A Russian cruise missile struck eastern Poland early Thursday after violating the country&#8217;s airspace during a massive Russian missile barrage against Ukraine, according to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The Russian-made Kh-101 cruise missile crashed into an undeveloped field near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, about 57 miles from the Ukrainian border, leaving a crater approximately 33 feet wide, the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwymkgenv2ro">BBC </a><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwymkgenv2ro">reported</a>. No casualties were reported.
&#8220;Last night, during the massive missile attack on Ukraine, one of the cruise missiles Kh-101 violated the Polish airspace and fell 50 km away from the town of Lublin,&#8221; Tusk <a href="https://x.com/donaldtusk/status/2082826810052558935">said</a>. &#8220;The missile was armed. In all probability it was Russian. I would like to thank all EU and NATO leaders for their solidarity and readiness to help.&#8221;
The Kh-101 is a long-range air-launched cruise missile that is exclusively in Russia&#8217;s inventory and has been used extensively throughout Moscow&#8217;s war against Ukraine. According to the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d2ed0281-205f-4021-bd4d-45931f9c9f7a">Financial Times</a>, citing an analysis by Ukraine&#8217;s Office of the President, Russia increased production of the Kh-101 nearly eightfold — from about 56 missiles annually before the full-scale invasion to roughly 420 missiles in 2023. 
The incident occurred during one of Russia&#8217;s largest overnight attacks on Ukraine, with missiles and drones targeting Kyiv, Lviv, and other cities across the country. According to the BBC, at least eight people in Ukraine were killed and dozens more wounded, including six members of one family in a village near Kryvyi Rih. Lviv, located near Ukraine&#8217;s border with Poland, was also among the cities struck.
The incident came just hours after Tusk met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Lublin, where the Ukrainian leader stopped on his way back from talks with President Donald Trump. 
Poland, which borders Ukraine, is a NATO member, meaning an attack on its territory has broader implications for the alliance&#8217;s collective security. Although Polish officials have not suggested the missile was intentionally aimed at Poland, any Russian military object entering NATO airspace raises the risk of escalation.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several Russian drones and at least one unarmed Russian missile have landed in Poland, but Thursday&#8217;s incident involved what Tusk identified as an armed Kh-101 cruise missile.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said he spoke with Tusk following the incident, writing on X that Poland and the alliance activated their air and ground defenses after the missile violated Polish airspace. 
&#8220;This incident is yet another reckless act by Russia and a dangerous consequence of its war against Ukraine,” <a href="https://x.com/SecGenNATO/status/2082826796651733182">Rutte wrote</a>. “I condemn last night’s deadly strikes across Ukraine. NATO continues to provide essential support so Ukraine can defend itself. Our commitment is unwavering.”
Poland&#8217;s military said it had been tracking Russia&#8217;s overnight assault on Ukraine for hours before the impact. 
National and allied surveillance systems detected heavy activity from Russia&#8217;s long-range aviation, prompting the country to raise the readiness of its air defense systems and scramble fighter jets along with an airborne early warning aircraft, according to the <a href="https://x.com/DowOperSZ/status/2082694512682389553">Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces</a> in a statement.
At least a dozen missiles over western Ukraine that could have posed a threat to Polish airspace were tracked on radar, including one missile that came within roughly three miles of the border before turning back east, the statement said.
Then, at 3:40 a.m. local time, Polish radar detected another object traveling westward inside the country&#8217;s airspace. An F-16 was dispatched to identify and intercept it, but the object disappeared from radar before the fighter could make visual contact. A military helicopter later located the apparent impact site near Tarnawa-Kolonia, where search and recovery teams were sent to secure the area, the statement went on.
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz described it as &#8220;an extremely tough night&#8221; for the country&#8217;s air defense, surveillance, and threat detection systems, thanking military personnel for monitoring and responding to the overnight barrage. 
He said authorities were continuing to investigate the object that fell.

POLAND-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-NATO

Russian Missile Strikes Poland During Massive Overnight Attack On Ukraine

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The Senate overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan sanctions package targeting Russia and Iran on Tuesday, passing the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 by an 86-12 vote just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and attended the funeral of the bill&#8217;s namesake.
The legislation, named in honor of the late South Carolina GOP senator, represents one of the final initiatives Graham worked to secure before his unexpected death earlier this month. Graham had spent the days leading up to his passing negotiating the measure with the White House after returning from a trip to Ukraine.
The vote came after Zelensky personally lobbied senators during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill before final passage. Zelensky traveled to Washington both to attend Graham&#8217;s funeral and to press lawmakers to approve the sanctions package aimed at increasing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Following the meeting, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), one of the bill&#8217;s lead sponsors, <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/sens-blumenthal-britt-shaheen-wicker-risch-after-meeting-with-ukrainian-pres-zelensky/683470">said to reporters</a>, “This bill is the one that will pass. This bill is the one that the President will sign. We want a law, not just a bill.&#8221; Blumenthal added that “it sends a message to Putin: your days of war are numbered. You are on the losing side.&#8221;
The legislation would impose sweeping new sanctions on Russian political officials, oligarchs, financial institutions and the so-called Russian &#8220;shadow fleet&#8221; used to evade existing sanctions. It also authorizes secondary sanctions and tariff authority targeting countries that continue purchasing large quantities of Russian oil and gas, one of the Kremlin&#8217;s primary sources of wartime revenue.
In addition to Russia, the bill extends sanctions targeting Iran&#8217;s energy and weapons sectors through 2031, preserving restrictions that were otherwise set to expire this year. Senators agreed to combine the Russia and Iran sanctions into a single package after weeks of negotiations. 
Supporters described the measure as a fitting tribute to Graham, who was among the Senate&#8217;s most outspoken advocates for Ukraine throughout Russia&#8217;s invasion. &#8220;There is no greater way to honor Senator Graham&#8217;s legacy than to move forward with this bipartisan agreement,&#8221; the bill&#8217;s bipartisan sponsors said in a <a href="https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/bipartisan-group-of-senators-announce-agreement-to-move-forward-on-major-sanctions-legislation">joint statement</a> before Tuesday&#8217;s vote.
The measure drew opposition from a much smaller group of bipartisan senators.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who frequently opposes sanctions legislation on libertarian grounds, joined 11 Democrats voting against the bill. Democratic opponents cited concerns over the legislation&#8217;s tariff provisions rather than the sanctions themselves. &#8220;I support Zelensky,&#8221; Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) <a href="https://x.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/2082249948972617951">said</a> after voting no. &#8220;We&#8217;re all on board on the sanctions &#8230; But why do we need the tariff power in there right now?&#8221; 
Despite those objections, the legislation secured well above the 60 votes needed to pass, underscoring broad bipartisan support for increasing economic pressure on Russia as the war in Ukraine continues.
The House is not expected to consider the legislation until lawmakers return from the August recess. If approved there, the bill will head to President Donald Trump&#8217;s desk for his signature.

