World Leaders must Understand that Russia’s War against Ukraine is its Last Stand

The Kremlin threw down the gauntlet to the free world and the Russian leadership won’t budge until its mission is fulfilled.

This is the only certainty that you can count on since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

The Russians are not shying away from this truth irrespective of telephone calls between President Donald Trump and Russian despot Putin. Moscow leaders have been quite truthful at least on this issue regardless of how many bilateral or multilateral meetings are held in the Oval Office, Alaska or elsewhere about ending Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

It has been stated loudly and quietly by Russian leaders. Putin will not change his mind. He’s not looking for negotiations. He’s not looking to barter land for peace or Russian KIAs/POWs. He’s not looking for a line in the sand delineating what’s his and what’s Ukraine’s.

Moscow isn’t hunting Nazis in Ukraine as Putin said at the start of the war. Putin doesn’t care about protecting Russian-speakers Ukraine – many of them are on the frontline defending their native land. He’s not concerned by Ukraine’s European support, weaponry or NATO affiliation. Simply stated, Russia wants it all – from the Carpathians to the Caucasus.

To understand the situation better than he does, Trump has to listen to the words spoken by Putin and his capos and stop listening to his own misconceptions.

Eight decades ago, Winston Churchill, the liberator of Europe, offered his solution to a similar global situation. He argued that Europe must fight Nazism to preserve freedom, democracy, and civilization itself against a “monstrous tyranny.” In the years leading up to and during Second World War, he forcefully rejected appeasement and urged collective resistance against German expansionism. His explanations centered on several key arguments. We can easily equate Nazism with Russia and its expansionism.

Churchill portrayed Nazism as a barbarous ideology, distinct from typical national concepts, representing an evil system that threatened Western civilization. Putin also hopes to continue rolling his tanks beyond Ukraine, as many East European and European leaders believe and fear.

A staunch critic of appeasing Hitler, Churchill predicted that concessions, like the Munich Agreement of 1938, would lead to wider conflict rather than peace, likening it to feeding a crocodile in hopes of being eaten last. Ukraine’s allies, especially those in the east that suffered Russian tyranny also believe appeasement won’t work with Russia. Sanctions must be intensified to a boiling point.

Churchill warned that Germany’s expansionist goals threatened all European nations, not just immediate neighbors, aiming for continental domination and emboldening Hitler through submission. The former captive nations are free now but Moscow is hoping to change that.

He framed the war as a fight for freedom and democracy, with Britain acting as the champion of European liberties and appealing to a spirit of resistance against tyranny. Churchill emphasized in 1940 that victory was essential for survival, with Britain serving as the last defense against Hitler and crucial for Europe’s liberation. Today’s war in Ukraine not only defends Ukrainians and their country but also all of Europe – and perhaps even the United States, which must earnestly life up to its traditional reputation as the champion of the free world.

In his “Finest Hour” speech, delivered in June 1940, Churchill explicitly stated that the fate of “Christian civilization” and the whole world depended on Britain’s survival against Nazi Germany. He argued that if Britain failed, the world would sink into “the abyss of a new Dark Age” made more terrifying by “perverted science.” The leaders of the former captive nations, who know firsthand the meaning of Russian captivity, are also well aware of the consequences if Russia prevails in its war against Ukraine.

In a 1941 broadcast, Churchill declared his single, unwavering purpose: “to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime.” He described the Nazi system as based on calculated cruelty and listed the suffering inflicted across Europe, from the bombings of Warsaw and Rotterdam to the overflowing concentration camps. The same goal pertains to ending the scourge that is Russia.

At the end of World War Two, there was a widespread fear that never having witnessed the realities of life under the Nazi heel, Americans were obstinately incredulous of barbarity suffered in France and therefore too lenient with those responsible. That same feeling guides the thoughts of President Trump with regard to Ukrainians and others who have suffered barbarity in Russia and its concentration camps and today are too lenient with those responsible such as Putin.

Russia Destroys all who Tell Truth about its War vs Ukraine

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for a thorough investigation into a recent Russian attack in Ukraine, which wounded Ivan Zakharenko, a local producer with German media group WELT, CPJ said in a press release. 

“The Russian attack on WELT journalists, which injured Ukrainian producer Ivan Zakharenko, is yet another illustration of the extraordinary risks journalists face while covering Russia’s war in Ukraine amid the widespread use of drones,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Journalists are civilians under international humanitarian law and must be able to report safely on the war.”

On October 13, a WELT crew composed of Zakharenko, reporter Ibrahim Naber, and freelance camera operator Viktor Lysenko, came under a Russian Lancet drone attack in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in eastern Ukraine, while filming a report about a Ukrainian air defense unit. Lancets are long-range drones often used against tanks and armored vehicles. 

