Published by @nsanzo ⋅ 23/01/2026
With the Greenland issue resolved, at least for the moment, thanks to negotiations between Donald Trump and Mark Rutte—it is NATO that is negotiating, not the affected country nor, of course, the territory in question—which offered Washington even more control over the Arctic island, yesterday was the day the US president presented his plan for the Middle East and the Peace Council with which he aspires to supplant the United Nations. Although the mandate of this group of people selected by Donald Trump to create a Gaza Strip to serve his interests is not mentioned in the UN Charter, possibly because its ambition is not regional but global. The idea of a Peace Council chaired by Donald Trump appears in the 28-point plan negotiated by Steve Witkoff and Kirill Dmitriev and in the 20-point plan proposed by Zelensky as the basis for resolving the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which yesterday regained some of its lost prominence.
In his opening address to the Peace Council, where he again insisted on the falsehood of having resolved eight wars—including the Iran-Iraq War, which the United States and its regional proxy instigated—Donald Trump announced he was on the verge of achieving a ninth resolution, a sign of renewed diplomatic momentum in negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow. Like Steve Witkoff, who maintains that the negotiations boil down to a single, "resolvable" issue, the US president expressed optimism about resolving the war, which he claimed "would be the easiest." However, in his meeting yesterday with Zelensky, who, as announced the previous day, finally traveled to Davos after securing a photo opportunity with Trump, no agreements were signed. Neither the security guarantees nor the so-called Prosperity Plan are yet ready for the two presidents' signatures, indicating that even the bilateral US-Ukraine negotiations are not as close to completion as had been suggested. Even less is known about the other side of the negotiations, the US-Russia talks, which took place late into the night after the arrival in Moscow of Trump's envoy to Russia, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner—the president's son-in-law and confidant, who holds no official position—to meet with Vladimir Putin throughout the day. Judging by the words of Yuri Ushakov, who insisted that there will be no "lasting peace" if the territorial issue is not resolved, there is still no agreement on this key matter.
The main news of the day came from Volodymyr Zelensky, in a part of his speech that went virtually unnoticed amid the headlines generated by the angry Ukrainian president. Trilateral negotiations between the United States, Russia, and Ukraine will begin today and last for two days. Although it is expected to be merely an initial meeting in which no major decisions will be made (though perhaps there will be gestures such as a new prisoner exchange or a partial ceasefire, an objective that is being pressured on Russia to rescue Ukraine from its dire energy crisis), it would be the first time that the three parties in this diplomatic process have negotiated directly. The United States was present at the opening of Russia's failed attempt to revive the Istanbul process last year, but there was no political negotiation at that time. Details are scarce, and all that is known is the location of the meeting: the United Arab Emirates. The few words Zelensky dedicated to what would be a significant development indicate a certain sense of unease. “I hope the United Arab Emirates is aware of this,” he said regarding the day's meetings. “We've had some surprises from the American side. But, in any case, we'll go there. I think it's good that there's a trilateral meeting at the technical level,” the Ukrainian president added.
Zelensky had arrived in Davos to make the most of the opportunity to address the major powers in the business and political world, and he seemed determined to generate as many headlines as possible. Zelensky achieved his goal and left no one indifferent. “Maduro is being tried in New York… but Putin isn’t?” he complained, again alluding to the kidnapping of the head of state of one of the world’s leading nuclear powers, Vladimir Putin, whom he had wished dead in his Christmas address. His use of the recent geopolitical conflicts caused by his main ally, the United States, was not limited to demanding that Russia receive the same treatment as Venezuela. “There was a lot of talk about the protests in Iran, but they were drowned in blood. The world has not helped the Iranian people enough; it has stood on the sidelines,” Zelensky stated, tireless in demanding US military interventions in the territory of his enemies. The objective is clear: to use foreign interventions to isolate and weaken Russia. In Zelensky's view, losing Venezuela would mean losing a foothold in the energy market, while losing Iran would mean losing access to materials like Shahed drones. In his attempt to present his wishes as analysis, Zelensky conceals the fact that the "Iranian drones" are produced independently in Russia and that Russia's main trading partner is China, a relationship the West and Ukraine dream of severing. Zelensky's interventionist aspirations are not limited to Russia's allies. "Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to simply cut off the components Russia needs to produce missiles, or even destroy the factories that produce them?" the Ukrainian president asked in a renewed appeal to get his partners to either directly destroy the Russian military industry or to do so by sending the necessary materials to Kyiv.
The core of Zelensky's speech was the exploitation of the Greenland situation for his own benefit. It didn't bother him that the Trump-Rutte agreement on Greenland was reached without Greenland's participation, even though "nothing on Ukraine without Ukraine" was one of the year's slogans. Nor did the Ukrainian president seem concerned by the explicit threat from the United States, but he did want to use the situation to promote Ukraine as an integral part, or perhaps even a vanguard, of the European family and an essential component in the defense of the European continent. Zelensky even went so far as to offer Ukraine's services to sink the Russian warships that, in Donald Trump's mind, are sailing freely around the Arctic island. Zelensky's methods of demanding privileged integration into the EU and more assistance to maintain the immense military with which he aspires to assume for Europe the role that Israel plays for the United States are endless.