Briefing of US Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal in Kyiv

Senate Honors Lindsey Graham, Passes New Russia Sanctions

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Ukrainian drones have recently struck vessels and other assets used in military cargo shipments between Iran and Russia across the Caspian Sea. The attacks expand Kyiv’s long-range drone campaign into waters more than 430 miles from Ukraine’s nearest border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed responsibility for the attacks on Saturday. “We also achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea — including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship,” he wrote.
The Security Service of Ukraine said the strikes hit a Russian oil field, a Russian missile boat, and ships used to transport Iranian drones to Russia. The operation forms part of a wider campaign that has also reached oil refineries far inside Russia and contributed to an energy crisis in a country that remains one of the world’s largest petroleum producers.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, blamed Zelensky on Sunday for a strike he said killed a sailor on an Iranian commercial vessel. Araghchi said that he contacted Russian and European Union leaders and stated that Kyiv’s actions could not go unanswered, and Iran summoned the Ukrainian chargé d’affaires in Tehran.
Analysts noted the strikes also allow Ukraine to signal alignment with the Trump administration on Iran. Hanna Notte of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies said the attacks more closely link the European and Middle Eastern theaters.
&#8220;The more that Zelensky can signal to Trump that he’s on Trump’s side against Iran, the better,&#8221; she said.
The Caspian Sea attacks come as Zelensky arrives in Washington for talks with President Donald Trump. Zelensky is expected to press for firmer U.S. commitments on air defenses, including a license that would allow Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Russia has stepped up ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, Zelensky has said interceptors are urgently needed, and a Raytheon delegation visited Kyiv last week. 
After the meeting with Zelensky, Trump is scheduled to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both leaders are in Washington for the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
The timing has highlighted the growing overlap between the two conflicts. Kyiv has called Iran a “direct accomplice to Russian aggression against Ukraine.” Zelensky said his country has evidence that Russia shared satellite imagery with Tehran to help it attack U.S. military facilities and Gulf states. Trump said he would ask Putin about the claim and that it had no impact even if true.
Iran has supplied Russia with Shahed one-way attack drones since the fall of 2022. Russia later began producing its own version of the drones, the Geran, at a factory 600 miles east of Moscow. Ukrainian forces targeted that plant as recently as last year. The Caspian Sea has served as a key route for the shipment of these drones, along with other military shipments. Russia has used shipping companies to move equipment from Iran to the Russian mainland, with some vessels continuing via rivers and canals to the Black Sea.
The sea gives Iran its most direct path to Russia and Central Asia. Nicole Grajewski, an assistant professor at Sciences Po who has written on the Russia-Iran partnership, described the route as “somewhat unfettered by any kind of interdiction by the United States or other partners.”
Trump paused U.S. strikes on Iran over the weekend while considering further action aimed at loosening Tehran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s southern ports remain more important economically, but the Caspian Sea offers a way around the blockade of its Persian Gulf and northern Arabian Sea facilities.
Israel targeted a naval outpost on Iran’s Caspian coast in March. Continued Ukrainian strikes there could pressure an economic link for both countries under sanctions. Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said Iran sees the attacks “in the context of this bigger picture of being under blockades from both the south and the north.”
Since the U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran began in February, Tehran has used Shahed drones against commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, civilian airports and seaports, Gulf oil infrastructure, and American bases in the region.
The Ukrainian moves follow earlier U.S. efforts to isolate Iran’s key southern port. In mid-July, American forces struck bridges, railways, and other transport links around Bandar Abbas, the strategic city on the Strait of Hormuz that hosts Iran’s naval headquarters. Those <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-pounds-bridges-and-roads-to-cut-off-irans-strategic-port-city">strikes</a> were intended to cut the city off from the rest of the country while targeting maritime surveillance assets used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In Moscow, the mayor reported that more than 390 Ukrainian drones targeted the capital region overnight into Tuesday, with most intercepted. Damage was confirmed to a high-rise south of the city and a warehouse to the west. No casualties were reported.