The strike occurred less than 20 miles from the front line, the outlet reported, adding that it had targeted the unit’s military vehicle. The journalists, who were wearing press markings, were “only a few meters” from the three-person military crew they had just interviewed. The attack killed a Ukrainian soldier and severely injured another. 

Zakharenko suffered “two moderate shrapnel wounds in both legs,” Naber was hit in the ear by shrapnel, and Lysenko suffered a concussion, Zakharenko, who was treated at a hospital, wrote on Instagram on October 28. 

At least 21 journalists and media workers have been killed while reporting since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. In October 2025, Russian drones killed French photojournalist Antoni Lallican, as well as Ukrainian journalists Olena Hramova and Yevhen Karmazin. 

CPJ noted that Russia has often hit offices of media outlets across the country in the more than three-and-a-half-year war. Journalists have been injured while working and their homes have been shelled. 

Life Imitating Horror Movies: Russia Uses Drones to Hunt Ukrainian Civilians

The level of Russian disregard for human life, in this case Ukrainian lives in their homes, has reached a new level.

Russia’s rapists and cutthroats are using drones to hunt innocent, unarmed Ukrainian men, women and children like targets in a carnival attraction, according to the United Nations.

News reports, among them by Reuters, citing a new UN inquiry that was presented to the General Assembly on October 27, said Russian invaders have used drones to hunt and displace civilians from their homes near the front line in Ukraine.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found that the coordinated drone assaults, carried out over more than a year, amount to the crime against humanity of forcible population transfer.

In May, the commission determined that Russia’s months-long, short-range drone attacks targeting civilians along a 100-kilometer stretch on the right bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region constituted murder as a crime against humanity.

Five months on, it has extended the scope of those conclusions to a 300-km stretch of Ukrainian-held territory across the Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions.

It has now also concluded that the attacks were “part of a coordinated policy to drive out civilians from those territories, and amount to the crime against humanity of forcible transfer of population.”

“Russian authorities have systematically coordinated actions to drive out Ukrainian civilians from their place of residence by drone attacks, as well as deportations and transfers,” the report said.

Investigators said Russian troops intentionally targeted civilians and civilian structures across a 300-kilometer area spanning the Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, and Mykolaiv regions, forcing people to flee.

The report drew on 226 interviews with victims, witnesses, aid workers, and local officials, as well as verified videos showing civilians being “hunted” by drones.

UN investigators said the attacks also struck first responders, including ambulances and firefighters, despite clear humanitarian markings.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians and refuses to cooperate with the UN commission, which has previously accused Russia of war crimes such as the deportation of Ukrainian children.

New Jersey and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Sign MOU on Boosting Economic Ties

Gov. Phil Murphy on October 25 the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) and the Oblast of Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine to enhance economic collaboration, promote innovation, and contribute to the rebuilding of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Murphy shared this announcement in a video that aired during the Ukraine Action Summit in Washington, D.C. This MoU, which marks the first economic agreement between New Jersey and Ukraine, will promote opportunities for industry partners to enable private sector collaboration, linking the academic and business ecosystems of the Dnipropetrovsk region and New Jersey.

“We are excited to announce this historic partnership with the State of Dnipropetrovsk,” said Murphy. “As the proud home to the second-largest Ukrainian diaspora in America, New Jersey and Ukraine deeply cherish the principles of democracy and self-determination. Today’s MoU will advance our shared goal of sustainable economic growth and encourage innovation across sectors including technology, life sciences, and education. We look forward to a productive and meaningful partnership that strengthens both of our regions.”

“The Dnipro region continues to strengthen its international ties and opens a new chapter of transatlantic cooperation,” said Vladyslav Haivanenko, Acting Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration. “The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration and the State of New Jersey lays the foundation for developing economic relations, advancing technology and innovation, and exchanging experience between our regions. I sincerely thank Governor Philip Murphy and Tim Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, for their support of our country and for this historic step. My special gratitude goes to the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States for its comprehensive assistance and facilitation in establishing contacts and fostering the development of this important partnership. I am confident that through our joint efforts we will create new opportunities for growth and mutual trust.”

The NJEDA and the Foreign Economic Activity Department of the State of Dnipropetrovsk will develop and implement specific projects that mutually benefit both states while simultaneously contributing to the rebuilding of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Priority areas for collaboration include sectors such as clean energy, artificial intelligence (AI), aerospace, and life sciences. To foster cooperation, both entities will share information on regulatory environments, facilitate the development of direct contacts and partnerships between public and private sector stakeholders, and promote networking between companies and research organizations in both states.

