The US Congress , Europe, Ukraine and almost EVERYBODY Else except Putin are NOT Gonna be Happy….
ISW reports that despite the Ukraine making advances in taking back land Russia seized?
Russian military and Putin himself is acting like they the losses on the battlefield do not exist….
In addition?
ISW feels that Putin is NOT interested in ANY settlement that does NOT include Russia KEEPING ALL of it’s original gains and even a Ukraine outright surrender…
Me thinks that Putin is thinking Ukraine is stuck between two forces….
Russian attack on one front…
And Trump’s actions on the other other….
Russian drones keep dropping in Moldova and other European and Baltic states, by ‘accident’?
Russia is also quietly waging a asymmetric action against Europe thru grabbing assets from European companies doing business IN Russia…
Both countries continue sending drone against each other…..
President Trump signed an executive order on Friday night exempting Russia from a new sanctions measure that Congress passed last month, offering another economic lifeline to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin as the United States turns to Russia for help in lowering gas prices.
The sanctions were intended to target Russian officials, oligarchs and financial institutions, and were part of a law that was named after Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who died in July after spending more than a year building support for the measure.
The law, which is intended to squeeze the financial lifelines sustaining Russia’s war against Ukraine, also provided Mr. Trump with additional tariff authority that he could use to punish countries that continue to trade with Russia.
The White House has broad authority to issue sanctions exemptions or waivers, and the new law requires Mr. Trump to notify Congress only if he opts against imposing the economic restrictions on Russia. Two days before the law is set to take effect, Mr. Trump exercised that power….
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The order does not explain why waiving the sanctions is in the interests of the United States or what rationale Mr. Trump is providing to Congress for the waivers.
The decision comes as Mr. Trump has in recent weeks embraced Russia and expressed frustration that Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries were helping to push up gasoline and diesel prices around the world. The biggest factor limiting supplies, though, remains the war in Iran…
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The move to waive the sanctions that were enacted in the new law drew a swift rebuke from critics in Congress, who had predicted that Mr. Trump would not impose them…
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It is not clear if waiving some of the sanctions means that Russia will be welcomed back into the Western financial system after years of being an outcast.
“The underlying sanctions architecture remains in place, and no one wants to be caught holding the risk when the waiver is pulled,” said Daniel Tannebaum, a partner at Oliver Wyman, a consulting firm that advises banks on anti-money laundering and sanctions matters. “I’m not sure what positive impact to the American economy will be derived in reality.”…
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Last Nights ISW…Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 16, 2026
- Russian high-ranking military officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, continue presenting greatly exaggerated claims of Russian frontline advances that do not correspond to battlefield realities in order to present a falsely constructed narrative of pervasive Russian military success.
- Putin also used the Russian Joint Grouping of Forces (GoF) visit to reject the possibility of any Russian territorial concessions as part of potential peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
- Russian high-ranking military officials’ exaggerated claims of Russian advances are part of a broader cognitive warfare effort to falsely portray Russian advances as sweeping across the battlefield such that Ukraine and its Western partners should capitulate to Russia’s negotiation demands.
- Russia appears to be reconstituting its armored vehicle assets across Russia despite simultaneously engaging in large-scale combat operations in Ukraine, indicating that the Russian military has not fully abandoned efforts to use mechanized vehicles at scale in modern war. The Russian military likely assesses that it can employ mechanized vehicles at scale against adversaries that have not mastered drone warfare, or possibly against Ukraine if Russian forces succeed in eventually breaking out of positional warfare.
- The Kremlin continued the seizure of assets belonging to European companies operating in Russia as part of the ongoing efforts to coerce European states into favorable behavior toward Russia.
- An unidentified drone violated Moldovan airspace, crashed, and exploded near Scaieni, Donduseni District — approximately 30 kilometers within Moldova.
- Ukrainian forces recently advanced in western Zaporizhia Oblast.
- Russia launched 464 drones and Banderol/Dan-T loitering munitions against Ukraine overnight.
image….Doug Mills/NY Times
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