Lviv, Ukraine

Ukraine Steps Up Attacks On Iranian-Linked Assets As Zelensky Visits Trump

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President Donald Trump may be looking at potential strikes on another growing Islamic terrorist hotbed in the coming weeks — this time in the West African nation of Mali.
The Trump administration has reportedly been considering strikes against Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an Al Qaeda-linked militant group operating in the Sahel region that has attacked both local militias and international forces and has endeavored to enforce strict Islamic law throughout its areas of control.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/07/22/trump-administration-weighs-military-options-mali-officials-say/">reported</a> on Wednesday that the Trump administration is divided on military action — and said that one of those in favor of such is the current National Security Council’s senior director for counterterrorism, Sebastian Gorka.
One official did tell the outlet that, despite that division, the United States had been encouraging other nations in the region &#8220;to purchase U.S. equipment and services to support their war efforts against the terrorists.&#8221;
The entire region has been in a state of upheaval in recent years as a series of Russia-backed coups upended democratically elected governments in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — and the three nations have increasingly rejected ties with Western nations, instead joining together as The Alliance of Sahel States.
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/they-kicked-america-out-now-theyre-being-hunted-by-jihadists">previously reported</a>, Niger overtly rejected the United States when President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration delivered an ultimatum just as the West African nation was inking a deal to provide Iran with Uranium. The Biden administration demanded that Niger cut ties with Russia and Iran, but the military junta running things at the time was disinclined to acquiesce. Instead, in addition to refusing Biden&#8217;s ultimatum, Niger ousted all remaining American military assets from the country — including a drone base that was used to target terrorists in the region.
Zineb Riboua, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, told The Daily Wire that the Biden administration&#8217;s presentation may have been the crux of the problem: &#8220;Instead of presenting it as an ultimatum, they could have presented an alternative. Instead of doing a uranium deal with Iran, why don’t you do one with the United States, and you get a school program or something in Niger, something they don’t have.&#8221;
But once the United States was gone, it was soon quickly apparent that the Russian security forces with whom they&#8217;d cast their lots were more of a liability than an asset. As previously reported, &#8220;The Russians were killing untold numbers of civilians and still somehow managing to cede ground to the jihadists. In fact, in Burkina Faso and Mali, the Russians and government forces actually killed more civilians last year than the jihadists.&#8221;
The situation has only deteriorated in the years since, leading to the current consideration of possible military action.
&#8220;We urge regional partners and NATO allies to support the Alliance of Sahel States in their war against JNIM and ISIS,&#8221; the Trump administration official told The Washington Post, noting that partnership with Russia had clearly only allowed the terrorist factions to fester and grow. &#8220;We hope that other African nations take note of Russia’s terrible performance in combating terrorism.&#8221;
When asked, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not say whether he supported military action. Instead, the State Department said that the United States &#8220;unequivocally condemns the terrorist activity in Mali.&#8221;

Trump Says Israel And Lebanon To Extend Ceasefire By Three Weeks

Trump May Have His Eye On New Jihadi Hot Spot To Bomb

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Reuters reported Wednesday that U.S. intelligence analysts are looking into whether Russia helped Iran strike CIA facilities in the Gulf by providing targeting intelligence or advanced drone technology.
The report, which cited four people familiar with the matter, said analysts have not reached definitive conclusions. But the precision of the strikes and Russia&#8217;s longstanding military support for Iran are among the factors under review. 
The investigation into Moscow&#8217;s possible role in the attacks on CIA sites has not previously been reported.
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-strikes-cia-facilities-prompt-questions-about-possible-russian-role-2026-07-22/?utm_source=braze&amp;utm_medium=notifications&amp;utm_campaign=2025_engagement">Reuters</a> has previously reported that Russia provided Iran with targeting assistance and other military support for attacks on U.S. interests in the Gulf. 
At least two CIA facilities were hit in March, including the CIA station housed inside the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and another facility in eastern Iraq. Some sources said additional sites were also hit but did not provide further details. 
One internal memo from a Western intelligence agency, according to a regional official familiar with it, concluded that Russia likely played a role in targeting regional CIA facilities.
Two Western officials in the Gulf briefed on intelligence reports said analysts believe the Saudi attack involved two Russian-enhanced versions of Iran&#8217;s Shahed drones. According to those officials, the first drone breached a vulnerable section of the embassy&#8217;s exterior, allowing the second to fly through the opening before detonating. No deaths or injuries were reported.
While Russia has long supported Iran militarily, helping Tehran target sensitive CIA facilities would mark a significant escalation in Moscow&#8217;s efforts to disrupt U.S. operations amid the ongoing Iran war.
Concerns about Russian assistance intensified after recent strikes on a U.S. military base in Jordan, where Iranian ballistic missiles hit army barracks and killed two soldiers.
Russia has helped Iran improve the range and accuracy of its Shahed drones by supplying the Kometa-M satellite navigation system, which is more resistant to jamming than Iran&#8217;s domestic version. The Wall Street Journal first <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-secretly-sharing-location-of-u-s-targets-with-iran-u-s-officials-say-127d4f1a">reported</a> this assistance in March; the Kremlin called the report &#8220;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-03-18/kremlin-says-wsj-report-on-russia-sharing-drone-technology-with-iran-is-fake-news">fake news</a>.&#8221;
U.S. analysts have examined whether Iran relied on Russian targeting intelligence during the embassy attack. Some officials noted that few nations besides Russia would have both the capability and interest in providing such sensitive information against the U.S.
Still, some sources cautioned that Iran might have been targeting the broader U.S. Embassy and struck the CIA station by chance.
Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA station chief and undercover operations officer, said Russian assistance in targeting CIA facilities would be consistent with Moscow&#8217;s strategic partnership with Iran. 
&#8220;They share an interest in trying to reduce or eliminate U.S. influence altogether in their self-designated spheres of influence,&#8221; he said.
The White House referred questions to the CIA, which declined comment. Iran&#8217;s mission to the United Nations, Russia&#8217;s Defense Ministry, and the Saudi government did not respond to Reuters&#8217; requests for comment.
CIA facilities overseas typically include stations in embassies, along with offices, safe houses, logistics hubs, and sites for surveillance or other operations. Their locations remain closely guarded.
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U.S. Investigates Russia’s Possible Role In CIA Attacks