The main surprise of Zelensky's speech was the harshness with which he addressed European countries. At this moment of internal dispute within the Atlantic bloc, the Ukrainian president clearly demonstrated that his internal realignment with the appointment of Budanov—a US ally replacing Ermak, a British ally—was no casual decision. All his reproaches were directed at European countries, a way of demanding more aid from them while simultaneously flattering Donald Trump by agreeing with him in the dispute. “Biting the hand that feeds him,” wrote the Ukrainian-Canadian academic Ivan Katchanovski, referring to Zelensky's accusations. He criticized European countries for not returning to Ukraine the Russian assets held in the EU and for not following the US lead and seizing ships from Russia's phantom fleet. Ironically, at that very same time, France announced it had boarded a Russian oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea. And hours earlier, Vladimir Putin had openly stated that Russian funds held in the United States could be used for the reconstruction of Palestine and Ukraine, something that cannot satisfy Zelensky, who aspires to use those assets for war and not for peace.
“Instead of becoming a true global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented community of small and medium-sized powers. Instead of assuming the decisive responsibility of defending freedom around the world—especially now that the United States is focused on other areas—Europe seems adrift. Some are trying to convince the US president to change course. But he won't. President Trump loves being who he is. He says he loves Europe, but he won't listen to this kind of Europe,” Zelenesky lamented in a harsh speech against his main suppliers, the European countries, which he accused of being stuck in “Groundhog Day” and which he blames for “not changing a thing.” “ Nothing ” is having sustained the Ukrainian state for almost four years, enabling Kyiv to pay salaries and wages, hosting the refugee population that has fled the war westward, and currently being the only source of continuous and stable funding for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. For months now, since the funds approved by Joe Biden ran out, the US weapons that continue to flow into Ukraine and are essential to continue the war have been paid for by the budgets of European countries.
Everything is simple in Zelensky's world. The key to European defense is the integration of Ukraine, the outer frontier of Western civilization and the main asset against the formidable Russian enemy. In this world, Europe needs its own armed forces, united and with Ukraine as an integral part. Only in this way can the continent defend itself against a formidable Russia that, nevertheless, is also incredibly weak.
“I’m sharing the real figures with you. The actual statistic is 35,000 deaths per month. 35,000 soldiers. Last year, this month, it was around 14,000. Russia doesn’t think about it, but we do. We know they mobilize 43,000 a month, and they start losing 35,000. Of these 43,000, you have to know that around 10-15% escape, and there are some wounded. Their army has stopped growing—this is important—because of our drone operators and drone technology,” Zelensky stated, providing real figures that contradict even those given by his own military intelligence, which claims that the Russian army continues to grow. Consistency has never been a requirement in this war, and depending on the needs of the moment, the figures can be used both to warn of the enormous danger of the growing Russian army and to demand a greater effort to definitively defeat a dwindling army. It is also curious to use data on desertions on the enemy side, considering that Ukraine has been forced to classify its figures in order not to create social alarm due to their high volume.
“It’s easy to criticize Europe, but it’s a mistake,” commented Shashank Joshi, defense editor of The Economist, who noted that “just three days ago, the European Parliament approved a €90 billion support loan for Ukraine, which seems to have escaped Zelensky’s notice. EU defense spending also increased by 11% by 2025. Missile production hovers around 2 million per year.” Zelensky’s arrogance is beginning to irritate even his most ardent supporters.
https://slavyangrad.es/2026/01/23/mordi ... -de-comer/
Google Translator
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From Cassad's Telegram account:
Colonelcassad
Forwarded from
ADEQUATE Z
Ushakov's report in the dead of night about the reception of the couriers once again confirmed what was already well understood: the Ukrainians are unwilling to leave where they've been told many times, and they refuse to fulfill many of our demands. Otherwise, there would be no need to set up an entire security contact group in Abu Dhabi, headed by our Chief of the General Staff.
Couriers will continue to come for piss , contact groups will continue to communicate, the Ukrainians will continue to subtly mock the head lord, beg from any Papuan, and try to kill any Russian they can reach. And the war will not end at the table, no matter what illusions Trump harbors to the contrary. It will end when either the Bandera front or the rear collapses. The Ukrainian bosses are not ready for anything else, and never will be.
...And let the contact groups continue to contact each other; Abu Dhabi is no worse a place in this regard than Istanbul.
***
Colonelcassad
Hungary will not allow Ukraine into the EU for the next 100 years, Orbán stated.
He stated that Ukraine is attempting to influence the results of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Hungary because it knows the country's current government will not allow its accession to the EU.
***
Colonelcassad
0:16
0:10
Kyiv Mayor Klitschko again urged residents to leave the city.
"I'm being honest: the situation is extremely difficult, and this may not be the worst moment... Anyone who still has the opportunity to leave the city, where there are alternative sources of electricity and heat, don't turn them down ," he said.
Transformers are burning and sparking in Kyiv —locals reported several incidents today alone.
Furthermore, emergency power outages have already been imposed in many regions—Odesa, Mykolaiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, and Cherkasy.
***
Colonelcassad
"The world is tired of clueless clowns whose army relies on foreign mercenaries."
This is how the Iranian Foreign Ministry commented on Zelenskyy's call for aggression against Tehran.
Earlier, Zelenskyy stated in a speech that "the world hasn't helped the Iranian people enough" to overthrow the current government. Abbas Araghchi said that Iranians know how to defend themselves and don't need foreign help.
***
Colonelcassad
Putin's talks with Witkoff, Kushner, and Gruenbaum were constructive and extremely frank, said Yuri Ushakov, aide to the Russian president.
Other statements by the aide to the president following the meeting:
- Confirmed that without resolving the territorial issue, it is impossible to expect a long-term settlement.
