Eastern Europe / Features
Ukraine's reserves rebound to $51bn as delayed aid lands but trade gap widens
Ukraine's foreign reserves jumped back above $51bn in June after more than $15bn in delayed Western financing finally landed, ending four months of steady decline.
Grants mask a widening $20bn hole in Ukraine’s wartime budget, KSE says
Grants from the European Union and other partners now cover more than a fifth of Ukraine’s budget revenue, masking a wartime financing gap that widened to $20bn in the first half of 2026.
Russia's economy rebounds 1.3% in the second quarter but budget strains deepen
Russia's economy bounced back to 1.3% growth in the second quarter, beating official forecasts after a rare contraction at the start of the year.
Russia builds 3,000 jet-powered Geran-4 drones a month to outrun Ukraine's interceptors
Russia is rebuilding its drone war around the jet-powered Geran-4, a faster machine built to slip past the cheap interceptors now knocking down its slow Shaheds.
The warehouse war starts to empty Ukraine's supermarket shelves
Empty produce shelves and hand-printed apology notices have appeared in Kyiv's supermarkets, the clearest sign yet that Russia's campaign to burn down Ukraine's warehouses is reaching ordinary shoppers.
Russia swings 93% of its rail trade to friendly states as it maps corridors to the Indian Ocean
Russia is stitching together a web of new railway corridors from the South Caucasus to the Indian Ocean, redirecting freight away from Europe towards Asia and the Global South.
Belgium's diamonds win exemptions in Washington and Brussels
A gold ring set with 321 diamonds, handed to Donald Trump by Antwerp's diamond traders, has drawn accusations of a cartoonish bribe weeks after their gems slipped free of his tariffs.
IntelliNews Lambda: Europe's gas storage hurts German, Netherlands the most, the rest of EU not so much
Underground gas storage facilities across the European Union are 57.9% full - the lowest level ever recorded for early August since comparable data began around 2009-11 - leaving Europe with a badly depleted buffer heading into winter, RBC...
G7-linked tankers' share of Russian oil exports hits one-year high as Greece pushes back on sanctions
G7-linked tankers carried a one-year-high 36.2% share of Russia's crude exports in July, driven by Greek operators, even as Athens pushes back against EU sanctions rules and the shadow fleet faces tightening scrutiny.
The Global North's missile crisis
Washington's own stockpile is depleted and its arms industry is scrambling to catch up; Kyiv is chasing spare interceptors from allies who increasingly need their own; and a $300mn arms deal with Turkey, while welcome, does...
Saudi Arabia's new Nato-style pact with Turkey and Pakistan is tested within 48 hours
The “Mecca Joint Defence Agreement” treats an armed attack on any of the three Sunni-majority states as an attack on all three, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, and is “technically the same” as Nato's...
Six years after Belarus's stolen election, Lukashenko is more entrenched than ever
Six years on, the protests have been crushed, the opposition scattered into exile, and Lukashenko is not only still in power but trading political prisoners for sanctions relief from Donald Trump's Washington while Belarus...
Russia's glide bombs now reach 150km, and Ukraine still has no answer
A new guidance kit has extended the range of Russia's glide bombs to 150km, while Ukraine's drone-heavy defence and America's own depleted missile stocks leave the threat largely unanswered.
Russia's glide bombs are wildly inaccurate - and that is precisely the point
Russia's Aerospace Forces launched 8,385 glide bombs at Ukraine in July, up 1.4% from June, an average of 270 a day - a crude, wildly inaccurate weapon that Russia can afford to fire indiscriminately because it carries up to 1,500 kg of explosive...
Ukraine's interceptor missiles run dry as Zelenskiy scours the world for more
Ukraine's stockpile of air-defence interceptor missiles is running down to zero this week, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's mounting desperation as the hunt for replacement ammunition fails is becoming impossible to hide, with the...
Pentagon drafts new nuclear strategy weighing tactical weapons against Russia, China
The US Department of Defense is drafting a new nuclear strategy weighing tactical nuclear weapons against Russia and China, NBC News reported on August 5, landing against a backdrop of Russia's 2024 doctrine loosening and 2026 nuclear signalling,...
US has burned through half Patriot, 80% of THAAD interceptors fighting Iran – CNN
The US military has used up nearly 80% of its interceptors for the THAAD missile defence system fighting Iran, with senior commanders warning the Pentagon's munitions stockpile is dangerously low, CNN reported on August 4, citing multiple sources...
Ukraine's calculus of death: Patriot missile and KIA numbers don't add up
Two numbers define how much longer Ukraine can keep fighting: how many interceptor missiles it has left to defend its skies, and how many of its soldiers are actually dying to hold the line. No one has a clear idea of the real numbers.
Russia adapting hybrid tactics to slow EU enlargement, European Parliament report warns
Russia is refining its use of hybrid interference to undermine European Union enlargement countries by combining disinformation, covert political financing, cyberattacks, economic pressure and proxy actors, says European Parliament report.
Russia is too big to be able to defend itself from Ukraine’s growing arsenal of missiles
Ukraine has run out of air defence ammo and has little chance of getting any more before the war is decided. Bankova only option now is to do as much damage or more to Russia as Russia is expected to do to Ukraine.