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The latest episode of &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/real-history-with-matt-walsh">Real History with Matt Walsh</a>&#8221; may be the most important of the series as it exposes the clear connections between communist Russia and modern-day America.
Walsh’s recent release of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/real-history-ep-6-communism?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Real History of Communism: The Russian Revolution</a>” dives into how Left-wing radicals took control of the Russian Empire, killing millions and causing endless suffering for seven decades. Walsh then depicts the similarities of Left-wing radicals taking over Russia over a century ago with what we are seeing in our own country today. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/real-history-ep-6-communism">WATCH: The Real History of Communism: The Russian Revolution</a>
“The Real History of Communism: The Russian Revolution” is broken into six chapters, telling the story of the uprising of the communist party. Walsh then examines the eight rules of a communist takeover and how they still apply today.
The episode looks specifically at Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks targeting the family, the church, and the media in 1917 Russia. In the episode, Walsh describes how the “playbook” the Bolsheviks used in their revolution is the same that the Left is using to push radical, resentment-fueled movements on institutions in America in 2026.
The sixth episode is more connected to what is happening today than any of the previous five episodes as it dives into the parallels of communist Russia and current events and headlines in the United States. Viewers don&#8217;t have to be “history buffs” to get invested throughout the episode as Walsh shows the patterns of the communist revolution and leftist tactics.
Walsh aims to tell the main story of communism that was not taught in history classes — the rise of the system and it&#8217;s ability to take over an entire empire. Walsh wants to inform viewers of the true history of communism so Americans realize that history is on pace to repeat itself.
This episode of Real History is only available to Daily Wire members. Right now, Daily Wire is <a href="https://get.dailywire.com/">offering</a> 3 months for $17.76, so it&#8217;s a great opportunity to watch the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/real-history-with-matt-walsh">episodes of Real History</a> you may have missed and be ready have access to everything that&#8217;s still to come. (Hint: The next episode is about Richard Nixon&#8230;)

Real History of Communism: The Russian Revolution

Matt Walsh’s Newest ‘Real History’ Is The Most Essential Yet

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Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reportedly joked hours before his sudden death that he couldn’t die because he had too many things to get done in the Senate. 
&#8220;I can&#8217;t die now. I still need to do the Russia sanctions, get Iran sorted out and do Israeli-Saudi normalization,” Graham said on Saturday after saying he felt poorly, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/12/lindsey-graham-israel-saudi-peace-iran">according</a> to a source who spoke to Axios. 
The source said that Graham agreed to see a doctor after a Sunday morning appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” after being encouraged to get immediate medical attention. 
Initial tests by the Medical Examiner of Washington, District of Columbia, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lindsey-graham-medical-examiner-releases-preliminary-cause-of-death?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Lindsey+Graham%3A+Medical+Examiner+Releases+Preliminary+Cause+Of+Death">found</a> that Graham appears to have died from Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD), a condition in which plaque — made up of calcium, fatty deposits, and cholesterol — sticks to the interior walls of arteries. The condition can lead to high blood pressure, causing strokes and heart attacks. 
Graham made the comments shortly after a phone call with President Donald Trump. He asked the president to impose strict sanctions on Russia amid its war with Ukraine. The South Carolina Republican had recently returned from a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 
Graham and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) recently reached an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward on a Russia sanctions package. 
Trump <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/trump-phone-call-lindsey-graham-death-save-act-rcna552732">detailed</a> his final call with Graham in an interview with NBC News. He said the two discussed getting the SAVE Act across the finish line, a proposal that would require photo ID to vote in federal elections. 
“He actually said he was tired, but he wanted to pass the SAVE America Act, and I said, ‘Well, we’re going to get it done, Lindsey. We’re going to get it done,’” Trump said. 
The president added that “other than being tired,” Graham seemed fine and described him as “like a member of the family to me.”
Trump announced Sunday that he had directed all American flags to be lowered until next Saturday in honor of Graham, calling him “a dear friend of mine” and “a truly great man.”

Iran Senate Briefing Pressers

The Eerie Joke Lindsey Graham Made Hours Before His Sudden Death

Lindsey Graham Said 'I Can't Die Now' Hours Before Sudden Death

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One of the oldest and most sacred Christian monasteries in the world was set ablaze overnight Monday when Russia launched a massive <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/14/europe/kyiv-pechersk-lavra-monastery-fire-russian-attack-intl-">missile and drone assault</a> on Kyiv, damaging the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra — a site that has stood as the spiritual heart of Eastern Orthodox Christianity for nearly a thousand years.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Russia hit Kiev Pechersk Lavra tonight—intentionally or not doesn’t matter.
Lavra is one of the most important monasteries in Russian Orthodoxy. It was founded in a cave in the 11th century and important historical personalities are buried there, including Nicholas II Prime… <a href="https://t.co/7lI9XPmFj8">pic.twitter.com/7lI9XPmFj8</a>
&mdash; Katya Sedgwick (@KatyaSedgwick) <a href="https://x.com/KatyaSedgwick/status/2066396581751075237?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The Lavra, founded in 1051 by a monk named Anthony who had trained on Mount Athos, is not merely a Ukrainian landmark. It is among the founding institutions of Christian civilization in the Slavic world, the monastery where the region&#8217;s earliest written histories were composed, where saints are entombed in underground caves, and where pilgrims have traveled for centuries from across the Orthodox world. UNESCO had already placed it on its World Heritage in Danger list since Russia&#8217;s full-scale invasion began.
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Ukraine&#8217;s emergency services reported that 800 square meters of the Dormition Cathedral&#8217;s roof were destroyed in the blaze, with a separate fire consuming 1,000 square meters of an adjacent national cultural complex. Firefighters battled through the night beneath the monastery&#8217;s iconic towers and domes. At least nine people were killed across Ukraine in the overnight assault — four in Kyiv, and five rescue workers in Kharkiv responding to an earlier strike — after Russia launched 611 drones and 70 missiles.
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President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the smoldering site Monday, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/world/ukraine/russia-attacks-fire-kyiv-pechersk-lavra-ukraine-monastery-rcna350077">calling</a> the attack &#8220;one of Russia&#8217;s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date.&#8221; Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv called it &#8220;a crime against humanity, against history, against Christianity.&#8221; Ukraine&#8217;s foreign minister called Russian dictator Vladimir Putin &#8220;the 21st century&#8217;s worst barbarian.&#8221;
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Russia denied responsibility, claiming a stray Ukrainian Patriot missile caused the damage. Ukraine&#8217;s security service rejected that, citing drone wreckage recovered at the scene.
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The attack carries a grim historical echo. This is not the first time the Dormition Cathedral has been destroyed on Moscow&#8217;s orders. In 1941, retreating Soviet NKVD operatives mined much of central Kyiv before abandoning it, demolishing the cathedral and killing thousands of civilians in the process. The Soviet Union blamed the Nazis for the Katyn massacre — and that lie held for decades. The cathedral was only fully rebuilt after Ukrainian independence, consecrated in the year 2000.
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The monastery has endured Mongol sackings, Golden Horde raids, Soviet secularization, and World War II destruction. Each time, it was rebuilt. Its underground caves still hold the naturally mummified remains of medieval saints, including Nestor the Chronicler, author of the region&#8217;s earliest histories. Its bell towers and baroque churches have defined the Kyiv skyline for centuries.
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Whether this latest assault represents another wound from which the Lavra will recover — or something more final — will depend on how the war ends. What is not in question is what was attacked: not just a Ukrainian building, but one of the living roots of Christian civilization.
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Russia Strikes Kyiv in Large Scale Drone and Missile Attack

