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The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, a sacred site that the Kremlin has for decades called its spiritual cradle and a main centre for Orthodoxy in Russia, is now in the crosshairs of Russian weapons. On the night of 15 June 2026, Russia launched a missile and drone strike on Kyiv that caused a massive fire in the Dormition Cathedral of the Lavra. Ukrainian authorities have estimated the damage to the ancient shrine, one of eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, at over 500 million hryvnias (

Any new European defense system must have the continent’s most battle-hardened military at its heart. Step forward, Ukraine. Source: Facebook/GeneralStaff.ua There are many lessons from Europe’s biggest war in 80 years, but one stands out as absolutely essential. Ukraine has shown time and time again, and with growing frequency, that Russia can dish it out, but can’t take it. Ukraine’s resolve and innovation, its ability to fight and beat Russia, demonstrate its unique value

Evidence and stories from people living under Russian occupation in Ukraine tell of fear, intimidation, and silence. Photo: Milda Gostautaite The story of Svitlana and her husband, Petro, both in their 50s, who spent almost a year in an occupied small town in Kherson Oblast, offers insight into the experience of suddenly falling under Russian control. The couple worked at a railway station and, like many Ukrainians, Svitlana now looks back on life before the invasion with a n

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Europeans are increasingly speaking of Ukraine as a shield protecting the continent from Russian aggression. This recognition is certainly justified, but it also carries a risk. Amid all the talk of Ukraine’s growing military strength, there is a danger that this could encourage complacency over the country’s ability to bear the current security burden indefinitely. Changing attitudes toward Ukraine were on display at the r

Europe will struggle to defend itself against Russia without the aid of Ukraine’s battle-tested legions. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Russia’s recent missile and drone strikes and follow-on attacks against Ukraine represent a cruel exercise in signaling. Following a brief ceasefire, Russia revealed that it can breach Ukraine’s aerial defenses. By deploying an unparalleled barrage, Putin arguably sent a veiled warning to Europe that their cities and fac

Drones are powerful — and can cause chaos. Remedies are urgent to deploy them safely. Source: Jessica Tisemann / Neue Deister-Zeitung A busy commercial airport cancels all flights twice in quick succession. The trigger? Small, remote-controlled, low-flying objects. Safety concerns over drone activity and the defensive measures in place to deal with drones caused chaos this year at El Paso’s international airport. Cheap, expendable drones also dominate modern battlefields. Th

The EU's new defense industry program has the right architecture. The factories, the workers, and the political will are another matter. Rheinmetall AG artillery ammunition factory in Lithuania / A. Pliadis / Lithuanian MOD Europe’s new €1.5bn ($1.8bn) defense industry program has a line item nobody expected. Factories built to produce counter-drone weapons can now claim EU money to protect themselves from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The Commission adopted the work progr

An exercise testing NATO responses to hybrid attacks revealed a need for the West to be more nimble, and willing to mimic enemy tactics to defend itself. Source: NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) At Lithuania’s Šiauliai International Airport, a delegation receives reports of sudden signal degradation and communications disruption across Ukraine. The news is an early indicator of spillover from an enhanced Russian jamming operation and raises serious quest

As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approached the four-year mark in early 2026, the international media widely reported that the war had now lasted longer than the Soviet fight against Nazi Germany during World War II. This historical comparison made for attention-grabbing headlines, but it was not entirely accurate. In fact, the Russia-Ukraine War did not begin in 2022; it started eight years earlier in 2014. Efforts to end the war must reflect this reality. Despite

By Don Fontijn / Unsplash Despite suffering an estimated 1.2 million casualties in Ukraine since 2022, Russian forces continue to replenish their ranks at a pace that roughly matches battlefield losses. Attempts to explain this phenomenon by focusing on coercion or financial incentives are incomplete. In fact, enlistment bonuses for soldiers have been reduced or eliminated across many Russian regions since 2025. Meanwhile, Ukrainian intelligence indicates that approximatel

