I’m a Ukrainian sociologist, and I’ve started publishing a series of interviews with Ukrainian soldiers for an international audience.
My goal is to document not only military events, but the human and social reality behind them — what everyday life on the front line actually looks like, how warfare is changing, and how soldiers themselves understand these changes.
In the first episode, I speak with Yevhen Prosol, call sign “Pikachu,” from the Da Vinci Wolves. He joined the military after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
In this short first part, I asked him a very simple question: what is actually the hardest thing for a soldier on the front line?
I’ve added English subtitles because I specifically want these conversations to reach people outside Ukraine.
This is the beginning of the series, so I’d genuinely appreciate feedback — particularly from people outside Ukraine: what would you want me to ask Ukrainian soldiers in future interviews?

YouTube: https://youtu.be/reIFlUfvu4U?is=LUmdnlprToflfuLU

It's 1st of September 2026 and we are not done?

no paywall: https://archive.ph/L35ad

So here is my theory:

Two days ago, the CIA Director made a sudden trip to Moscow; sources confirm he warned the Kremlin against attacking NATO. This “urgent visit” to Moscow would not have taken place had there been no factual data supporting this argument and the potential danger.

If this would really happen, here’s what i think what motivates Putin to make this move:

If Russia were to take this step, the most plausible initial scenario, in my view, is that Putin would order Lukashenko (Belarus) to invade the Baltic states. This does not seem far-fetched, given the fact that Belarus has been heavily mobilizing forces in the western part of the country, which borders the Baltic states over the past two months. Naturally, if this were to happen (and most likely fail), Putin could always claim, "That was Belarus, not Russia." This would allow him to gain valuable insight into how NATO responds to an attempted invasion while simultaneously diverting attention away from Ukraine, leaving the latter more vulnerable due to a lack of logistical and military support from NATO and the EU. This is merely my theory, but if it were to prove accurate, I consider the likelihood of a NATO attack to be quite high.

What are your thoughts?