Note
Pieces
OP-ED/NOTE: Revisiting Lithuania, what the figures confirm
Five point thirty-three percent of GDP: that is the figure Lithuania posts for its defense spending in 2026, according to Reuters, the highest of…
OP-ED: the Netherlands, first country to activate PURL for Ukraine
The Netherlands was, according to available data on the PURL mechanism, one of the very first countries to activate this financing arrangement for Ukraine,…
OP-ED: Pyongyang, the ally Russia never talks about
Between September 2023 and January 2026, North Korea reportedly delivered 29,488 munitions containers to Russia, according to an iStories analysis published March 16, 2026,…
NOTE: The Kremlin and the diplomacy of waiting, the tally one week on
Volodymyr Zelensky called on Russia to take concrete diplomatic steps to end the war, according to NPR on June 18, 2026, a statement that…
OP-ED/NOTE: why Rosneft and Lukoil under US sanctions matter more than it seems
On October 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury confirmed sanctions targeting Rosneft and Lukoil directly, the two largest Russian oil companies, a…
OP-ED: Tuapse, Four Strikes and a Question Worth Asking
Four times since March 2026, the Tuapse refinery on the Black Sea has been struck, according to an AP count reported by the LA…
OP-ED: Putin faces his own price cap, the extended-decree maneuver
A presidential decree extending a mechanism to 2027 announces nothing spectacular; it quietly reveals that no quick exit from the economic war is being…
OP-ED/NOTE: Yaroslavl and Saratov, a Strategic Reading
The Yaroslavl refinery took a direct hit followed by a fire in late March 2026, according to CNN on March 28, 2026, an episode…
OP-ED/NOTE: Fire Point and Luch, the context we often forget
Behind the headlines devoted to strikes and casualty tallies, the Ukrainian defense industry is carrying out work that is less spectacular but just as…