“Under Governor Murphy’s leadership, New Jersey has strengthened its international relationships to bolster the state’s economic competitiveness, create high-quality jobs, and leverage the expertise of entrepreneurs from around the world,” said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan. “The NJEDA will work closely with the State of Dnipropetrovsk to build up critical industries, enhance research and development, and attract private investment to both States."

“A new chapter in building strong regional economic ties begins with the signing of a partnership Memorandum between the Dnipropetrovsk oblast and the State of New Jersey,” said Olga Stefanishyna, ambassador of Ukraine to the United States. “This milestone initiative marks a significant step toward expanding mutual economic opportunities and fostering closer connections between our peoples. The Dnipropetrovsk oblast, one of Ukraine’s key industrial and technological centers, continues to endure daily attacks from Russian forces. In this challenging context, the partnership represents an important avenue for resilience and shared prosperity. Ukraine expresses its deep appreciation to Governor Philip Murphy and NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan for their leadership and commitment to strengthening regional and international ties. Expanding cooperation in strategic industries, higher education, and applied research will bring tangible benefits to both sides—supporting Ukraine’s recovery, advancing innovation, and creating a foundation for sustainable growth. This partnership reaffirms the enduring friendship between Ukraine and the United States and underscores our shared vision of progress, security, and prosperity.”

Murdered by Russia Ukrainian Journalist Viktoriya Roshchyna among seven Recognized for Fearless Reporting

Seven journalists, among them Ukrainian Viktoriya Roschyna, who was kidnapped by Russian security and died in captivity, were recognized by IPI for their fearless reporting; Hungary’s independent media honored for resilience and innovation in the face of growing pressure

The International Press Institute (IPI) on Friday honored them as World Press Freedom Heroes and named Hungary’s independent media as its Free Media Pioneer during a ceremony at the University of Vienna held as part of IPI’s 75th anniversary World Congress.

This year’s Press Freedom Heroes also include Mzia Amaglobeli (Georgia), Martin Baron (United States), Mariam Abu Dagga (Palestine), Gustavo Gorriti (Peru), Jimmy Lai (Hong Kong), Viktoriya Roshchyna (Ukraine), and Tesfalem Waldyes (Ethiopia).

The awardees include war correspondents, investigative journalists, and media founders who have all displayed tremendous courage and resilience in fighting for media freedom and the free flow of news.  

“As IPI marks 75 years of defending press freedom, we chose to honor seven journalists who truly embody what it means to be a press freedom hero, and one community of journalists that has shown remarkable ingenuity and resolve in the face of pressure,” IPI Executive Director Scott Griffen said. “This group of extraordinary journalists and outlets has a lot to teach us about how we can meet the demands of this current global moment and create a vision for the future of independent journalism.”

Two of this year’s awardees, Dagga and Roshchyna, were honored posthumously, in recognition of the ultimate sacrifice they made in the line of duty.

Accepting the award on behalf of Roshchyna were Anna Babinets, director of Slidstvo.Info, who has reported extensively on Roshchyna’s case, and Andrey Boborykin, executive director of Ukrayinska Pravda, where Roshchyna freelanced.  

“It’s strange being on stage in Europe, accepting an award for a colleague, a colleague you knew, a prominent journalist who is not with us anymore,” Babinets said. “Can you imagine that a professional journalist from a European country, in the 21st century, is dying in prison because of torture and starvation? I’m honored to receive this award for my amazing, brave colleague.”

IPI: Viktoriya Roshchyna’s legacy fuels calls for urgent action to free Ukrainian journalists in Russian captivity

In the summer of 2023, Victoriya Roshchyna, a 27-year-old Ukrainian freelance journalist, left her home in Kyiv and traveled to Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine’s southeast on a reporting trip meant to uncover and investigate Russian war crimes. Tragically, she instead became a victim of one of the very crimes she had hoped to expose. 

Known for her fearless curiosity and commitment to her work, Viktoriya had traveled across the front lines of the war several times before. Though she was well aware of the extreme danger, she kept returning. As one of the very few journalists – if not the only one – willing to cross enemy lines, Viktoriya felt it was her duty as a journalist and Ukrainian to ensure the stories of her fellow citizens living under occupation were heard by the world. 

The goal of what would be Viktoriya’s final reporting trip was an investigation into a network of underground Russian detention facilities within Ukraine’s occupied territory and southern Russia, where Ukrainian civilians were suspected to be held in secret. Shortly after leaving, Viktoriya went missing. Nearly a year after her disappearance, Russian authorities informed her family that Viktoriya was indeed in Russian custody, having vanished into the secret prison system she had been seeking to uncover.   

