The future of war is happening now, hopefully we're paying attention

Today we're joined by Sam Scanlon to discuss the future of drone warfare and what lessons are important for the US military to take away from the ongoing war in Ukraine. Sam recently authored an article for the Modern War Institute titled, "Beyond FPVs: Learning the Lessons of the Ukraine War—All of Them" which will be linked below. Sam is a U.S. Army veteran and co-founder of Vyryn Technologies, a defense firm that accelerates battlefield adaptation and defense modernization across the U.S. and NATO.

Source article:
https://mwi.westpoint.edu/beyond-fpvs-learning-the-lessons-of-the-ukraine-war-all-of-them/
Sam on X:
https://x.com/SamScanlon05


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This is a major boost to the Ukrainian Air Force

Today we're looking at the news that Sweden has agreed to sell 100-150 Gripen-E fighter jets to Ukraine in what would be the largest airpower deal secured in Ukraine's history. Zelensky hopes the first platforms will arrive within a year but Sweden has that timeline closer to three years. Meanwhile the situation is turning dire near Pokrovsk as Russian soldiers continue to press into the city center and Ukraine appears to have counter-attacked north of Pokrovsk and east of Lyman in recent days.

Source articles
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/10/24/8004333/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/world/europe/ukraine-gripen-fighter-jets-sweden-saab.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/europe/ukraine-sweden-gripen-fighter-jets-intl-hnk-ml
https://united24media.com/latest-news/ukraines-425th-assault-brigade-liberates-torske-village-in-lyman-direction-dozens-of-russians-captured-12795


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This is a significant military buildup

Today the US announced the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to US Southern Command to support ongoing counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism operations. This marks a major uptick in military firepower deployed to the region raising the continued question of if this is about drugs or we're actually going after Maduro in Venezuela.

Source articles
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/24/trump-orders-us-carrier-strike-group-to-caribbean-00621968
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/world/americas/trinidad-bodies-us-strike-venezuela.html
https://news.usni.org/2025/10/24/hegseth-orders-uss-gerald-r-ford-to-u-s-southern-command
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/politics/venezuela-cocaine-trafficking-routes-trump
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0292


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Three days, three clear attacks against civilians

Operation Teddybear: https://donorbox.org/operation-teddybear

Today we're looking into a few new Russian assaults using armored vehicles that once again were stopped by Ukrainian drones. We have footage of a Ukrainian town north of Pokrovsk liberated and some civilians being rescued from Russian occupied territories. Meanwhile, Russia has ramped up their targeting of civilians going after a kindergarten, farmers and a city center in the past few days alone.


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Operations down south aren't slowing anytime soon

Today we're looking into the expanding US campaign targeting cartels and trafficking organizations. We have statements from Secretary Hegseth about how the Pentagon is treating this conflict amid new strikes in the Pacific and a show of force from a B-1 bombers earlier today.


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This is a big step in the right direction 

Today we're looking into the new sanctions laid out by the US and EU yesterday focused on ending Russia's war in Ukraine.  These two packages are significant not only in their economic impact but also in the symbolism of our finally recognizing that peace requires a good faith effort by both parties, something that has been lacking from the Russian side.  
 
Treasury announcement: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0290


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The war has changed so much

Today we're looking at a Russian perspective of how the war has changed at the front. A few different mil-bloggers describe a battlefield so saturated with drones that the last 10-20km are often done on foot and medical evacuations are nearly non-existent.

https://x.com/GrandpaRoy2/status/1979963881218019628
https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1979981855228133860
https://www.economist.com/interactive/europe/2025/10/17/russia-latest-big-ukraine-offensive-gains-next-to-nothing-again


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Putin: does nothing, gets what he wants

We've seen the same playbook a few times now but keep making the same mistake; hoping that Russia changes their war aims and actually wants to negotiate. As of now, we're back to where we were a few weeks ago just without the possibility of new arms going to Ukraine. Putin knows how to drag us along and he's doing it pretty well right now.

Source articles
https://tass.ru/politika/25406669
https://www.reuters.com/world/european-leaders-issue-statement-backing-trumps-ukraine-ceasefire-position-2025-10-21/
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/10/16/congress/thune-graham-blumenthal-russia-sanctions-bill-timeline-00611544
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/20/politics/trump-putin-meeting-possible-delay-russia-ukraine

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Situation looking dire in Kupiansk and Pokrovsk

Today we're getting into some battlefield updates as Russia kicked off a number of attacks in the last few days. We're seeing Russian progress into the city center in both Kupiansk and Pokrovsk, both areas that have held for some time now. However, in both cases it does appear to be small groups of Russians infiltrating gaps in the lines rather than a large assault. That raises the question of how easy it will be to actually hold the territory once it's taken. Further west near Orikhiv we did see another relatively large armored assault that appears to have made progress in one direction.

Pokrovsk reports
https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/1980155799407100086
https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/1980615761233137776
https://x.com/maria_avdv/status/1980377874134888455

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1V8NzjQkzMOhpuLhkktbiKgodOQ27X6IV&ll=47.6056989137996%2C35.68753772401613&z=11&entry=yt


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The economic pressure on Russia is mounting

Today we're joined by EU Commissioner Dombrovskis to discuss current and future sanctions against Russia. He lays out what's on the table, what has worked well so far and what should be coming in the near future. Thank you to the EU team for helping to put this together!

Learn more about EU support to Ukraine here:
https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/united-states-america/eu-assistance-ukraine-us-dollars_en?s=253


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