- Agreed that the first meeting of the trilateral working group on security issues, with the participation of representatives of Russia, the United States, and Ukraine, will be held in Abu Dhabi on Friday
. - Russia's security negotiating group has been formed and will fly to the UAE in the coming hours.
- It includes representatives of the Defense Ministry leadership.
- The Russian delegation, which will travel to Abu Dhabi, received specific instructions from Putin.
- The heads of the bilateral economic group, Dmitriev and Witkoff, will meet in Abu Dhabi.
- Witkoff and Kushner shared their impressions of the contacts that took place in Davos, including the meeting between Trump and Zelensky.
The Russian side emphasized its willingness to contribute $1 billion to the Gaza Peace Council from previously frozen Russian assets.
The remaining funds from the frozen reserves can be used for territorial reconstruction following the conclusion of a peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine.
Russia will continue to consistently pursue the goals of the Gaza Peace Council until a settlement is reached through political and diplomatic means.
https://t.me/s/boris_rozhin
Google Translator
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For 'Freedom and Democracy'
German manufacturer of robotic war systems supports the 'Azov' Nazi storm brigade of the Ukrainian army
Moss Robeson
Jan 21, 2026
Apologies to subscribers for going MIA over the past month! Susann Witt-Stahl and I wrote the following article which appeared in junge Welt, December 30, 2025. This post includes more images (the first one is from jW), and some more information about the Azov movement’s “Killhouse Academy.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is shown a robotic vehicle by Marc Wietfeld, CEO of Arx Robotics (Rome, July 10, 2025).
Investors are beating down the doors of the German defense startup Arx Robotics. “Defense has now also become a priority for venture capital investors,” said CEO Marc Wietfeld, a former Bundeswehr captain, to Handelsblatt, referring to the gradual withdrawal of the United States from the war in Ukraine. As a producer of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), which are considered game changers for the future of modern warfare, Arx Robotics is currently writing an economic mega-success story.
“I believe this is about something much bigger,” Wietfeld emphasized in November 2025. What high ideals he means can be found on the company’s website: among other things, it states that the company ensures the “sovereignty of Europe” by providing assets to strengthen its “technological resilience in every mission.” Arx Robotics promotes its unmanned tank “Gereon” using the noblest of motives: the “defense” of “freedom and democracy.” After all, it delivered 30 units to Ukraine in March 2025—financed with funds from the German federal government’s “capacity-building assistance.” Last month, a new major contract was already announced, through which Ukraine is to receive the “world’s largest military robotics fleet” (there is talk of an “expansion by several hundred systems”). Prior to this, Arx Robotics had described its support for Ukraine through its UGVs as the “decisive moment in Europe’s embrace of autonomous military technologies.”
Who else is being “embraced” in this way is revealed by the unit insignia worn by Ukrainian soldiers shown using the device in an Arx Robotics promotional video: the 3rd “Azov” Assault Brigade of the 3rd Army Corps, which is under the command of Andriy Biletsky, the most powerful neo-Nazi leader in Ukraine.
Blessed Expansion
Wietfeld founded Arx Robotics in 2021 together with his former Bundeswehr officer colleagues Maximilian Wied and Stefan Röbel. In addition to the “Gereon,” the company produces the wheeled unmanned ground vehicle “Hector” as well as an AI-based operating system that can be used to retrofit conventional military vehicles. Arx Robotics, whose customers also include the Bundeswehr, is headquartered in Oberding in the district of Erding in Upper Bavaria and has branch offices in Berlin, Kyiv, and London; it is currently building a development center in southwest England to produce systems tailored to the operational requirements of the British Army. Over the course of the year, business media reported that investment sums in the double-digit millions had been raised.
Meanwhile, engine manufacturer Deutz has joined Arx Robotics as a lead investor, and the tank transmission producer Renk and Daimler Truck have been named as cooperation partners. As early as July, Marc Wietfeld met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Rome at the Ukraine Recovery Conference to discuss Arx Robotics’ work there.
Merz and Wietfeld at the 2025 Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome
What kind of “blessing” the expansion and UGV deliveries by Arx Robotics to Ukraine represent for the “Azov” military units is illustrated by posts on the company’s LinkedIn channel: the arms manufacturer supports the UGV school of the “Killhouse Academy” of the 3rd Assault Brigade, which is equipped with its own combat robot fleet and a simulation room, “financially, technically, and through direct collaboration,” as stated there. “Together we train operators, modernize capabilities, and accelerate the deployment of unmanned systems for logistics, reconnaissance, and evacuation.” Igor Kornilov, Arx Robotics’ managing director in Ukraine, had already announced the donation of a “Gereon” to “Killhouse.” On the historic date of May 8, 2025, the cooperation received a higher level of official recognition through a visit by Major General Christian Freuding, head of the Ukraine Situation Center at the German Federal Ministry of Defense.
ARX Robotics at the Killhouse Academy UVG school (October 2025)
UGV Fighters with SS Symbols
Contrary to claims made by Western media, the 3rd Assault Brigade, which operates the “Killhouse Academy,” is by no means “depoliticized.” On the contrary, it is firmly embedded in the “Azov” neo-Nazi movement, which for years has acted as a growing state within a state. “Killhouse” initiator Oleg “Romacha” Romanov—whom Freuding posed with for a photo and who today serves in the 21st Unmanned Systems Regiment “Kraken 1654” of the 3rd Army Corps—openly displays his ideology on social media through tattoos featuring swastika ornaments.