On October 10, 2024, Viktoriya’s family received a short letter from Russian authorities informing them that their daughter had died. She was the first Ukrainian journalist to die in Russian custody.  

Upon the return of her remains to Ukraine in February 2025, which had erroneously been marked as an “anonymous male,” forensic experts and medical examiners discovered her body had been mutilated, with some internal organs removed, and was marked with signs of torture.  

Viktoriya paid the ultimate price for her courageous investigative work on the Russian occupation of Ukraine. In recognition of her sacrifice, IPI is honored to name Viktoriya Roshchyna as one of the distinguished recipients of the 2025 World Press Freedom Hero award, in partnership with International Media Support (IMS). 

The World Press Freedom Hero award is given annually to journalists who have made significant contributions to promoting press freedom in the face of great personal cost. Viktoriya’s death in Russian captivity exposes the brutal crimes that are being perpetrated by Russian forces against the dozens of Ukrainian journalists unjustly held by Russia, and has become a symbol of the risks, and horrors, that journalists face in conflict zones worldwide. 

Viktoriya exemplifies the brave tenacity of so many Ukrainian independent journalists who are covering Russia’s war on Ukraine while also experiencing it. Her legacy continues to fuel calls for urgent protection of the press and accountability for those who commit crimes against journalists – calls that IPI joins as we demand justice for her death and for all attacks on journalists courageously covering the Russian war on Ukraine.

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“Viktoriya Roshchyna was one of the bravest journalists I have met in my entire career. Journalism for her was about serving people, serving society,” said Sevgil Musayeva, editor-in-chief of Ukrayinska Pravda. “Thanks to Viktoriya’s brave work, we were able to understand what is happening in the occupied territories…Her incredible stories will be a part of Ukraine’s legacy.”

“I have to go”

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Viktoriya was working as a court reporter for Hromadske, an online outlet. Despite having no prior experience as a war correspondent, Viktoriya felt compelled to join the war effort, and began making trips to the occupied zones.

After making her first foray into the occupied regions, Viktoriya hardly left, despite the extreme and constant danger, telling her father before one reporting trip, “I have to go.” As one of the very few local journalists willing to take on such risks, Viktoriya was able to uncover some of the most underreported stories of the war, which appeared in a variety of leading Ukrainian outlets, including Hromadske, Ukrayinska Pravda, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Much of her work focused on the effects of the war on Ukrainian communities. In one dispatch, Viktoriya documented the resilience of residents of the occupied Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. In another report, she wrote about local reactions to Russia’s “pseudo-referendum” annexing Ukraine’s Kherson region. She also investigated Russian war crimes, uncovering details of Russia’s systemic kidnapping of Ukrainian children as part of a plan to “reeducate” them, and providing insight into the lives of workers held captive at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

The danger of Viktoriya’s work caught up with her several times. On one reporting trip in March 2022, the car Viktoriya was traveling in – which was marked as a press vehicle – was shot at by Russian soldiers. She managed to escape the car and seek refuge nearby, but had to abandon her reporting equipment, which was subsequently stolen by the Russians. Viktoriya was also briefly detained by Russian authorities twice before her final capture – once, she was held for ten days. 

Aside from the obvious danger, the difficulty of her work was also heightened by her own identity as a Ukrainian, covering conflict in her own country. Yet she continued to return to the occupied territories, her dedication to sharing the truth about Russia’s brutal occupation stronger than any fear of personal consequences.

In messages to her editor before her final reporting trip, Viktoriya pitched the idea of investigating a shadowy network of Russian detention centers where a suspected 16,000 Ukrainian citizens were believed to be held incommunicado and subjected to torture. Despite her editor’s concerns about the danger, Viktoriya once again responded: “I have to go.” In her view, if she did not investigate Russia’s suspected war crimes, no one would.

Viktoriya’s work continues

Weeks before she died, Viktoriya was allowed a four-minute phone call with her parents, during which she told them she would be home soon. Viktoriya’s name had been on a list for a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, slated to take place in September. Yet September came and went, and Viktoriya did not reappear. Russian authorities later claimed Viktoriya died on September 19, 2024. 

This summer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posthumously awarded Viktoriya the Order of Freedom, for her unwavering belief that freedom will overcome everything. “Viktoriya was one of those who spoke the truth about the war,” Zelenskyy said in a statement announcing the award, which recognizes exceptional contributions to Ukraine’s sovereignty, democracy, and human rights.

Shortly after Viktoriya’s death was confirmed, Ukrainian officials launched an investigation, treating her case as a war crime. On August 7, 2025, the day before Viktoriya’s funeral in Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities announced a preliminary inquiry into the director of Russia’s Taganrog prison, where Viktoriya is believed to have been tortured. 