Russia’s shadow war in Europe is escalating. Allies need a new strategy before it’s too late. Prime Minister Tusk confirmed the incident on Warsaw–Lublin railway line was an act of sabotage. Source: Donald Tusk / X/ Press materials An unidentified object crosses into Lithuanian airspace from Kaliningrad and is quickly picked up by NATO radar systems. It’s small, fast, and unregistered. Shortly thereafter, three more similar objects joined in formation. NATO aircraft are scram

From Texas to Alberta to Catalonia, the Kremlin amplifies separatist causes abroad while jailing those who voice similar ideas inside Russia. The Kremlin routinely accuses other countries of instigating “colour revolutions” and backing separatist movements. Given the Kremlin’s well-documented flair for projection , it comes as little surprise that Moscow engages in exactly the kind of behaviour it denounces by backing separatist movements in Western countries, both openly and

Before taking a deeper dive into the 4th EEAS Report on FIMI Threats , let’s first look at the pro-Kremlin narratives observed over the past week. Pro-Kremlin FIMI activity focused on distorting both security developments and Europe’s economic outlook. One example was the false claim that the rocket targeting a joint US-UK military base located on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia was launched from a submarine in a false flag attack by the US . Unsubstantiated false fla

Ukraine has emerged from its harshest wartime winter with its energy system battered by relentless Russian strikes designed to freeze civilians into submission. At the same time, a sustained FIMI campaign sought to spin the blackouts into narratives of Ukrainian weakness, division and European fatigue – claims starkly disproven by sustained public and governmental support across the continent. Ukraine has just endured its harshest winter since the start of the full-scale war.

We should care about Russian provocations but it’s extremely important how we care. "Putin - war criminal" poster on the wall of Narva Fortress, May 9, 2024 Source: Dmitri Fedotkin/ERR A small Telegram channel has begun in recent weeks to promote the idea of a so-called “Narva People’s Republic” in Estonia’s northeastern border city of Narva, where almost all the inhabitants are Russian speakers. The campaign uses separatist slogans, meme-style content, and imagery that imita

The Kremlin’s war against international law reaches beyond mere words and now includes the use of heavily armed military squads operating on foreign soil. Wagner Group mercenaries in Africa. Photo: Grey Zone / Telegram The Russian Duma is about to adopt a law permitting the extraterritorial engagement of the armed forces to free Russian citizens arrested or detained by foreign courts. The government commission on legislation has just approved the respective draft legislation.

Throughout 2025, Russian officials were repeatedly shut out of the governing bodies of international organisations – a direct consequence of Kremlin’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine and its escalating campaign of hybrid interference worldwide. A glimpse of what’s to come? 2025 was a bad year for Russia’s international standing. As Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, recently described on Facebook, Ukraine and its allies worked hard throughout

If Europe hopes to find inspiration and security from others it is destined for disappointment, says Lithuania’s former Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis . I left this year’s Munich Security Conference in a mood which diplomats would describe as “thoughtful.” We could call this progress, since my mood in previous years was famously gloomy. The highlight was US Secretary of State Mark Rubio’s February 14 speech . Opinions differ on whether this represented an outstretche

In December 2024, Telegram began restricting access to channels of Russian propaganda resources sanctioned in the EU. However, a study by the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law revealed a wide range of tools used to bypass the ban. The persistence of Russian information manipulation and interference (FIMI) in the EU stems from two key factors. First, it is the inherent adaptability of Russian threat actors post-sanctions. Second, it is Telegram’s own platform gaps that con

Lavrov’s 2026 presser: a three-hour FIMI offensive against Europe and its leaders Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s annual press conference(opens in a new tab) on 20 January 2026 was not a diplomatic review, but a carefully orchestrated example of foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) directed at Europe, the EU, the Baltic states, Moldova, and key European leaders. Over nearly three hours, Lavrov repeated a familiar set of Kremlin narratives intend