Romanov with German Major General Freuding at Killhouse Academy on May 8, 2025, and more recently with the notorious Russian neo-Nazi “White Rex” (who is banned from the Schengen Area by Germany). The Paskuda group is now the Paskuda battalion in the Azovite “Kraken 1654” regiment.
The brigade’s UGV platoon NC13 was established in 2024 within a company that adopted a slightly modified version of the symbol of the SS special unit “Dirlewanger” as its official unit insignia. The commander of NC13 is Mykola “Makar” Sinkevych, a leader of the neo-Nazi “Galician Youth,” which recently praised him as being “true to the cause.” His organization appears with the Celtic cross, Himmler’s SS “Black Sun” symbol, and the insignia of the Waffen-SS Division “Galicia.” The latter also adorns the field uniforms of NC13 fighters shown in a propaganda video by the 3rd Army Corps. Like all “Azov” military units, NC13 firmly stands in the tradition of the Bandera wing of the fascist Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B), which collaborated with Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
“Makar” wearing modified Dirlewanger and Galician Youth patches. In 2021, the Galician Youth distributed neo-Nazi fliers in Lviv.
“Azov” in a Top Position
In late summer 2025, Arx Robotics presented its first combat tank, the “Combat Gereon.” It was developed in cooperation with the defense-tech startup Frontline Robotics in Ukraine, which recently entered into a joint venture with Germany’s Quantum Systems to set up a drone production line for the Kyiv armed forces. The military-industrial complexes of the two countries are networking at breakneck speed. Arx Robotics relies on the practical knowledge of Ukrainian soldiers—“users on the front lines”—for its innovations. In October, NC13, together with other “Azov” units, organized the first large-scale crash test of robotic systems under simulated combat conditions on the outskirts of Lviv (it is not known whether products from Arx Robotics were used).
“What is happening there is not an evolution of warfare, but a revolution,” Marc Wietfeld said in an interview. Not least thanks to the extensive support of his company and the German government, the 3rd “Azov” Assault Brigade is among those at the forefront, significantly expanding its leadership role as the most technologically advanced unit in the Ukrainian armed forces—and thereby also the power of militant fascist forces in the country. “This is the new reality of war, where we set the rules,” the 3rd Assault Brigade declared as early as the founding of NC13 in September 2025.
Meanwhile, “Azov” chief ideologue Oleksii Rains, a member of the 3rd Assault Brigade and head of its center for ideological training, once again made clear that the war aim of his movement is a “Ukraine for Ukrainians” and that it is not interested in “freedom and democracy.” The latter, he wrote on the Telegram channel of his publishing house—which releases writings by “Azov” and the historical OUN-B—means only “collective helplessness.” “Ukrainians and Ukraine do not need democracy, but responsible authoritarian leadership.”
A recent book by Rains on “Modern Ukrainian Far-Right Nationalism,” and one of the patches sold on his website, which refers to the neo-Nazi slogan “White Pride World Wide.”
A question from the junge Welt editorial staff to Arx Robotics as to how it reconciles its cooperation with fascist military units with its proclaimed values-based corporate policy has so far gone unanswered.
MurderHouse, Inc.
(The following section, providing background information on Killhouse Academy, also appeared in junge Welt.)
The facility was founded in April 2024 as a drone school by the 3rd “Azov” Assault Brigade, which today forms the backbone of the 3rd Corps of the Ukrainian Army. “Killhouse Academy” offers six-day basic courses for soldiers and civilians in Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities, teaching fundamental knowledge about the construction and operation of FPV drones. In advanced courses, participants learn how to equip drones with ammunition and fly them in combat. Additionally, there is an engineering program in FPV drone technology. The “Killhouse” offerings also include a three-day bootcamp with armed combat exercises and other action—promising “adrenaline” and “adventure.” The stated main goal of the “Killhouse” operators is to increase the number of specialists and make them available for use by the Ukrainian armed forces.
In spring 2025, “Killhouse” expanded and opened a UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) school to train new platoons of the 3rd Assault Brigade. “Modern warfare requires constant development of the army and the introduction of innovations,” says the advertisement for the basic course offered there. “Ground robot systems are a future that is already effectively deployed on the battlefield.” Participants learn to transport supplies, wounded soldiers, and ammunition, as well as to destroy enemy targets. The training is supported by the NGOs “Dignitas Ukraine,” based in the U.S., the military school “Boriwiter,” which cooperates with NATO institutions such as the Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre, and the German company ARX Robotics.
Killhouse Academy UGV school
The coaching team is mainly recruited from veterans of the 3rd “Azov” Assault Brigade. Prices are around €160 for civilians; active soldiers can participate for free, veterans who are no longer on the front lines pay half, and foreigners pay double. Among the latter are international volunteers serving in the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as ordinary Western civilians who want to be prepared against Russia. “Who knows if the war will reach Europe in the future,” the Irish Times recently quoted a German-Ukrainian business consultant who proudly held up his “Killhouse” certificate for completing an FPV drone course. Springer’s Welt already celebrates Azov’s “Killhouse” as a “mix of West Point and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, that is, the U.S. military academy and the elite tech cadet school on the American East Coast—but in Ukrainian.”
P.S. from the Azov Lobby Blog
When I refer to the “Bandera Lobby” on my other Substack, I mean an international network of people and organizations affiliated (or at least allied) with the OUN-B, the Banderite faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which still exists. Usually I am talking about OUN-B members and front groups. The “Azov Lobby” is not so conspiratorial, because we are not mapping out a secretive international Organization of Ukrainian Nazis, but merely keeping tabs on the Azovites and their supporters around the world.
