid foothold inside the city:
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Lukoil intends to sell its foreign assets following the imposition of sanctions against the company.
https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/1982842443872784809
click bait title, but a lot of good stuff on Russia’s economy. Some of it is a few months old and things have likely gotten far worse recently:
There will probably be a huge amount of propaganda about nukes soon.
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:
: Massive enemy infiltration in Pokrovsk
:
: The enemy continues to infiltrate the city, gradually absorbing it with its number of personnel. The history of the Katsap penetration into Pokrovsk began in July, where the enemy carried out a large-scale sabotage operation, which we wrote about earlier. From that moment on, there was a search for broken defenses, constant pressure by infantry and systematic work by enemy pilots on the positions and logistics of Ukrainian fighters.
Over time, a weak point was found - Zvirovo, Shevchenko and the area along the railway from Kotlyne to Pokrovsk itself. All this time, the enemy used and continues to use the possibility of weak defensive orders of the SOU in the southern part of the city, understanding the numerical superiority of the infantry and the lack of ours. Also, for some time, the Katsaps were helped by lies from some brigade commanders who hold the defense in the south of Pokrovsk.
Currently, according to our information, the enemy has managed to drag more than one hundred infantrymen into the city and continues to infiltrate the depths of the settlement and expand its sabotage and reconnaissance activities. Why exactly this definition of actions - they often set up ambushes for any movements, mine roads, engage in battles with rear calculations (PER, electronic warfare, pilots, artillery, mortars, etc.), look for infiltration routes and paint a picture of the situation in the city itself. On the southern outskirts of Pokrovsk, enemy pilots were able to enter and settle down.
:
:The worst thing is that the enemy was able to break logistics in the direction of Myrnograd and the entire agglomeration of the city. In addition to infantry ambushes, enemy drones are actively working to monitor and attack movements in positions, supplies, etc. The activity of enemy pilots increased significantly as infantry began to infiltrate the city, and enemy drones helped destroy our logistics to allow them to slowly absorb the city.
:
:Currently, it is important to focus not just on cleaning to publish videos for the public, but on the serious work of preventing the occupation of a huge city, which should serve as a fortress and a great obstacle for the enemy. It is critically necessary to block the enemy’s infiltration routes, which are allegedly held and to carry out the sweep by a full-fledged brigade, and not by small groups of special forces, who, unfortunately, will not do anything by themselves, and we already have a similar example in another city. The situation in Pokrovsk is on the verge of critical and continues to deteriorate to the point that it may be too late to fix everything
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Large scale operations seem unlikely to succeed at this stage. Moving thousands of men will get a lot of them killed. No good options.
So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate?
I doubt there’s anything left to be moved there.
It seems like attempting to retreat from the southern pocket isn’t really possible either; anything that moves there is getting droned. They’ll need to attempt something though.
I have no idea what will happen with the city itself. Casualties are higher for both sides, and probably not as good a ratio for Ukraine as in the fields, but also it’s the slowest distance gain for Russia.
Big question what will happen after Pokrovsk falls too, could be a domino effect in that area or could go back to a slow grind for Russia.
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Some people are confirming today that retreating from the southern part is pretty much impossible. I have no clue how they get them out.
The situation is such that the units in the area of the villages of Lysivka, Sukhyi Yar and Novopavlivka are blocked. These are the deepest outskirts of Pokrovsk, where our troops 25th separate airborne Sicheslav brigade have been holding positions for over a year.
Everyone is shouting about Pokrovsk, but the problem in the city is only that we do not have full control over it and risk losing it in the near future, which is not the worst thing, because the biggest problem in this situation is the people and units that are at the bottom of this bag between Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad (even to the south and southeast of it); and here it is not just about problematic logistics or something else, simply - the question of the possibility of withdrawal or carrying out other maneuvers as such.
I might say something unpopular for Ukrainians, but I would sacrifice the ruins of Pokrovsk to save the lives of all those people, because judging by the operational-tactical situation, the option of losing the city will come sooner or later, but whether we save the people until that moment and if so, how many - is an open question.
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He added: “The situation is difficult, but Russian propaganda claims about the alleged ‘blockade’ of the Ukrainian Defence Forces in Pokrovsk, as well as in Kupiansk, are untrue.”
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The problem isn’t that they’re surrounded, it’s that there’s too many drones in the area and a significant amount of troops behind their positions. There’s not really a way for them to retreat which they need to do.