Viktoriya’s detention has put a spotlight on the urgent plight of the more than 20 journalists currently in Russian custody, many of whom it is suspected are subject to similarly cruel conditions. Her brutal murder illustrates the need for states to be held accountable for their crimes against journalists, in accordance with international law, both in warzones and out. 

Without Viktoriya’s reporting, we would know much less about life within the occupied regions of Ukraine. To carry on her important work, a group of 45 journalists led by Forbidden Stories launched the Viktoriia Project, with the goal of both uncovering the circumstances of her death and continuing her investigative reporting. 

In 2022, Viktoriya was a recipient of the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism Award. In written remarks accepting the award, she called Ukraine’s journalists “warriors of the information front.” “We have remained faithful to our mission, to convey the truth to the world, countering Russian propaganda,” she wrote. In the end, Viktoriya dedicated her award to her colleagues killed while reporting on the conflict. “They died in the fight for the truth, trying to record Russian crimes. I thank them.”

EU Leaders: Ukraine must Be in Strongest Position Before, During, After Truce

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders Prime Minister Starmer, Chancellor Merz, President Macron, Prime Minister Meloni, Prime Minister Tusk, President von der Leyen, President Costa, Prime Minister Støre, President Stubb, Prime Minister Frederiksen, Prime Minister Sánchez and Prime Minister Kristersson reaffirmed their unity in pursuing a just and lasting peace that the people of Ukraine deserve.

They declared in a joint statement:

“We strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations. We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force,” the statement reads.

The statement also emphasized that Russia’s stalling tactics shows Ukraine is the only party genuinely committed to peace, while Putin continues to choose violence and destruction. It emphasised that Ukraine must remain in the strongest possible position – before, during, and after any ceasefire. 

It also highlighted the need to keep pressure on Russia’s economy and defence industry until Putin is ready to negotiate peace, and noted that measures are being developed to use the full value of Russia’s frozen assets to provide Ukraine with necessary resources. 

Leaders will meet later in the European Council and Coalition of the Willing formats to advance this work and further support Ukraine.

Don’t Expect Russia to End Fighting in Ukraine 

The Russians are being quite forthcoming at least on these issues regardless of how many bilateral or multilateral meetings are held about ending Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

Earlier Putin told President Trump that he won’t end the war until Kyiv capitulates and surrenders Donbas.

Now Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has emphasized like others before him that Russia will never stop fighting in Ukraine despite European leaders’ calls for an immediate ceasefire. Lavrov explained that an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine would, in the words of the Kremlin’s playbook, mean “preserving the Nazi regime” and “banning the Russian language,” according to RAI Novosti and TASS as reported by Ukrayinska Pravda.

After more than three years of fighting in Ukraine, a Russian leader has resurrected the debunked Kremlin claim of Nazis ruling Ukraine. Moscow used this ruse to substantiate its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the course of the war no one found any Nazis in the Ukrainian government. However, more than 1 million killed Russian rapists and cutthroats have littered the Ukrainian countryside.

As for banning the Russian language, at least half of Ukraine speaks Russian at a time when Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine. On the other hand, Ukrainians and their language are persecuted if not banned in Russia.

Lavrov told gullible journalists listening to him: “A ceasefire now would mean only one thing – that a vast part of Ukraine remains under the control of a Nazi regime. It would be the only place on Earth where an entire language is legally banned, not to mention that it is an official UN language and spoken by the majority of the population.” 

He also denounced European leaders, who genuinely supported Ukraine and President Zelenskyy that his “European patrons and masters…persuaded Washington to change its stance and avoid seeking a long-term settlement, instead opting to “simply stop and let history decide.”

Since the ill-fated Alaska summit, at which Putin turned down Trump’s insistence that he return to discussing peace, Russia stepped up its aerial attacks against Ukrainian towns and energy infrastructures and unarmed civilians.

Russia launched a large-scale air attack on Ukraine early Wednesday, October 22, that was reported by CNN and the AP, causing power outages across most of the country, setting homes ablaze and killing at least seven people, including a six-month-old baby, her 12-year-old sister and their mother, Ukrainian authorities said.

The attack, which involved drones, missiles and fighter jets, targeted vast swathes of the country, including the capital Kyiv, and came as the upcoming Budapest meeting was scrapped.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said energy infrastructure, as well as “ordinary cities” were targeted in the attacks. The strikes had killed seven people and wounded 17 across Ukraine, he said.

Russian leaders have revealed their plan and proclaimed their goal: no let up in the fighting and re-subjugation of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Why then hasn’t President Trump recognized this?