What we might call the “extended Azov Lobby” (their supporters) made a stronger showing at the latest “Ukraine Action Summit” in Washington, which brought together hundreds of people to meet with members of Congress and their staffers. It served as another reminder that the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), after decades of Banderite domination, has become almost irrelevant outside of Chicago and certain Congressional offices.
Despite being the “largest umbrella organization,” the UCCA increasingly resembles a letterhead group, even in New York where it is headquartered down the street from various OUN-B “facade structures.” The UCCA is yet to welcome into its ranks any organizations created since 2014, and these are the most active ones.
Take for example “Razom for Ukraine,” also based in Manhattan’s “Little Ukraine,” or the East Village. Razom, established in 2014, is essentially the “Ukrainian AIPAC,” as the Congressional advisor Paul Massaro once put it when he was still a prominent online cheerleader for escalating the war in Ukraine by any means necessary.
Razom spearheaded the American Coalition for Ukraine (ACU) behind the Ukraine Action Summits. Steps were never taken to centralize the ACU, to replace or merge with the UCCA. Razom probably did not want a conflict with its Banderite neighbors (real control freaks) in Manhattan, who manage the “Ukrainian National Home” where this group is headquartered.
In 2022, Razom raised over $65 million, the majority of which “became military aid, mainly tactical medicine equipment and UAVs [drones],” according to its co-founder Lyuba Shipovich. But at the end of the year, the board of directors decided to “cut military support and focus on humanitarian aid.” Razom split, and reportedly stepped back from the American Coalition for Ukraine.
In February 2023, a Razom splinter group led by IT specialists Lyuba Shipovich and Dmytro Kavun founded Dignitas Ukraine, “which has since become a leading player in channeling resources and technology to Ukraine’s armed forces.” They adopted Razom’s “military and veteran project teams” and soon absorbed the “Victory Drones” project led by the famous “NGO militarist” Mariya Berlinska. “Events in Ukraine” explains that Berlinska is “quite well-known for her constant calls to ramp up mobilization” and personally believes, “Our task is to effectively hold out until the moment Russia collapses … [perhaps] another 10-12 years.”
Razom and Dignitas co-founder Lyuba Shipovich
Whereas Victory Drones raises money for drones and trains Ukrainians to use them, Victory Robots is another training program which Dignitas launched in 2025. These entities co-founded KillHouse Academy’s UGV school with the openly neo-Nazi 3rd Assault Brigade, which has taken over the 3rd Army Corps. “When we spun off into Dignitas in 2023, I felt like we really popularized cheap FPV [drone] technology to the masses and broad adoption,” claims Dignitas co-founder Dmytro Kavun. “Now we are popularizing ground robotic systems.”
Kyiv Post at Killhouse Academy: “Lyuba Shipovich, co-founder of Razom for Ukraine and current CEO of Dignitas, at a training facility for ground robotic systems in Ukraine.”
Before the neo-Nazi “NC13” became the leading UGV unit in the 3rd Assault Brigade, there was the “Nova Technology Center.” Victor Pavlov, its former commander, now directs the KillHouse Academy School for Ground-Based Systems. Almost a year ago, Shipovich and Pavlov met the former CIA director and retired US general David Petraeus, probably in connection with his visit to the Killhouse Academy drone pilot training facility in Kyiv. This was months before Dignitas and the Azov movement launched the UGV school.
Shipovich, Pavlov, and Petraeus (February 2025)
On May 8, the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, Victor Pavlov met the German major general Christian Freuding (then the head coordinator of German military assistance to Ukraine), who visited Killhouse Academy and got an early look at its UGV school. Later that month, Pavlov and the “White Fuhrer” of the Azov movement (Andriy Biletsky) spoke at the “DOU Day” technology conference in Kyiv, and Dignitas co-organized the first UGV conference in the capital, which featured speakers from the “Azov family” of military units.
Freuding (second to right) at the Killhouse Academy UGV school
In June, Killhouse Academy launched its UGV school, and Dignitas established Victory Robots. Meanwhile, Pavlov joined a “strategic program” at Kyiv-Mohyla Business School. Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov (now the head of the presidential administration) sat next to the “White Fuhrer” at the Killhouse event. Later that summer, Victor Pavlov showed the UGV school to the commander-in-chief of the Latvian armed forces, and Pavlov spoke at another conference in Kyiv about post-war Ukraine with Shipovich.
Budanov and Biletsky, who seemed unusually happy at the grand opening of the UGV school. On the right, Shipovich hugs Pavlov and meets Biletsky.
In early September, the Azov-friendly Ukrainian IT community “DOU” held a “picnic” that featured AB3 Tech, the 3rd Assault Brigade’s “startup
accelerator.” The Azovite booth showcased Buria, a robotic turret produced by the Kyiv-based robotic engineering firm Frontline Industries, which has since then launched “Quantum Frontline Industries” with the German technology company Quantum-Systems. According to the latter, “the new German-Ukrainian defence joint venture … will establish Europe’s first fully automated, industrial-scale foreign production line for drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
As the summer came to an end, Victor Pavlov spoke at the EU-funded Defense Tech Valley 2025, an event organized by the Ukrainian government military technology platform “Brave1” that has reportedly become “the world’s largest investment summit focused on defense technologies.” This year, it took place at a football stadium in Lviv, and was said to have raised $100 million for military technology startups. According to the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, “the event showcased Ukraine’s role as a global hub of battlefield-proven innovation.” Furthermore, “This unique expertise positions Ukraine at the forefront of shaping how defence innovations are transforming global security.” The Azovite “AB3 Tech” of course had a booth to promote its expertise with “Combat-Tested Defense Tech.” Pavlov called on investors and producers to “stop imagining things, stop coming up with some hypothesis on your own, come and ask us.”
https://azovlobby.substack.com/p/for-fr ... -democracy
*****
Zelensky-Sorosite-EU alliance against U$A
War budget analysis. Greenland, Zaluzhny, the IMF.