Russia Sets One Of Christianity’s Holiest Sites Ablaze In Bombing

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Something is going on, and it&#8217;s been going on for a while: ideological subversion.
And it&#8217;s a dangerous threat to the United States of America.
We all know that Candace Owens hates a lot of things: the truth, basic scientific knowledge, proper pronunciation of words, Charlie Kirk&#8217;s widow, and, naturally, the Jews.
But undergirding all of that is a conspiratorial, anti-American worldview. She does not like America, and neither do her ideological allies. That’s why she is headed to Russia: to visit her friends, ideological handlers, and sponsors.
The reason I&#8217;m saying that she has ideological solidarity with those governments is that our current status with Russia is not great. The United States government has a problem with the Russian government. The State Department currently advises Americans not to travel to Russia for any reason. They stated, “U.S. citizens are at risk due to terrorism, unrest, wrongful detention and other threats. U.S. citizens in Russia should leave immediately.”
They warn that the American embassy in Russia will not be able to help you if you travel there and get in trouble with the Russian government. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed out that the United States has severe sanctions on Russia right now for a reason.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ben-shapiro-show-ep-2434?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-981859" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson can go there because they are useful idiots for the Russian regime. They agree with the Russian regime that America is terrible and morally deficient. They agree that American power in the world is evil.
A lot of people have speculated about what happened to Candace and Tucker; were they paid off?
I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s the case. I will grant them their sincerity. I think they honestly believe all the terrible things they&#8217;re saying.
So do the Russians.
So what is Candace doing in Russia? She&#8217;s not going there for the fashion. It has been reported that she is attending and speaking at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum alongside Vladimir Putin as well as Alexander Dugin, known as “Putin&#8217;s brain,” the great theorist of Russian supremacism, as well as other members of the Russian government and Intel community.
According to Ryan Mauro, “SPIEF, where Candace will speak on a panel, is a known hub for Russian intel. Leaked docs show that its panels serve as ‘recruitment pipelines’ for foreign collaborators. Top goals are ‘media partnerships’ with ‘foreign influencers’ as part of ‘state-directed soft power.’”
None of this should be a shock. You&#8217;ll recall that recently, Candace Owens interviewed Hunter Biden. It was a warm interview; very, very strange. After her interview, Laura Loomer correctly reported that Russia Today, which is the Russian state media, posted 17 separate clips of Candace&#8217;s interview with Hunter Biden, which is not a shock because she is their ideological ally.
They do the same thing with Tucker Carlson, another one of these Russian allies. He has spent years parroting Russia&#8217;s perspective on the world over and over again.
When people say what happened to Tucker, the answer is: nothing. He always believed those things; he just had people in seats above him at Fox preventing him from going fully off the rails. The Tucker you&#8217;re seeing today is the real Tucker.
Russia loves the real Tucker because he agrees with them, obviously. In 2024, Tucker traveled to Russia and praised the magic of their Russian-operated shopping cart because the man had never been to an Aldi.
He is one of the most silver-spoon people in America, and he was astonished by the workings of basic grocery stores.
So what is actually happening here? Candace, Tucker, Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, Thomas Massie; why all this warmth toward Russia? The answer is ideological kinship.
But the really big question here is: Why is this important?
Over the past decade, it has felt like everything in America is falling apart; the polarization is extraordinary. We&#8217;ve seen institutional distrust, economic unrest, and civil unrest.
A lot of that is not a coincidence; it is part of an actual plan. That doesn&#8217;t mean everything that we&#8217;re seeing in America is dictated by the Russian government. They don&#8217;t have that kind of power. They didn’t rig the 2016 election or some nonsense like that.
A lot of the institutional distrust that Americans have right now is earned: Russiagate or the government&#8217;s response to Covid, or the Black Lives Matter scam, or the cover-up of Joe Biden&#8217;s mental incompetence. There’s a lot of blame to go around for institutional distrust.
But here&#8217;s the thing: Our enemies in Russia, China, and Iran wait for vulnerability in the United States, and then they exacerbate divides and exploit them.
Here&#8217;s how the world works through the lens of actual legitimate influence operations. These are real things that have been going on for decades.
Yuri Bezmenov was a Soviet informant and KGB operative. He defected to the United States in the early 1970s. In a 1984 interview that&#8217;s become famous online, titled “Deception was my job,” he laid out the four stages of what he called ideological subversion that were created by radical Soviet Marxists to indoctrinate and weaken nations from within and then destroy them.
Listen to how he lays out the operation here:
<blockquote>To change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite their abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interests of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. It&#8217;s a great brainwashing process, which goes very slow, and is divided into four basic stages. The first one being demoralization. It takes from 15 to 20 years to demoralize a nation. Why that many years? Because this is the minimum number of years which requires to educate one generation of students in the country of your enemy, exposed to the ideology of the enemy.
In other words, Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generations of American students without being challenged or counterbalanced by the basic values of Americanism, American patriotism.
The result you can see: Most of the people who graduated in the 60s, dropouts, or half-baked intellectuals are now occupying the positions of power in the government, civil service, business, mass media, educational system. You are stuck with them. You cannot get rid of them. They are contaminated. They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern.
You cannot change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change the basic perception and the logic of behavior.</blockquote>
Demoralization, as Bezmenov spells it out, is followed by stage two: destabilization. Destabilization is where you create the preconditions for stage three, which is a crisis, a breakdown. And then stage four is normalization of the new set of values.
Right now we are still in the late stages of stage one demoralization, where we have had several generations of indoctrination at the highest levels in America into anti-Americanism. And that destabilization requires friends; it requires ideological allies.
We could have destabilization at any moment. All it takes is a little push, and we&#8217;re in crisis. Maybe there&#8217;s an economic downturn, maybe there&#8217;s foreign chaos.
But right now, our enemies are laser-focused on demoralizing us. Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon and Alex Jones, all the people that Russia has been openly using and allying with, are demoralization agents.
They are doing the work. Russia needs them and is using them, and they&#8217;re not shy about this.
Alexander Dugin has appeared on a wide variety of Woke Right shows, ranging from Tucker to Alex Jones. In 1997, he wrote a book called “Foundations of Geopolitics.” That book was then apparently used as a textbook at the General Staff Academy in Russia and became part of their actual policy.
Here&#8217;s a quote from that book. See if you can spot what&#8217;s going on.
<blockquote>It is especially important to bring geopolitical turmoil into the US domestic reality by encouraging all kinds of separatism. There is ethnic, social, and racial conflict, actively supporting all dissident movements of extremist, racist,and sectarian groups that destabilize internal political processes in the United States. At the same time, it makes sense to support isolationist tendencies in US politics. The theses of those often right-wing Republican circles that believe the US should confine itself to its domestic problems. This state of affairs is highly advantageous to Russia, even if isolationism is carried out within the original Monroe Doctrine warning i.e., if the U.S. limits its influence to America. This does not mean Eurasia — (meaning Russia) — should give up on destabilizing the Latin American world by seeking to remove certain regions from U.S. control. All levels of geopolitical pressure on the United States must be engaged simultaneously.</blockquote>
He&#8217;s talking about demoralization. Find allies who are stumping for America to be weaker in the world, actively generate tension, actively generate sectarianism in American politics, actively pit Americans against one another, and find friends on the Right-wing side of the aisle to help foment all of that.
The good news for Russia is that in the era of the internet — when there are no reliable fact checkers, when the wave of information that Bezmenov talks about is unstoppable because there&#8217;s just so much conflicting stuff out there — it&#8217;s very difficult for anyone who&#8217;s not deeply in this stuff to find the truth.
It&#8217;s a perfect environment for the spreading of this kind of demoralization and chaos.
You can see who the friends are. Alex Jones spoke with Dugin (!) about rediscovering what it meant to be American.
Tucker Carlson did an interview with Alexander Dugin and painted him as a victim of censorship and a non-regime-aligned philosopher, a true Platonic figure, protesting that “his ideas are deeply offensive to some people.”
Dugin said that actually the reason the West hates Vladimir Putin is not because he&#8217;s an aggressive dictator, a former KGB agent who has fostered chaos and evil all over the world, and is currently involved in the invasion of a sovereign country that has resulted in the deaths of at least half a million people and threatening other Eastern European countries as well, spreading chaos down into Africa, spreading chaos into the Middle East. No, the reason — according to Tucker and Dugin — that the West has a problem with Vladimir Putin is because Vladimir Putin is a true “traditionalist.”
When he&#8217;s not poisoning his enemies.
I&#8217;m not saying that Tucker and Candace are working for Russia. I&#8217;m saying they agree with them. They agree with America&#8217;s enemies.
The demoralization ideology has infected the entire Democratic Party. Whether it’s Hasan Piker or Michigan senatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed, a terror supporter, or Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner attacking a Purple Heart recipient or James Talarico saying that the American flag, Jesus, and the cross had been co-opted, it’s all the same.
The demoralization operation is operating.
Once you see what&#8217;s going on, it&#8217;s hard to unsee it.

