While Western analysts do not expect anything concrete from the announced meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest, russian propaganda is already celebrating a diplomatic victory and the near-defection of the United States to russia, the French newspaper Le Monde reports.
The prospect of a second bilateral summit, expected in the coming weeks in Budapest, delighted commentators. Fiodor Lukyanov, the Kremlin's favored political scientist, was expecting "something specific." "Apparently, there is a settlement plan that was already presented in Alaska, and for which precise parameters have been defined," he explained in an email to Le Monde on Friday. russian officials have repeated this interpretation, widely picked up by the press, convinced that a "confidential" settlement of the conflict in Ukraine was reached at the previous summit between Trump and putin, without anyone else's knowledge.
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/10/19/moscow-s-mix-of-relief-and-renewed-charm-toward-washington_6746570_4.htmlThe European Union has called a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir putin in Budapest an “insult,” El Pais reported. The upcoming meeting puts EU and NATO leaders in an awkward position, as the issue of the russian-Ukrainian war will be discussed without the EU itself.
This creates political tension, because in order to avoid conflict with Trump, EU leaders will probably have to grant putin special permission to fly through their airspace or force him to take a longer route. “The location was chosen carefully, as it could benefit russia by deepening the EU’s divisions over the Kremlin. It could also do Orbán a big favor, as his country faces elections next year.
https://elpais.com/internacional/2025-10-18/una-ruta-aerea-compleja-y-un-desaire-para-bruselas-la-reunion-entre-putin-y-trump-en-budapest-pone-en-guardia-a-la-ue.htmlJokes on this topic have already appeared in Ukraine, suggesting that putin reach Hungary via a gas pipeline.
But the emergence of jokes on a completely different level is alarming. Ukraine has been associated with Zelensky for too long, and now it will hurt it. On Sunday, 19 October, the British newspaper The Telegraph published a cartoon in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appears in a white T-shirt with the sarcastic inscription: "I went to Washington and all I got was this lousy T-shirt". This image appeared against the background of his evening video address to Ukrainians, with Ukrainian flags in the background.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/telegraph-cartoons-october-2025/It seems that in the alternative reality everything is not so bad. Zelensky said that putin is not winning, his army is now in a weak position.
www.dsnews.ua/ukr/politics/zelenskiy-putin-ne-peremagaye-yogo-armiya-zaraz-u-slabkiy-poziciji-19102025-530553While the occupiers advanced in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. DeepState showed where exactly:
ukranews.com/ua/news/1112059-okupanty-prosunulysya-v-dnipropetrovskij-ta-zaporizkij-oblastyah-deepstate-pokazav-de-same
On the night of Sunday, October 19, russian forces launched 62 strike drones of various types into Ukraine, 19 of which hit their targets.
https://armyinform.com.ua/2025/10/19/vorog-atakuvav-ukrayinu-62-bpla-40-z-yakyh-vdalosya-perehopyty-povitryani-syly-zsu/Since the beginning of the year, aid from major allies has declined significantly. The United States, previously the main donor, has not provided Ukraine with new weapons since Donald Trump took office, writes the Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
European states have tried to partially fill the gap, but their production capacities remain limited. The most acute shortage is observed in the supply of artillery ammunition, air defense systems and missile launchers. According to the publication, in the summer, commitments from European countries decreased by 57% compared to the beginning of the year - from 3.8 to 1.9 billion euros per month. In general, the total aid from all donors fell by about 40%.
https://www.nzz.ch/international/trotz-grossen-worten-aus-europa-brechen-die-ukraine-hilfen-ein-sechs-grafiken-zeigen-was-dahintersteckt-ld.1907338Ukraine cannot win against russia, warns British Field Marshal. Field Marshal Lord Richards tells The Independent’s Sam Kiley that Ukraine has been given false hope by its Western allies and cannot triumph against russia unless Nato forces join fight. “What we have done in the case of Ukraine is encourage Ukraine to fight, but not given them the means to win,” the former chief of the defence staff told The Independent’s podcast World of Trouble.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-defeat-david-richards-world-of-trouble-podcast-b2844349.htmlThe pro-government faction of the majority party "Servant of the People" will hold a Coordination Meeting with government representatives on October 20. The meeting will discuss priority areas of state policy. The leadership of the Verkhovna Rada will also join the meeting.
https://sud.ua/uk/news/ukraine/344032-fraktsiya-sluga-naroda-vstretitsya-s-sviridenko-i-chlenami-pravitelstva-dlya-obsuzhdeniya-gospolitikiThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the implementation of a new $1,000 fee for aliens paroled into the United States.
https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-implements-new-immigration-parole-fee-required-by-hr-1It seems that this requirement will also apply to Ukrainians who are in the US under the U4U program.
On the night of October 9, the Ukrainian satellite Sich 2−30, developed by designers in Dnipro and launched in early 2022, left orbit and burned up in the atmosphere.
https://nv.ua/ukr/ukraine/events/suputnik-sich-2-30-ukrajinskiy-kosmichniy-aparat-ziyshov-z-orbiti-ta-pripiniv-isnuvannya-50552898.htmlThis was probably the last thing Ukraine achieved in the space industry, although it had been developing and manufacturing rocket and space systems since the 1950s. It was the Ukrainians who created the rockets that made a breakthrough in rocket technology and made the USSR competitive in the escalating Cold War.
Therefore, it is very sad to read the news that while in one country the artificial intelligence THOR, created at Los Alamos National Laboratory in collaboration with the University of New Mexico, is able to calculate the configuration integral — a key mathematical construct in the physics of matter — in just a few seconds
https://scitechdaily.com/ai-breakthrough-finally-cracks-century-old-physics-problem/ , in another country at the same time people are being caught on the streets like slave traders caught blacks in Africa hundreds of years ago.
For the second year in a row, Ukraine has been facing a severe shortage of English, computer science, and mathematics teachers, according to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. In addition, schools are short of teachers of Ukrainian language and literature, physical education, history, and physics.
https://lux.fm/u-minosviti-nazvali-3-predmeti-yaki-ot-ot-ne-bude-komu-vikladati_n199960It seems that the Ukrainian government believes that stupid and obedient people should lead Ukraine to success and victory, while overly intelligent citizens only pose a threat to the regime.
But it seems that not everyone agrees with this approach and some are ready to offer their own vision of how to govern the country and demonstrate their own political ambitions. How else can one explain the public speeches of the chief intelligence officer of Ukraine on topics that are not within his competence? During the Kyiv International Economic Forum, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Kyrylo Budanov, stated that the basis of Ukraine's security in the future should be the rejection of the resource-based model in favor of an economy with high added value, the development of a modern high-tech defense-industrial complex and the formation of a clear grand strategy of the state.
"The grand strategy of Ukraine is necessary for us to finally determine our place and role in the new world and confidently move towards this goal," the head of the GUR emphasized.
https://sud.ua/uk/news/ukraine/344030-ukraina-dolzhna-sozdat-grand-strategiyu-i-byt-gotovoy-k-otporu-v-lyuboy-moment-kirill-budanovIn the worst case, this could mean that the authorities are preparing opportunities to remain in power by offering people a new face, as the FSB and oligarchs once made putin the president of russia. In this case, the statements will remain just populist slogans, as has happened repeatedly before.
Explosions were heard in several regions of the russian federation on the night of October 19. Two enterprises important to the russian federation were hit by drones at once: the Novokuibyshevsk Refinery and the Orenburg Gas Plant.
https://war.obozrevatel.com/ukr/u-rosii-poskarzhilisya-na-ataku-droniv-pid-samaroyu-zagorivsya-npz-v-orenburzi-gazzavod-foto-i-video.htm