Events in Ukraine
Jan 21, 2026
It’s not easy being the avantgarde of western civilization. Which west?
Trump is currently in Davos telling the Europeans what’s what
Faced with an increasingly real conflict between a Europe that is enthusiastic to support Ukraine’s war effort, and a USA lacking such enthusiasm, Zelensky has made the obvious choice: Brussels over Washington. Along with this foreign policy alignment, Zelensky has rekindled suspended friendships with the top representatives of Ukraine’s euro-atlanticist elite: Zaluzhny, Prytula, Sternenko, Kubrakov, Kuleba, and Fedorov.
But given that the EU’s grand promises of aid constantly reveal themselves to be rhetorical mirages, just how long can Ukraine really last?
Numbers
Let’s start with the money, and then we’ll take a look at Kiev’s political signalling.
2026 is set to be Ukraine’s first year without US financial aid. In 2025, some residual Biden-era aid still came through. Now, it is solely on European largesse that Kiev counts, aside from whatever trickle of aid approved under Biden that still comes through.
After much-hyped negotiations aiming to gain assent for transferring seized Russian financial assets to Ukraine, the EU came to the much less exciting ‘solution’ of a 90 billion euro loan. Even then, many doubted this would be enough to sustain Ukraine for a year, let alone for the two years that Brussels claims the loan would suffice for.
EU Approves 90 Billion-Euro Loan To Support Ukraine's Budget And Military Needs
Exactly how much does Ukraine need? Let’s first take a look at the evolution of the state budget, courtesy of the ministry of finances.
Spending as a percentage of GDP stayed relatively stable from 2008 to 2021, remaining at under 30%. The first year of ‘full-scale’ war, 2022, saw it rise to 52%, and in 2023 and 2024 it fluctuated around 60%. The budget deficit soared from under 5% of GDP to around 20% of GDP in 2022-24. This level is set to stay the same in 2026, but with much less western aid to cover it.
The data for 2025 budget spending and revenues isn’t yet fully available, with the figures for December still absent. Anyway, the original plan for the 2025 budget saw a budget deficit of 19% of GDP, slightly below the 2024 figure. All of that was to be covered by foreign funding: 32 billion euros.
The 2026 budget was finally accepted in early December 2025. Revenues will rise to ~57 billion euros, a 15% increase compared to 2025, and expenditure will reach ~95 billion euros, a rise of 3%. That’s a budget deficit of around 41 billion euros, 18.5% of GDP. As usual, almost all of this is to come from foreign donors. But this time, they are much less guaranteed.
The ministry of finances states that only 60% of expenditure will come from Ukrainian tax revenue. And almost all of that will be spent on the army, covering all military spending (27% of GDP).
So, at least theoretically, even if Ukraine can’t find enough foreign aid, it will still have enough for the army. But that’s only theoretically.
Anyway, the MoF hence predicts that 41 billion euros in external financing will be necessary, but it doesn’t know where they will come from. The US is not seen as a possible source of foreign aid:
Resources are expected to be attracted from the World Bank, the EU, the United Kingdom, the IMF and the G7 countries.
Perhaps I’m missing something, but I haven’t been able to understand why exactly the Ukrainian minister of finances stated in October that Ukraine would require 51 billion euros of foreign aid in 2026-7. I suppose the December budget was simply over-optimistic? This significant dissonance between the minister of finance and the ministry of finance is quite something.
Finance minister Marchenko at the eighth Ministerial Roundtable for Support of Ukraine in Washington, along with IMF (Georgieva) and WB (Banda) representatives.
For its part, the IMF also estimates a higher 2026-27 financing gap: $54 billion euros. And that depends on highly optimistic prediction of 4.5% GDP growth in 2026, which is greater than market estimates.
Others agree that Ukraine’s external financing needs will be even higher than planned. EU publications like the Centre for Eastern Studies (CES) predict that the 2026 budget will outstrip planned spending. The CES points to the fact that while non-military expenditure like healthcare and education are to rise significantly (which many in Ukraine believe is Zelensky’s attempt to gain popularity domestically), spending on the ministry of defence is meant to fall significantly compared to 2025. In 2025, planned military spending had to be amended upwards three times.
There are even higher estimates out there. For instance, Bohdan Popov, a political adviser at United Ukraine, predicts external funding requirements ‘in the range of €70-80 billion annually’. That’s assuming that the war continues over the course of 2026 and 2027. A fairly good bet, if you ask me.
Funding sources
So anyway, to recapitulate, the 2026 budget claims that Ukraine needs 40 billion euros in foreign aid in 2026, the minister of finances has said that 51 billion is necessary, and the IMF predicts 54 billion will be needed. Some even talk about 80 billion euros.
In short, it’s clear that the budget is overoptimistic.
The last IMF loan was proposed in November 2025. However, it keeps on getting delayed. What kind of world is it where a poor eastern European country can’t even count on the IMF?