tucker and candace water

Who Keeps Carrying Water For America’s Enemies?

Ben Shapiro

Opinion

(Reuters) — NATO accused Moscow on Friday of reckless behavior and pledged to &#8220;defend every inch of Allied territory&#8221; after Romania said a Russian drone had crashed into a civilian apartment block in the alliance member state during an attack on neighboring Ukraine.
Romania&#8217;s defense ministry said a woman and a child suffered minor injuries in Galati near the border with Ukraine overnight after radar tracked a Russian drone entering Romanian airspace.
Photos from the scene showed charred and damaged brickwork on the roof of the 10-story apartment block which Romanian authorities said was hit by a drone that exploded on impact, tearing through a top-floor flat.
Russia&#8217;s TASS news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said President Vladimir Putin had been informed about the incident.
<div id="attachment_1104439" style="width: 857px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1104439" class="size-large wp-image-1104439" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T065911Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0DZ_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES-1-847x576.jpg" alt="" width="847" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T065911Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0DZ_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES-1-847x576.jpg 847w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T065911Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0DZ_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES-1-300x204.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T065911Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0DZ_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES-1-768x522.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T065911Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0DZ_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES-1.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 847px) 100vw, 847px" />A Romanian law enforcement officer works on the site of an explosion at a residential block of flats following a drone hit close to the border with Ukraine, in Galati, Romania, May 29, 2026. Inquam Photos/George Calin via REUTERS</div>
Separately, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of Russia&#8217;s powerful Security Council, warned European leaders that drones would continue to stray into their countries and prevent their populations from sleeping peacefully.
It was the first time a densely populated area in a NATO country had been hit causing injuries during Russia&#8217;s war in Ukraine, and the incident is likely to increase tensions on the alliance&#8217;s eastern flank as member states worry about the war spilling over their borders.
&#8220;Russia’s reckless behavior is a danger to us all,&#8221; NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on X after speaking by phone to Romanian President Nicusor Dan, whose country is in both the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.
&#8220;I affirmed that NATO stands ready to defend every inch of Allied territory,&#8221; he said, without making any mention of triggering NATO&#8216;s mutual defense clause. &#8220;We will continue to enhance our readiness to deter and defend against any threat, including from drones.&#8221;
Dan said the Russian consulate in the southeastern city of Constanta would be closed and the consul expelled.
TASS quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying Moscow would respond swiftly to Bucharest&#8217;s decision to close the consulate.
Romania, which shares a 400-mile land border with Ukraine, said Russian drones had breached its airspace 28 times since Moscow began attacking Ukrainian ports across the Danube River following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Stephen Evelyn, a 44-year-old American citizen who lives in Galati, called it &#8220;another provocation by the Russians&#8221;.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe this was an accident, this has happened too many times for the Russians to be doing this by accident,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Either that or they&#8217;re highly incompetent at waging war, but NATO needs to do something about this.&#8221;
There have been multiple airspace incursions into NATO airspace since Moscow invaded Ukraine, most notably when more than 20 Russian drones entered Poland&#8217;s airspace on the night of September 9-10.
In recent weeks Ukrainian drones have strayed into Baltic countries&#8217; airspace, sowing confusion and raising tensions with Russia.
Romania has asked NATO allies to deploy additional anti-drone capabilities to Romania, with official sources saying Bucharest needs low-altitude radars and interceptor drones. A NATO spokesperson said on Friday &#8220;potential additional defensive measures are considered.&#8221;
Local authorities in southern Ukraine said Izmail port in the Odesa region, across the border from Galati, had come under attack from drones early on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was ready to support Romania &#8220;in whatever way is necessary&#8221;.
<div id="attachment_1104441" style="width: 659px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1104441" class="size-large wp-image-1104441" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T054159Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0AI_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES-649x576.jpg" alt="" width="649" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T054159Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0AI_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES-649x576.jpg 649w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T054159Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0AI_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES-300x266.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T054159Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0AI_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES-768x682.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/2026-05-29T054159Z_1_LYNXMPEM4S0AI_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-ROMANIA-DRONES.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 649px) 100vw, 649px" />A fire burns on the roof of a 10-story block of flats after a drone crashed into the building, causing an explosion and injuring two people, near the border with Ukraine, in Galati, Romania, in this handout image released on May 29, 2026. Romanian Department for Emergency Situations (DSU)/Handout via REUTERS</div>
The Romanian defense ministry said two F-16 fighter jets had been scrambled and a military helicopter was sent to monitor the attack, with the pilots authorized to shoot down any drones without endangering inhabited areas. The residents of border counties Braila, Galati and Tulcea were warned to take cover.
The drone was in Romania&#8217;s airspace for four minutes and flew at a low altitude for 6.2 miles, making it difficult for radar to detect, Romanian Brigadier General Gheorghe Maxim said.
He told a press conference that although the U.S. anti-drone system Merops is operational in Romania it is not yet fully integrated with national air defenses and it would have been too risky to use in a city.
In addition to the woman and her child who were taken to hospital with minor injuries, two people were treated on the scene for panic attacks and 70 were evacuated from the apartment block, local authorities said.
Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat, who is in charge of the emergency response agency, told private broadcaster Digi24 that the drone affected two building stairwells, an elevator shaft and damaged five cars.
A drone also damaged an electricity pole and a household annex in Galati in April.
In a separate incident, a drone without an explosive charge was found in northwestern Romania, state TVR broadcaster said late on Thursday, citing local authorities.
(Reporting by George Calin in Galati, Luiza Ilie in Bucharest, Jekaterina Golubkova in Tokyo, Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw, Jason Hovet in Prague and Lily Bayer in Brussels; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Kate Mayberry and Timothy Heritage)

