Summit No More, New U.S. Sanctions and Ukrainian Gripens: The Big Five for 26 October
It is no secret that the Russians want to cause a total blackout of electricity in Ukraine. For the following reason: in their opinion, these attacks have an impact on socially vulnerable segments of the Ukrainian population. General Budanov, 25 October.
It was with some sadness that I departed Ukraine on Tuesday evening. It was good to get back and see my friends in Kyiv and elsewhere. My visit gave me a good opportunity to also catch up on the state of the strategic and tactical adaptation battles that are an inherent part of this war. I published six updates about my visit, which are available here at Futura Doctrina. There will be a couple more articles about the visit to follow in the next week or so.
It has been another huge week in international affairs and the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. government is levying new sanctions on Russia while Sweden is selling up to 150 Gripen fighters to Ukraine. America is also allowing the use of European long-range missiles against Russia, further turning up the heat on Putin.
In the Pacific, China continued its operations around Taiwan while purging senior leaders at home. There were also significant defence and intelligence announcements from Japan and Australia, as well as new naval vessel launches in Singapore and South Korea.
Welcome to my weekly update on modern war and strategic competition.
Ukraine
Summit Delayed. This big news this week was the announcement that the previously announced summit between Trump and Putin to have been held in Budapest had been delayed. Apparently, the U.S. Secretary of State decided that he didn’t like Russian foreign minister Lavrov’s attitude towards the peace process, which was essentially that there is no peace process. Trump stated afterwards that he did not want a wasted meeting.
New U.S. Sanctions on Russia. Strategic whiplash continued this week as the Trump administration announced new sanctions on Russian energy production and exports. As President Trump stated before the sanctions were announced, “Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don’t go anywhere.”
Putin was quick to respond. Speaking with journalists after the new American measures were announced, Putin stated that:
...The new U.S. sanctions are an attempt to put pressure on Russia. No self-respecting
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