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Viktor Funk

Viktor Funk Published: June 1st, 2025

Russia: The message behind the major Ukrainian attack.

Kyiv’s message to Moscow could not be clearer: Less than 24 hours before a possible meeting in Istanbul for direct talks on a peace process, the Ukrainian secret service says it has destroyed dozens of military aircraft at four airfields in Russia. A fifth attack in the Amur region apparently failed. The damaged or destroyed […]

Viktor Funk Published: May 29th, 2025

Must Reads

Defense Express: Great Britain relies on drones. The British military is transforming itself from a traditional, mechanized army into a flexible, unmanned force, drawing on the experience of Ukraine in the war against Russia. The military leadership is proposing to carry out 80 percent of future operations with drones. Read the article.Roland Berger: The defense […]

Viktor Funk Published: May 27th, 2025

Western weapons: What’s behind Merz’s new tone.

Prior to the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Berlin on Wednesday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz successfully set a topic of discussion that was actually settled months ago: After more than two years of dispute over whether Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons against targets in Russia, the supporters from the West […]

Viktor Funk Published: May 25th, 2025

Russia’s military: Coercion and torture in forced conscription.

The Russian army is increasingly mistreating its own soldiers in the war against Ukraine in order to force them to fight. They are increasingly being punished with torture, imprisonment under catastrophic conditions, and even being shot.Four independent non-governmental organizations from Russia have presented a new report on the subject. In it, they note an increase […]

Viktor Funk Published: May 20th, 2025

Ukrainian army: ’80 percent of units use drones.’

No non-governmental organization in Ukraine has contributed as much to the use of drones by the military as Aerorozvidka. Founded in 2014 by IT specialists and drone hobbyists, the volunteers helped with reconnaissance on the movement of Russian troops in the Donbass from the very beginning. Today, the NGO is closely linked to the army, […]

Viktor Funk Published: May 19th, 2025

After phone call between Trump and Putin: Zelenskiy wants high-level talks

There are well-founded doubts that Russian President Vladimir Putin really plans to end the war by diplomatic means. It remains to be seen whether the third, officially known phone call between him and US President Donald Trump on Monday will possibly change anything:Putin and Trump talked for a long time. According to both sides, the […]

Viktor Funk Published: May 1st, 2025

Raw materials deal: Kyiv secures Washington’s long-term commitment.

As always, the devil is in the detail, and the details of the Ukraine-US reconstruction treaty are not yet unclear. However, what is known about the contract, which is due to be signed on April 30, speaks volumes for the negotiating skills of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government.Kyiv has succeeded in obliging the USA to invest in […]

Viktor Funk Published: March 25th, 2025

Point for Putin: USA to link Russia’s agricultural bank to Swift again.

The USA wants to support Kyiv in making the Black Sea safer for civilian shipping and preventing military violence. Maritime trade in particular should benefit from this. This was agreed by Ukrainian and US representatives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Monday and Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the White House. It initially remained […]

Viktor Funk Published: March 23rd, 2025

Ukraine: Putin sends FSB man to Riyadh, Europeans meet in Paris.

Further talks are to begin today, Monday, in Riyadh in the US’ attempts to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. Although representatives of both parties to the conflict are to be present for the first time, direct meetings between the Ukrainian and Russian sides are not planned.The first topic to be discussed is a ceasefire in […]

Viktor Funk Published: March 18th, 2025

Ukraine: How the EU is reacting to Trump and Putin.

Almost eleven years to the day after then-US President Barack Obama said that Russia was merely a weak “regional power,” Russia’s ruler Vladimir Putin has achieved an important goal of his long war with hundreds of thousands of deaths: A US president is negotiating a new security order in Europe with him on an equal […]