ROMANIA-NATO-DEFENCE-EXERCISE

NATO Sends Clear Message To Russia After Attack On Member Nation

Foreign Policy

The kind of third-worldist brainrot that has long been an undercurrent of America&#8217;s far-Left is having a moment.
The &#8220;Blame America First&#8221; crowd used to be confined to the fringes — coffee shop discussions of a million dead Iraqis, Jane Fonda manning a Viet Cong anti-aircraft gun, DSA conference speakers deriding Barack Obama as a war criminal for taking out Based Pan-Africanist Socialist Revolutionary Gaddafi — but now it dominates the Discourse. Podcasters and newsletter writers from Left, Right, and the schizo middle draw millions of clicks by asserting that American projection of force and pursual of interest is the root cause of all the world&#8217;s ills, from Russia-Ukraine to &#8220;genocide in Gaza&#8221; to the Islamic takeover of Europe.
Sadio Camara would likely agree with some version of that anti-Western assessment if you asked him about it. You can&#8217;t, though, because he got blown up by a car bomb last month.
Camara was the Minister of Defense in the West African country of Mali until his untimely yet instructive death on April 25. It was only a few years earlier that he played a key role in overthrowing his own country&#8217;s government, kicking out the United States (and even more so the French), and entering a security partnership with Russia and its mercenaries.
Mali is part of the Sahel region of Africa, alongside Niger and Burkina Faso. The average American could be forgiven for not caring much about this part of the world, but they should at least a little: it&#8217;s rich in rare earth minerals, resources like gold and uranium, and Islamic terrorists. They also sit along key migration routes from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, which is to say that they have some bearing on how non-European Europe will continue to become in the future.
All three of those countries previously had democratic-ish governments that worked with the United States and France on counter-terrorism. You might recall the <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/dods-report-investigation-2017-ambush-niger">tragic ambush</a> in Niger that killed four Green Berets (and 4 Nigeriens) in 2017. Africa has really become a hotspot for Islamic terrorist groups in recent years, and the United States had a major presence in Niger to fight them (and smaller special forces operations in Mali and Burkina Faso).
Then, in the early 2020s, they fell one-by-one to Russian-backed coups that installed military juntas and severed ties with the United States.
&#8220;Move on from the colonial past and hear the anger, the frustration, the rejection that is coming up from the African cities and countryside, and understand that this movement is inexorable,&#8221; Malian government spokesman Abdoulaye Maïga told the UN in 2022. &#8220;Your intimidations and subversive actions have only swelled the ranks of Africans concerned with preserving their dignity.&#8221;
There is a little bit of blame to be attributed to Washington, D.C., at this point in the story. Under President Joe Biden, a delegation of officials visited Niger and more or less gave the junta an ultimatum: stop cozying up to Russia and Iran and work with us instead, or else. At the time, Niger was nearing a uranium agreement with Iran. (Surely that won&#8217;t be relevant down the road!)
They promptly told the Biden administration to kick rocks and booted what remained of America&#8217;s presence from the country, including one of our most critical drone bases in the region which we used to kill terrorists.
&#8220;For Niger it was just very abrupt and very aggressive. They felt that it was the same attitude that the French had,&#8221; Zineb Riboua, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute&#8217;s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, told me. &#8220;The military junta asked them to leave.&#8221;
&#8220;Instead of presenting it as an ultimatum, they could have presented an alternative. Instead of doing a uranium deal with Iran, why don&#8217;t you do one with the United States, and you get a school program or something in Niger, something they don&#8217;t have,&#8221; Riboua said. &#8220;A lot of these countries have unemployment issues, and they&#8217;re landlocked countries, so it&#8217;s very hard for them to do trade and be integrated in the region.&#8221;
Alas, with the Western colonial powers gone, things should have been on the upswing for the Sahel. We&#8217;ve got Russia (primarily via its mercenary forces, the Wagner Group) doing security and fighting the terrorists. We&#8217;re trading with Iran and China. All is well.
Then they got mugged by reality. The Russians were killing untold numbers of civilians and still somehow managing to cede ground to the jihadists. In fact, in Burkina Faso and Mali, the Russians and government forces actually killed more civilians last year than the jihadists. The security situation was deteriorating rapidly. Then, things really came to a head in April, with the offensive that killed Camara and countless others.
The April attack even resulted in Russia&#8217;s own mini-Kabul moment, with Russian troops fleeing the region, forced to leave large amounts of weapons behind.
The Sahel juntas, just a few years after declaring themselves strong, independent, anti-Western governments that don&#8217;t need no protecting from Europe and America, found themselves being overrun by Jama&#8217;at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and ISIS.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨Urgent – 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
Une dissidence d’un groupe entier du JNIM a été signalée dans le nord du Burkina Faso, avec son ralliement à la branche de l’État islamique dans la province du Sahel ( ISSP)
Le nombre de combattants concernés serait important. <a href="https://t.co/AXpAFcMsnS">pic.twitter.com/AXpAFcMsnS</a>
— Sahel Alerte (@SahelAlerte) <a href="https://twitter.com/SahelAlerte/status/2044491770755453039?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
JNIM are a group of Salafi-jihadist groups, descended in part from al-Qaeda, which now operates in territory larger than every U.S. state besides Alaska, primarily in Mali and Burkina Faso. They&#8217;re the ones who rolled up to Camara&#8217;s house and detonated a car bomb. They&#8217;re probably the closest entity we&#8217;ve seen to peak ISIS since its downfall, seeing as their specific goals are to expel foreign forces and establish a caliphate under sharia law.
Of course, there is still ISIS itself, which is also active here. ISSP (Islamic State-Sahel Province) has taken over large swathes of Niger, and even launched an attack on the capital&#8217;s airport in January (which also housed some Russian mercenaries).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The JNIM/FLA coalition attacked and took control of the Malian military base in Hombori, Mopti region in central Mali this morning. <a href="https://t.co/r0k9NrbSHl">pic.twitter.com/r0k9NrbSHl</a>
— Brant (@BrantPhilip_) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrantPhilip_/status/2049780359336763836?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Trump administration has signaled some willingness to get involved and try to rectify the situation, potentially with a mineral deal of some kind, but who knows if it will come too late. The Islamists are taking all three countries by storm now, and have killed nearly 80,000 people since 2019.
&#8220;We are victims of our wealth — the wealth that imperialists want to seize at all costs, aiming to keep us in slavery. We will secure it,&#8221; said Burkina Faso&#8217;s &#8220;Interim&#8221; President Ibrahim Traoré in 2024.
They probably wish they had stayed under the boot of Western imperialism after all.

TOPSHOT-MALI-UNREST

They Kicked America Out. Now They’re Being Hunted By Jihadists

Burkina Faso

DW Opinion

ISIS

Radical Islamic Terror

President Donald Trump announced a three-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine beginning Saturday, hinting at the possibility of the “beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War.”
&#8220;I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116540259118606629">posted</a> Friday on Truth Social, adding that the ceasefire would mark the anniversary of Victory Day in World War II — one of Russia&#8217;s most important national holidays.
President Trump said the ceasefire will mean the &#8220;suspension of all kinetic activity&#8221; in a conflict that began in February 2022 and has resulted in more than 2 million casualties.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the details of the ceasefire, adding that &#8220;a prisoner exchange in the format of 1,000 for 1,000&#8221; would also take place between Russia and Ukraine.
&#8220;Within the framework of the negotiating process mediated by the American side, we received Russia’s agreement to conduct a prisoner exchange in the format of 1,000 for 1,000,&#8221; Zelensky wrote on X. &#8220;A ceasefire regime must also be established on May 9, 10, and 11. Ukraine is consistently working to bring its people home from Russian captivity. I have instructed our team to promptly prepare everything necessary for the exchange.&#8221;
Russia had spent weeks lobbying Ukraine for a Victory Day ceasefire, threatening to strike Kyiv if the planned Victory Day parade was disrupted. Ukraine dismissed the ceasefire proposal as &#8220;unserious&#8221; until Trump intervened and brokered a prisoner exchange.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian media that Moscow agreed to the arrangement following a phone call between Putin and Trump.
The three-day truce will mark the first mutual ceasefire between the two nations since Russia&#8217;s full-scale invasion began more than four years ago. Russia has previously declared unilateral pauses around Orthodox church holidays and Victory Day in past years, and the two nations briefly observed a one-month halt to strikes on energy infrastructure earlier this year. A deep mutual distrust between the two sides has prevented any comprehensive cessation of hostilities from being reached until now.
&#8220;Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard fought War. Talks are continuing on ending this Major Conflict, the biggest since World War II, and we are getting closer and closer every day,&#8221; Trump said.

Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin

Trump Announces Ceasefire In Russia-Ukraine War

Ceasefire

Trump Administration

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