I am finally getting serious about YouTube. I recently started posting more regularly on my YouTube channel, and I plan to do it more frequently. I’ll be sharing interviews, conversations, commentary, and analysis on Ukraine, economics, geopolitics, and other issues I spend my time thinking and writing about. Also, I will be posting my longer videos exclusively on YouTube. So if you follow my work on Facebook, LinkedIn, or X and want to see the full conversations and longer-form analysis, YouTube will be the place to find them. If you enjoy my work, please subscribe to my YouTube channel.

John Mearsheimer is one of the famous russian propagandists who apparently knows nothing about russia. The man didn’t even know that American credit cards don’t work in russia and yet he knows that “russia will hold all of Donbas by year's end.” How can an educated person be so ignorant? First, being educated and being smart are two very different things. Mearsheimer is educated, but he certainly is not smart. Second, a smart person would learn from their own mistakes. Mearsheimer doesn't. He has been making versions of this prediction for four years. In February 2024, he told Global Times - a Chinese state outlet, which tells you something about the audience he prefers - that the actual fighting would not last beyond 2025, that russia would take more territory, and that there would be a ceasefire. It is now September 2026, and he still hasn't learned his lesson. Third, Mearsheimer knows nothing about Ukraine or the Ukrainian people. I doubt he has ever even visited Ukraine in his life. This matters because wars are won by people, not by terrain. Terrain does not hold Slovyansk for four years. When your model has no variable for a people's will, you don't make occasional mistakes - you make the same mistake every time. Finally, people like Mearsheimer should be held accountable for their predictions. Mark the date. Check it again in December to see whether his claim still holds: "russia will control all of Donbas by year's end.” Mearsheimer is just another brainwashed vatnik masquerading as an expert.

Freedom is not free! In 1991, I was just a 9-years old kid when Ukraine finally received its independence from the USSR (aka russia). I remember it was a day of celebration and joy! Ukrainians finally were free from decades of russian oppression. I remember my grandpa telling me that this freedom came at a huge price of many Ukrainian lives. Yet, as a child, I could not fully understand what my grandpa was saying then. Today, I do. I understand that freedom is not free! The cost Ukrainians are paying is very high. I already lost three friends, two of my second cousins are on the battlefield right now and many friends are risking their lives daily for freedom. Freedom is not free. The best sons and daughters of Ukraine are paying the price. Please, keep them in your prayers. Support them. Stand with them. Stand with Ukraine in this very costly fight for freedom!

Ukraine's largest metallurgical enterprise, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, is ceasing operations following Russian attacks. In the company's official statement, it is noted that over the past five weeks, the Russians have struck the facility with missiles four times. These attacks killed five workers and injured 17, while production capacities sustained significant damage. According to ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih CEO Mauro Longobardo, the company can no longer safely operate the Kryvyi Rih plant. The company will now focus on preserving infrastructure in order to restore production after the war ends. Source: Ukraine Live

Ukraine’s long-range sanctions are working again. Dramatic images from Perm this morning following a successful Ukrainian strike on the city’s oil refinery. Zelenskyy confirmed a series of successful Ukrainian strikes against key targets in russia. • Perm Oil Refinery • Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery • Iskra defense plant in Ulyanovsk Ukraine continues to systematically target the infrastructure that fuels and supports russia’s war.

I wrote this post past year after Trump invited Putin: “After Putin met with Trump in Alaska, he decided to continue military escalation against Ukraine. The Alaska talks convinced Putin that Trump is not interested in doing anything to stop russia. In the month following the Trump-Putin talks, the number of russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine increased by 46%.” Nothing changed.

A horrific crime took place in Poland yesterday. At Benedictine abbey in Jarosław, a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen launched a brutal knife attack. A Polish priest was killed, and four other people were left wounded. There is absolutely no justification for this senseless violence. As a Ukrainian, I unequivocally condemn this attack. The perpetrator must be held accountable according to the Polish law. Poland has stood firmly with Ukraine through the darkest chapters of our modern history. Millions of Ukrainians have found safety, shelter, education, and true friendship on Polish soil. Crimes like this are deeply devastating not just because innocent lives are lost, but also because they threaten to damage the hard-earned trust that millions of Poles and Ukrainians have built together. Responsibility matters. We should not obscure or hide the nationality of the perpetrator out of discomfort. Acknowledging the truth is a necessary part of justice. At the same time, the actions of one violent individual do not speak for the millions of Ukrainians who live, work, and contribute peacefully to Polish society. I extend my deepest condolences to the family, loved ones, and community of the priest who lost his life. I pray for the swift and full recovery of those who were wounded. There must be justice, full transparency, and absolute accountability.

