Vitaly Portnikov
@portnikov.bsky.social
Ukrainian author and journalist. Espreso TV. Ukrainian PEN
Ukraine needs anti-ballistic defenses, its own ballistic missiles, and the destruction of Russia’s ballistic missile capabilities. And within this triad, destroying Russia’s ballistic missile capabilities is the most important element. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Patriot or Starlink: What Ukraine Needs
Russia continues to exploit Ukraine’s shortage of missiles for Patriot batteries, which are needed to intercept ballistic missiles.
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So when the Kremlin reproaches its neighbors for what Stalin gave away, let it first remember what Stalin took. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
What Stalin Took
During one of his recent speeches, Putin claimed that the western regions of Ukraine were, as it turns out, a gift from Stalin — a man who, supposedly, never imagined that the Soviet Union would one d...
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Russia supplies Iran with intelligence, and Ukraine strikes an Iranian tanker in the Caspian Sea. This is no longer two theaters of war, but essentially one,flowing into the other. Ukraine and Israel have one and the same most important ally and shared enemies blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-merging-...
The Blogs: The Merging of Two Wars
From the blog of Vitalii Portnikov at The Times of Israel
blogs.timesofisrael.com
Laura Loomer's mission is primarily not to change her attitude towards Ukraine. It is to change her attitude towards Russia. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
The Mission of Laura Loomer
The arrival of the well-known American right-wing conservative blogger Laura Loomer to the Ukrainian capital was perceived by the Ukrainian authorities and covered by our media as if it were a visit b...
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And perhaps this is precisely the tango for two that Donald Trump spoke about to Volodymyr Zelensky – only not the tango of peace negotiations, but a tango of strikes against Russia. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
A Real Tango for Two
Yes, it turned out that two can play a war of survival.
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Russia without money is a country one can deal with. Russia with money is a dangerous aggressor threatening humanity. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Graham's Law
Russia without money is a country one can deal with. Russia with money is a dangerous aggressor threatening humanity.
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Lindsey Graham will remain the embodiment of the American politics that gave the world hope for peace and survival in the worst decades of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. blogs.timesofisrael.com/americas-las...
The Blogs: America’s Last Hawk
From the blog of Vitalii Portnikov at The Times of Israel
blogs.timesofisrael.com
Lindsey Graham will remain the embodiment of the American politics that gave the world hope for peace and survival in the worst decades of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
America’s Last Hawk
Lindsey Graham believed force was the language dictators understand — the new political class believes in nothing but elections
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That is why the chief task of a journalist is not to propagate the theses offered by the author of a special operation, but to try to understand its purpose. substack.com/@portnikov/n...
Vitalii Portnikov (@portnikov)
I have had to explain, more than once, that Putin thinks not in the categories of war and negotiations, but in those of the special operation — which is entirely logical given his chekist education an...
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And assistance to Ukraine, therefore, is not simply money and hardware. It is the chance to survive when you have been marked for death. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
The Logic of Terror
And assistance to Ukraine, therefore, is not simply money and hardware. It is the chance to survive when you have been marked for death.
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we will never become members of the EU unless we change Europe right now. Unless we can prove that it is precisely those countries which violate the criteria that must be punished, even if those countries are already in the EU. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Blackmail by History
What thirty years of Macedonia in the EU’s waiting room tells Ukraine about its own future
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No one talks about the spirit of Anchorage anymore. Because there was no such spirit. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
The Spirit of Anchorage
No one talks about the spirit of Anchorage anymore.
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Everything must be vast and meaningless — the Tsar Cannon that never fired, the Tsar Bell that never rang, the Tsar-Territory that was never settled or developed. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
The Tsar-Territory
Why Russia keeps seizing land it can neither settle nor use
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Yet the fact that a man who hoped to achieve his ends with a scalpel lost to those who offered a sledgehammer says a great deal — when it comes to understanding the processes of the past decades. substack.com/@portnikov/n...
Vitalii Portnikov (@portnikov)
Sergei Ivanov became not merely the first to die among Putin’s closest associates. He was also the closest associate who utterly lost the apparatus struggle. A man who, at the turn of the millennium, ...
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What, then, is the point in our time of occupying foreign lands that you cannot defend? What sense does “the island of Crimea” make for Russia? open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Crimea Island
What sense does “the island of Crimea” make for Russia?
