Ukrainian Special Ops Free Officer Held Captive By Russians For 27 Days

Ukrainian special forces operating in the Pokrovsk sector freed a wounded Ukrainian officer who had been held captive for 27 days after having been wounded in a previous engagement. 

During the rescue, the Ukrainians also eliminated eight Russian soldiers. JL

Vladislav Khomenko reports in Militarnyi:

In the Pokrovsk sector, Special forces operatives acted behind enemy lines to free an officer of the 1st detachment with the call sign ‘Karat’ from captivity. The soldier fell into enemy hands after being wounded and was held captive for 27 days. During the operation, the Omega group eliminated eight Russian soldiers. The special forces were supported by fighters and the leadership of the SSU’s Special Operations Center Alpha. The 14th Brigade of the National Guard ‘Chervona Kalyna’ and the command of the 1st Corps of the National Guard ‘Azov’ 

Ukraine Counterattacks In 9 Sectors As Russian Starlink, Telegram Still Down

At the same time Elon Musk suspended illegal Starlink use by uncertified and - crucially - non-paying customers in the Russian military, the Kremlin suspended use of the Telegram social media platform, apparently not realizing how widely used it was by Russian troops for basic, reliable frontline communications. 

The result has been chaos as Russian infantry, drone and air force coordination has all but ceased. Seeing the opportunity, Ukrainian forces have pounced and have made gains. JL

David Axe reports in Trench Art:

A powerful Ukrainian force attacked last week, taking advantage of confusion and paralysis in the Russian ranks resulting from an abrupt collapse in Russian command, air support and surveillance. The surprise decision by Elon Musk’s to brick Russia’s stolen and smuggled Starling  terminals blinded and deafened Russian headquarters and grounded many Russian drones. At the same time, the Kremlin restricted military use of the Telegram social media platform to suppress dissent. Instead, it muted troops who had depended on the platform for communications. The moves hamstrung Russian forces all along the front line. Seizing the momentum, Ukrainian forces launched local counterattacks to clear out Russian infiltrators and stabilize their own defenses.

Russia Lost 2X the Troops In 1 Month In Ukraine As In 10 Years In Afghanistan

This analysis was produced by the British foreign intelligence agency, Mi6, whose former head called the scale of Russian losses "astonishing."

The comments went on to describe the Russians as doing "appallingly badly on the battlefield." JL

Yulia Taradiuk reports in the Kyiv Independent:

Russia may have lost twice as many soldiers in Ukraine in December 2025 as the Soviet Union lost during the 10 years of the Soviet-Afghan War, British intelligence said on Feb. 10. "The losses are terrible, and even the Russians will struggle to replace that level of losses as they continue to do appallingly badly on the battlefield." In December 2025, Russian losses for the first time exceeded the number of newly recruited contract soldiers

More Senior AI Firm Staff Are Resigning, Issuing Warnings About Risks

While resignations at AI startups and more established firms have been common due to changing models, internal disputes and working conditions, a spate of recent senior departures is being tied more to concerns about AI risks, user manipulation and safety issues with much of that driven by financial pressure from investors and founders bent on growth and domination at any cost. 

It is increasingly apparent that much of the strategic decision-making is based on desire for domination of public behavior as much as it is about financial returns, though those are expected to follow as a second order 'benefit.' There is also concern that the combination of excessive demands and key technical staff resignations could begin to affect model performance. JL

Hannah Pedone reports at MarketWatch:

A stream of staff at Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI have publicly resigned this week, many due to AI safety concerns. Co-founders and other insiders have chosen to leave. Several did so through announcements on X, sounding alarms over AI's existential risks. With AI innovation accelerating, insider exits are increasing anxieties about the velocity of the tech innovations and serious potential impacts.  "People tell chatbots about their medical fears, relationship problems, beliefs about God. Advertising built on that archive creates potential for manipulating users in ways we don't have the tools to understand, let alone prevent." If resignations of technical staff begin to affect AI models' ability to operate well, "you could see that begin to be reflected in investment flows and valuations."