“Avdiivka, Vugledar, Sudzha. In each of these cases, the enemy cut off our logistics, and the units found themselves in a fire bag. Each time, ours withdrew at the last moment with heavy losses, abandoning equipment. Not everyone could get out. This is happening again now.”
Good article on the situation:
A military source in Donetsk told the BBC that Ukrainian forces were not surrounded but their supply lines were under fire from Russian troops.
Budanov being in the region is a pretty clear indicator of how this is going. If they are actually using the GUR’s elite troops that would be an extremely bad indicator imo. The GUR does have regular troops for some reason though, so if they are using that then it’s not nearly as bad. Either way it’s a pretty strong indicator that Ukraine is really lacking in reserves imo.
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This is the first year that Ukraine has been able to strike back against Russia’s energy campaign.
This is from Magyar (he is in command of Magyar’s Birds)
Worms, blackout - it’s not scary.
It’s a bit of an inconvenience - get used to it, but throughout the swampy territory - the flight of a free Bird - it is unpredictable and not on schedule, which is why it is called the Free Ukrainian Bird.
The SBS Birds, together with other components of the deep defeat of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, promise you a rapid, albeit somewhat forced, adaptation. But you will cope: “Light/warm — BOOM — dark/cold.”…
[…]
Meanwhile, undoubtedly and relentlessly, worm gasoline is becoming a scarce liquid, and gas and oil are quickly burning.
From another officer:
Operators of the 14th separate UAV regiment / 1 separate SBS center conducted a number of successful strikes on the enemy’s energy infrastructure using the FP-1 guided strike UAVs.
The substations “Kisneva-2”, “Peremoha”, “Novodonbaska”, “Kommunarska”, “Lypetska” and “Cherkaska” were hit, which supply power to the occupied Luhansk region.
As a result of the strikes, most of the occupied Luhansk region was left without electricity - this is a direct response to the Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure of the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region.
You come with a sword, you die by the sword!
They are pretty successfully striking power plants and substations.
Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov stated that local residents are cutting batteries and cables from generators supplied to the region, which were allocated 2.3 billion rubles from the federal budget.
"They abandoned them and left. Ideally, they should be covered with concrete. No sooner had we even installed the generator than wonderful people—who, unfortunately, we have, like in any city or town in the country—start cutting batteries and cables.
Look at how much this costs. Let me remind you, 2.3 billion rubles from the federal budget alone. This is complete mismanagement, a disregard for the situation, and a complete lack of understanding of what’s going on," Gladkov stated.
The governor ordered that generators be protected from vandalism by the end of the week. Municipal heads are responsible for the safety of the generators.
Ukraine has been telling Russia for awhile that if they attempted energy strikes on Ukraine this year that Ukraine would respond by striking Russia’s. Ukraine believes that if they can damage Russia’s energy infrastructure then either Putin will reconsider the strategy (this is the same strategy that secured Ukraine’s ships in the Black Sea), or internal support for the war inside of Russia will fade as citizens begin to feel the impact of the war more and more.
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Unfortunately, everything is leading to the fact that soon a situation similar to that in Pokrovsk may arise in Kostiantynivka. Small groups of Russians have already infiltrated the city. I better won’t say anything about the advance of Russians towards Pokrovske (not to be confused with Pokrovsk). It’s a complete disaster there.
We have now thrown all our forces into ensuring the defense of Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka, and Pokrovske. Simply put, the southern Donetsk direction. I marked these most problematic areas on the map.
There are many requests. Both for optics and for FPV radios. And for anti-aircraft drones. But there is an extreme lack of funding.
I guess this message is aimed at me, still it seems quite bad and I’m hoping they pull out as soon as possible. These things only seem to get worse:
Those who talk a lot of shit about the GUR or Budanov should remember that the defense of Pokrovsk is the Commander-in-Chief and subordinate generals, just like Kupiansk and other places, while the GUR, SSO, Alpha, and related units work in clear coordination and under the General Staff’s command. So various journalists and civilian commentators, you should learn the basics first.
Right now, the defense is composed as effectively as possible. And believe me, Syrskyi, Budanov, and others are doing everything that can be done.
Regarding Kupiansk – some Russians were drowned in the river. But who cares about that, right?
Some really good Sting footage:
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pretty cool
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