On this day, last year, I found out that russians killed my friend — Vlad Seniuk. He was a true hero of Ukraine. From the very first days of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Vlad volunteered to defend his homeland. He fought in the toughest battles on the front, often sharing with me photos and videos that showed both the horrors of war and his incredible courage to keep going. But last year, during a mission, a russian drone struck his vehicle. The main hit fell on Vlad. His three brothers-in-arms survived — but Vlad was killed. Vlad came from a family of heroes: • His father, Vitaliy, was killed in 2017 defending Ukraine. • His uncle was killed in 2022. • And in 2025 Vlad gave his life for his country. He left behind a beautiful family — his wife Tetiana and their two little daughters. Vlad was a man of deep faith who attended the evangelical church where I myself grew up. Before returning to the front, he told his friends: “I could leave the army and be demobilized, but if not me, then who? I am going there for all of you.” Vlad lived what Jesus said: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13) He showed us what true Christian love looks like. I wrote a tribute to Vlad on my Substack: open.substack.com/pub/romans…

At 9 a.m., Kyiv’s central street, Khreshchatyk, came to a halt during the nationwide moment of silence to honor the fallen heroes of Ukraine.

Russian war against Ukraine is plain terrorism. Just read this headline from Ukraine: “Russia attacked the Titka Klara bakery in Kyiv:the menu is temporarily being shortened.” Their objective is to kill people by direct hits, freezing them to death, or starvation.

This is an unbelievable story of a Ukrainian Hero. It would be hard to believe it had he not filmed his entire journey for 346 days. Serhii Krynitskyi was a builder from Khmelnytskyi. He was told that he would be on a position for three months. Then six. When he asked why nobody came to replace him, the answer was always the same: there is no one to send, So he stayed. On the first day a shell came through the ceiling and killed the man beside him. He let russians come within twenty meters before he fired, so he would not miss. Twenty-three died. Six surrendered. When the bodies got too many, he buried them so the enemy could not find him by the pile. He filmed it all on his phone, charging it from captured russian batteries, to show his family one day what this was. In January his last two comrades were killed within days of each other. He walked out alone, on legs that no longer worked, and could not carry them. The president of Ukraine awarded him a Hero of Ukraine. Read his whole story on my Substack: romansheremeta.substack.com/…

Hitler’s Cross Last year, I stumbled upon the book Hitler’s Cross by pastor Erwin Lutzer. The book examines how Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime manipulated Christianity to advance their political and ideological goals. It is a sobering case study of what happens when the church compromises with political power instead of standing firmly on the Gospel. Main Themes and Arguments 1. Hijacking the Cross • The regime portrayed itself as doing God’s will, blending nationalism with pseudo-Christian language. • This created a false “German Christianity” that supported Hitler’s policies, including anti-Semitism. 2. The Failure of the Church • The majority of German churches either supported Hitler outright or remained silent, choosing comfort and safety over moral clarity. • Many pastors swore loyalty to Hitler. • Only a minority, such as the Confessing Church (with leaders like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller), resisted — often at great personal cost. 3. Why Christians Caved • Nationalism: The desire to restore German pride after WWI made people susceptible to Hitler’s message. • Fear: Speaking against the regime risked imprisonment or death. • Compromise: Many Christians tried to keep their faith while accommodating Nazi ideology, but this diluted the Gospel. 4. The True Cross vs. Hitler’s Cross • The true cross of Christ represents humility, suffering, truth, and salvation. • Hitler’s version of the cross represented power, domination, and racial superiority. • By accepting Hitler’s cross, the church betrayed Christ’s cross. I am not going to draw any parallels for the U.S. today — anyone who can think critically can do that for themselves. My only wish is that more people would read and learn from history, because it has a troubling tendency to repeat itself.