Trump Gave Putin the World He Dreamed Of But Ukraine Exposed Russia As Too Weak To Take Advantage

Putin thought Trump was inferior to him in ruthlessness and intellect. He believed he was maneuvering the man he thought was his puppet (and many believe he has 'compromat' - compromising information on Trump). 

But the invasion of Ukraine which he thought Russia's vaunted military power would end in three days has turned into a war that has lasted longer than WWII and exposed Russia's incompetence, corruption and weakness. That military failure has led to further examination of Russia's economy which has revealed further inadequacies, particularly in technology and finance. In short, Trump has delivered the anti-European world he craved, but his country and he are too weak to be anything other than occasionally useful vassals to those countries which hold the real power. JL

Thomas Graham and Alan Cullison report in The Atlantic:

Trump is dismantling the order Putin had so long abhorred, and a new world is emerging. Putin thought he could rise to the top of a system in which raw economic and military might outweigh diplomacy and alliances. But the postwar order masked Russia’s vulnerabilities. The war in Ukraine only deepened Russia’s disadvantages. Before 2022, Russia was one of the world’s premier military powers—an assessment Ukraine has upended. Russia’s economy is one-quarter the size of China’s and America’s, and the gap is growing. It's an afterthought in the race for AI, biotechnology, and quantum computing. The country’s economy and technology are even losing ground to India’s. Putin has gotten the world he wished for—and it’s threatening to crush him.

Russia Thought It Would Break Ukrainians This Winter. The Opposite Happened

Despite the privations suffered by Ukrainians from the ongoing Russian attacks on heating and electricity in the dead of a very cold winter, a significant majority of Ukrainians not only oppose trading land for peace, but are not even anxious to have a referendum or election because they believe Putin and Trump will attempt to interfere and skew the results. 

If anything, the Russian bombing of civilian targets has made Ukrainians more determined and united. JL

Olena Mukhina reports in Euromaidan Press:

The Ukrainians have been living in a similar reality for 12 years. To understand their feelings, a foreigner must imagine a situation where someone is constantly trying to kill them for four years in a row. You can't get used to it, but you can grow tired of it. That's why Ukrainians began organizing "parties of resilience". (But) even in such conditions, do not want to trade their country for any capitulation deal proposed by Russia in the US-initiated talks over the end of the war. The immediate goal of Russia’s attacks is “so that in a month we sign peace on Putin’s terms and leave Donbas.” In the majority's view, the world must unite against him, as it once did against Hitler.

In January, Ukraine Killed 8,000 More Russians Than the Kremlin Conscripted

Ukraine is well on its way to achieving its stated strategic goal for 2026 of killing or disabling 50,000 Russians a month. That is the number, the Ukrainians believe, at which the Kremlin will no longer be able to sustain its invasion. 

In January, Ukrainian forces killed 30, 618 Russians, about 8,000 more than the Kremlin conscripted. In December, Ukraine inflicted casualties equal to the number conscripted or recruited but for the entire year of 2025, the Ukrainians killed or wounded more men than Russia added to its forces. The numbers are not trending in Moscow's direction. JL

RFU News reports:

Ukraine drove Russia's troop balance negative for the second time. Ukraine verified 30,618 Russian personnel kills during January, while Moscow managed to recruit or contract just 22,000 troops over the same period. The resulting deficit of 8,618 marks the second month when Russia lost more troops than it could replace. The goal is to ramp monthly kills to 50,000, "the optimal level at which Moscow will begin to seriously weigh what it is doing." The January numbers suggest Ukraine's forces are currently delivering about 60% of that target from drones alone, with room to scale further. Russia's full-year 2025 losses of 410,000 troops exceeded the 406,000 Moscow claimed to have recruited, with December's kills roughly matching recruitment.