Originally meant to be finalized in January 2026, the deadline for finalizing hte loan was once again postponed on January 19. And truth be told, the amount of funds at stake isn’t that impressive either:
The IMF Board of Directors might approve a new four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Ukraine worth $8.1B/€6.9B in February, but this will mainly depend on Ukraine’s implementation of actions that have been previously agreed upon, said Julie Kozack, the IMF’s Director of Communications, after a visit to Kyiv by IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
Kozack added that Ukraine has so far met only one condition for the IMF program – the adoption of the 2026 state budget. Other conditions include expanding the tax base by passing legislation on taxing income received through digital platforms, closing customs loopholes for consumer goods, and removing VAT exemptions.
Georgieva emphasized that resolving the issue of the introduction of VAT for individual entrepreneurs (FOP) in Ukraine is essential. She said the IMF will only require that this decision be submitted to parliament, and the IMF is considering giving Ukraine a year to secure parliamentary support for this law’s passage.
These tax raises on small and medium business are extremely unpopular in Ukraine, leading to fairly large protests supported by nationalists in 2020 and 2021. Yuliya Tymoshenko constantly railed against these and other IMF conditions, with her votes playing a major role in preventing them. Now she is being threatened with up to 10 years in jail by the IMF-aligned anti-corruption organs. Coincidence?
Anyway, the IMF does have something to be proud of. No doubt the IMF is glad that 3.9 billion euros of 2026 revenues are set to come from the privatization of state property. The IMF can also be pleased that over 10 billion euros will be spent on servicing external debt - the second largest form of expenditure after military spending.
‘There’s no money, but you hold on’, to cite the immortal words of Dmitry Medvedev.
Though Medvedev is no longer very well-inclined towards Ukraine, Kyiv has new friends. The Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, came out with some helpful advice to Ukraine on January 20:
Electricity, heating are still subsidized… We know why the country does this, but we need to get rid of it.
The IMF Is Returning to Russia. No One Should Be Surprised. | Yale Insights
Naturally, she also urged to liberalize all obstacles to the availability of labour, so as to best guarantee the ‘dynamism’ of private capital.
She doesn’t seem to be worried about how Ukrainians, freezing in the millions due to Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, will feel about that. Anyway, it isn’t like their opinion matters much. For those finding it difficult, Georgieva has the following excellent advice:
Thirdly, you must believe in yourself like a lion. So get up in the morning and roar. Confidence matters. And I tell you from my own experience, the Bulgarian experience, that it will not be easy. But if you have this confidence and demonstrate it day after day, if you put aside internal disputes, if you bury corruption forever, of course you will succeed
She stated this, of course, at Davos. More specifically, the project "Ukraine: On the Front Lines of the Future" organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum. Pinchuk, is a Ukrainian oligarch I’ve written about at length, who cosplays as a Ukrainian Soros while himself having a much more ambiguous relationship vis a vis the west.
Ukraine House Davos 2026: Resilience, Innovation, and Global Partnerships alongside the World Economic Forum
Will there also be a minecraft server?
Like the IMF, the Europeans also aren’t rushing to translate their words of support into action. Last week, the EU revealed an important detail about its 90 billion euro loan:
The proposed support would be structured in two components, with approximately two thirds, amounting to €60 billion, allocated to military assistance, and the remaining one third, corresponding to €30 billion, provided as general budget support.
In the same statement, the EU writes that it has provided 193 billion euros to Ukraine since 2022. The bulk of of that aid went to supporting the Ukrainian budget, with a small remaining amount of humanitarian aid. That amounts, on average, to about 48 billion euros in total aid per year.
The US, by comparison, sent $128 billion USD from 2022 to 2025. 53 billion went to direct budget support, and the rest to weapons purchases. To put it in euros for the sake of consistency, that’s about 109 billion euros in total aid. That amounts to around 27 billion euros a year.
Now, the new EU loan involves 45 million euros a year in total aid. But two-thirds of it will go towards military assistance, which largely means buying US weapons at a 10% markup as part of Donny Deals’ PURL arrangement. This leaves only 15 billion euros a year in actual budget aid.
But the Ukrainian budget requires 40-80 billion euros in external financing for the 2026 financial year alone!
So what will happen? Maybe social spending will be cut, though that will look quite funny given that it was Zelensky who originally decided to raise it for the 2026 budget, despite criticism from nationalists (and the west).
I doubt that the front will collapse if Ukraine doesn’t get enough money to cover its deficit. After all, domestic revenue supposedly accounts for all military spending, in the planned budget at least. But as we saw, many western experts predict Ukraine’s actual military spending to increase significantly beyond what was planned. And so, these budget constraints will certainly have at least some effect.
In short, the coming years certainly won’t see any increase in Ukrainian military capacities. More of the same, in other words. The Ukrainian public seems capable of accepting seemingly endless deprivation, without any actual organized resistance to the state. In any case, the government probably has good reason to believe that.
The increase in social spending was likely less an attempt to stave off a popular rebellion and more-so preparation for possible elections. These elections seem increasingly unlikely, given that Zelensky only began considering the option because of Trump’s prodding. But now Kiev seems to be breaking with Washington. Hence, no need to prepare for elections, and no need to placate the populace. Perhaps the IMF need not worry so much about Ukraine’s profligate social spending.
Davos down
Anyway, enough of those numbers. Time for some good old-fashioned political intrigues.