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This is precisely the role of the United States as the leader of the democratic world: not to seek control over someone else’s oil or someone else’s minerals, but to help maintain a civilized world order. blogs.timesofisrael.com/dont-bet-eve...
The Blogs: Don’t Bet Everything on One Man
From the blog of Vitalii Portnikov at The Times of Israel
blogs.timesofisrael.com
But now the end of the war depends not only on Putin. It also depends on Zelenskyy. That is, on how the Armed Forces of Ukraine will act in the coming months, whether they can shake the Russian economic and energy potential. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Zelenskyy before meeting with Trump
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used the anniversary of his American counterpart to congratulate him and discuss the upcoming meeting during the Group of Seven summit.
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It is high time, at last, to unite. We will still have the chance to debate the difficult past of the Polish and Ukrainian peoples — if Poland and Ukraine endure on the political map of the world to come. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
A Share of the White Eagle
Why a quarrel over a military unit’s name plays only into Moscow’s hands
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The only question is whether, at some point, Putin will be ready for such a pause not on the terms of Ukrainian capitulation, but on fair terms. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Why Zelensky Needs Abramovich
Abramovich has been an integral and important part of Putin’s system
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Any rift between the Polish and Ukrainian peoples will inevitably lead to Russia’s triumph. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
One Handshake Away
What Poles and Ukrainians forget when they argue about history
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If Moscow loses control over Armenia — and it will — it will lose control over the Caucasus as well. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Armenia and the End of Russia’s Caucasian Trap
June 7 may prove to be one of the most important days for the future of what remains of the post-Soviet space.
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In the future, the struggle for power in Russia will be fought among these three forces — the FSB, the FSO, and the army. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
A Short Course in Russian History
A Short Course in Russian History
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This is a new Putin — crushed by years of futility in the Russian-Ukrainian war and betrayed by his own inadequacy. And the next actions of such a Putin should be treated with even greater caution. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
A Broken Putin
Many explain the latest Russian attack on Kyiv and the Kyiv region as Putin’s desire to take revenge for the humiliation he felt during the preparations for the May 9 parade in Moscow.
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Beijing would be satisfied with two options—either the annexation of former Ukrainian territories to Russia or the preservation of Ukraine as an independent state, but within the orbit of Russian influence and under significant Chinese oversight. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Trump, Xi, and the War in Ukraine
The visit of Donald Trump to the Chinese capital and his negotiations with the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, have once again raised the question of how interested Beijing is...
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Zelensky will have to offer Magyar something that can be presented as a compromise. Only then will the negotiating process move forward. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Ukraine, Hungary, and the Price of EU Accession
Hungary’s future prime minister, Péter Magyar, set a condition even before taking office: unblocking Ukraine’s EU accession talks in exchange for expanding the rights of Ukrainian citizens of Hungaria...
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The West helps Ukraine fight aggression with one hand, while financing that same aggression with the other. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
The Two-Hand Effect
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s trip to Cyprus for an informal summit of European Union leaders was associated with an obvious victory.
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Israel will be sorely disappointed if it expects better treatment from Russia for ignoring Ukraine’s claims about looted grain shipments blogs.timesofisrael.com/stolen-grain...
The Blogs: Stolen grain on the Jerusalem tram
Israel will be sorely disappointed if it expects better treatment from Russia for ignoring Ukraine’s claims about looted grain shipments
blogs.timesofisrael.com
Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Azerbaijan and his meeting with Ilham Aliyev mark a new stage in the degradation of the post-Soviet space itself—and of Russian influence within it. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
Aliyev, Zelensky, and the End of Russia’s Post-Soviet Order
Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Azerbaijan and his meeting with Ilham Aliyev mark a new stage in the degradation of the post-Soviet space itself—and of Russian influence within it.
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If Péter Magyar truly attempts to dismantle Orbán’s system, he will quickly open the door to free political competition and liberal democracy—and lose power, or be forced to change himself. open.substack.com/pub/portniko...
The Dragon After Orbán
Among the many reactions to the collapse of Viktor Orbán and his party in Hungary’s parliamentary elections, one argument stands out: that Orbán cannot be a dictator—because otherwise he would not hav...
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The main conclusion the U.S. administration could draw from the results of Hungary’s parliamentary elections and Viktor Orbán’s stunning defeat is this: Europe is not disappearing, and the citizens of European Union countries want to remain Europeans.