Day 1,275.

Today, as Russia’s foreign minister accuses the Coalition of the Willing of “undermining” efforts to secure peace in Ukraine – comments later described as nothing but “noise” – Vladimir Putin makes clear how serious he is about negotiating peace by launching another mass aerial attack. Far from ending the war, we hear how Donald Trump is apparently going to “step back” from peace talks “for now”. Plus, we look at how Ukraine has demonstrated the next stage of drone development with a strike on Russian forces in the Black Sea, and interview the commander of Finland’s armed forces.

Contributors:

Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence). @DomNicholls on X.

Francis Dearnley (Executive Editor for Audio). @FrancisDearnley on X.

With thanks to the Commander of the Finnish Army, Lt Gen Pasi Välimäki

Content Referenced:

US will only give ‘minimal’ security guarantees to Ukraine, Europe warned (The Telegraph):

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/08/21/us-elbridge-colby-minimal-security-guarantees-ukraine/ 

Trump steps back from Russia and Ukraine peace talks for now, sources say (The Guardian):

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/21/trump-ukraine-russia-peace-talks 

Why Steve Witkoff Is Trump’s Master of Disaster (Foreign Policy):

https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/08/19/steve-witkoff-trump-putin-russia-ukraine-war-diplomacy 

Witkoff delivered Russian medal from Putin to family of American who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024 (CNN):

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/20/politics/witkoff-delivered-medal-from-putin-family-american-killed 

A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants (William J Burns in The Atlantic):

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/10/trump-retribution-public-servants/683914/

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