Zelensky was meant to attend Davos and meet with his good friend Mr Trump this week. However, he didn’t make it. In a statement on January 20, the Ukrainian president claimed that he had to stay in Ukraine to deal with the effects of Russia’s strikes on energy infrastructure. In the past, of course, he hasn’t let the suffering of Ukrainians stop him from foreign trips.
Zelensky made it quite clear why he didn’t go, in fact. On December 20, he told the Ukrainian media that the USA ‘hasn’t been able to stop Putin’. This was his answer to a question about how he rates Trump’s attempts to end the war. Of course, Zelensky made sure to state that he is ‘grateful to the US for their aid’. He also tried to remain positive about the new denizen of the White House:
President Trump restored intelligence sharing, we have Patriot missiles. Not everything is perfect - but it’s coming
In that same interview, he also spoke out in favour of poor little Denmark, stating his support of its territorial integrity and sovereignty vis a vis Greenland. He said that he hoped the US will “listen to Europe in the format of diplomacy” and that there will be “no major threats” in this matter.
Zelensky also made his frustration with the US somewhat evident in the following January 20 post:
Keep in mind Trump’s December 15 statement that it is Zelensky, not Putin, that is preventing peace talks from succeeding. Zelensky seemed to have a fairly frustrated riposte to that on the 17th:
Zelensky’s diplomatic team has also been in the US since the 17th, but there have been no major statements about the progress of the talks. Generally, such trips are accompanied with plenty of grandiose statements about the massive successes of Ukrainian diplomacy. The relative silence speaks volumes.
New old friends
Back home, Zelensky has also decided to renew some of his most fractious friendships — with the country’s top euro-atlanticists. Or, to use the term not unjustly used in Ukraine, the Sorosites.
Over the past week, Zelensky has rammed through a truly powerful social media blitz. He met with no less than six top Sorosites. Just about all of them were fired or otherwise persecuted by Zelensky over the past few years, but with the malovolent Yermak (supposedly) gone, it’s time to get back together. After they forced Zelensky to get rid of his beloved chief of staff Yermak in late 2025, he has become more dependent than ever on these ultra-militaristic forces.
(Paywall with free option.)
https://eventsinukraine.substack.com/p/ ... ce-against
*****
Negotiations in Abu Dhabi. January 23, 2026.
January 23, 1:14 PM
Negotiations in Abu Dhabi. January 23, 2026.
1. Negotiations between Russia, the United States, and Ukraine will take place today in Abu Dhabi. The Russian delegation is led by Admiral Kostyukov, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. This is not the first time the UAE has surfaced as a negotiating platform – the main prisoner exchange talks were mediated by the UAE.
2. The talks are scheduled to take place on January 23-24. Territorial issues and other matters will be discussed. It is possible that even if no progress is made, at least further exchanges of prisoners of war and detainees can be agreed upon.
3. The United States and Ukraine are proposing an "energy truce." Russia ceases attacks on Ukraine's energy sector (where there are problems), and in exchange, Ukraine ceases attacks on Russian energy sector and oil refineries. Attacks on tankers belonging to the "shadow fleet" will also cease. The reasons for such proposals are clear: for the first time in the war, Russian military strikes on the energy sector have had a systemic, cumulative effect, leading to a prolonged systemic blackout in several regions of Ukraine, with the possibility of its institutionalization.
4. Following Putin's talks with Whitkoff and Kushner, Russia reiterated that the territorial issue is paramount, and if Donbas is not handed over to it, it will continue to pursue this goal militarily. Let me remind you that the full incorporation of the DPR and LPR territories within their 2014 borders is the overall goal of the Central Military District, which has now been approximately 83-84% achieved militarily.
Both Moscow and Washington have already openly stated that if Ukraine refuses to withdraw from Donbas, it will lose even more territory.
5. The US is already proposing a number of projects for post-war cooperation to Russia, but they are unlikely to be implemented until the war in Ukraine ends. Europe, of course, is interested in disrupting the negotiations by any means necessary and prolonging the war as long as possible. Europe does not want to register its defeat in the war in Ukraine.
https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/10322683.html
Google Translator
This is impossible now: DTEK responds to Kyiv residents' calls to return to normal power outage schedules
Editor: Herasimova Tetiana
Blackout (archive image). Photo: Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration.
At the moment, Kyiv is unable to resume electricity supply to consumers according to the usual schedules. Due to the consequences of the massive strikes of the aggressor country, the russian federation, a deep emergency mode continues to operate in the capital.
This is stated in a message that DTEK published in Threads on Wednesday, January 21.
The post was probably a response to numerous comments from Kyiv residents in the network, who demand that the power company return the power outage schedules to the capital.
"Now it won't work. Although the critical infrastructure has been powered up, the city's power system is still in a deep emergency mode. There is not enough electricity to meet the schedules," DTEK said.
At the moment, the electricity supply is carried out manually. For this reason, blackouts are protracted.
The company also emphasized that what is happening in Ukraine, in particular in Kyiv, has never happened anywhere else in the world.
"Zero days without power outages for a month in a row. Power engineers are doing historic work to get us back on schedule," the post says.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on January 21, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that as of the morning, more than half of Kyiv had been without electricity. There had been no heating in about 4,000 apartment buildings.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in an interview with The Times that since the beginning of January, about 600,000 people have left the capital because of the consequences of russian strikes on the energy sector.
https://ukranews.com/en/news/1129950-th ... wer-outage
Ukrainian analysts publish statistics on the attacks.
September - 36;
MAXIM GRIGOREV'S Project "People of Historical Regions" .