A mother buried her 19-year-old son and joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Then she found a woman’s number in his phone — a woman he had never told her about, right up until his final breath. Yaroslav’s call sign was “Archangel.” He was killed in the Kharkiv region three months after the start of the full-scale invasion. He was only nineteen. His mother, Tetiana, could not simply go on living as before. She put on a military uniform and enlisted. She wanted to avenge the death of her Yarik. But an even deeper pain was waiting for her. After the funeral, she looked through her son’s phone. There was an unsaved number. Tetiana called it. And that was when she learned what Yaroslav had never had the chance to tell her: he had fallen in love with a woman. Her name was Nastia. He had kept her a secret until his final breath. They had met in the Kharkiv metro, where Nastia was sheltering from Russian shelling with her children. Yaroslav was a soldier, but to her children, he suddenly became something more. Her little girl would ask her mother for permission, and Yaroslav would smile and say, “Dad said you can.” He called himself a father to children who were not his own. Yet he never told his mother that he had already chosen the woman he wanted to marry. Nastia was older than him — old enough that her eldest child was sixteen. But Yaroslav told her with complete certainty: “If I come back, you will be my wife.” He did not hesitate for a second. They had known each other for only a week. But that one week was enough for him to feel happy. And enough for her to remember his words for the rest of her life. Before his final mission, Yaroslav took off his military patches and left them with Nastia. “This is for you to remember me by,” he said. As if he somehow knew he would not return. His mother learned about all of this only after his death. And she asked Nastia for just one thing — to meet her. To hug her. To see the woman her son had loved. The woman she might one day have called her daughter-in-law. Nastia came. She gave Tetiana those same patches — the most precious things she had. She simply handed them to his mother because she understood: for a mother, they were a piece of her son. Tetiana said only: “Forgive me, my son.” She still looks for him among other soldiers. She studies their faces, searching for familiar eyes, a familiar beard. Every evening, she looks up at the sky and wonders how her Yarik is doing. Her commander tells her, “Petrivna, you have to let your child go.” But how do you let go of someone who was everything to you? Love can last a year, a decade, a lifetime. Or it can last only a week. But even in a single week, you can give someone enough happiness to last a lifetime — if they opened their heart to you. The memory of Yaroslav is now carried by two women: his mother and the woman he loved. And now, he will remain in our memories too. Source: translated from the original text by Oleh Bairak.

A father mourns his son, killed by the russians. Ukrainians are paying the highest price for their freedom. The free world must stand with Ukraine — and provide everything needed to defeat russian evil.

Street art.

Kasparov: Europe must stop hesitating and respond to Putin with the same speed and severity with which the Kremlin wages war. The West will not be safe as long as the Russian state exists in its current form. As long as Putin's regime survives, it threatens democracies around the world. The war will not end if Putin gets the Donbas. It will move on to the Baltics, and then to the rest of Europe. Putin needs an attack on NATO not so much for a military victory as to keep breaking Western institutions. He operates like a KGB agent. Europe is beginning to wake up, but far too slowly. At one point, tough diplomacy would have been enough. Later, sanctions could have worked, had they been enforced. Later still, greater but limited military aid to Ukraine. Now none of that is sufficient. Europe must do everything for Ukraine's victory and the collapse of Putin's regime. Fully close Ukraine's skies. Immediately provide all the weapons it needs. No delays. Enforce the sanctions that already exist. Russia evades them on a massive scale, and Europe knows through whom. These schemes must be hit with every available mechanism. Sever diplomatic relations with Russia. Recall ambassadors from Moscow. Expel Russia from international organizations built on democratic principles. Stop treating it as a normal state. Frozen Russian state assets must be confiscated now and transferred to Ukraine's war needs. Source: translated from Tymofiy Mylovanov

Russian journalist: “When are you coming to Moscow?” Zelenskyy: “On a missile!”

If the Republican Party is going to survive Trump, there will have to be a reckoning. The politicians, pastors, influencers and public figures who knew better and enabled him anyway will face a choice: pretend none of it happened, or say out loud what they defended, excused and helped normalize. I say this as a Christian, because the damage I care about most is the damage done to the public witness of Christianity. For a decade, millions of people watched Christians excuse Trump's morally bankrupt behavior they would have condemned in anyone from the other side. They watched cruelty called strength and political loyalty harden into idolatry. Many of those watching were the people Christians are supposed to reach. They were paying attention. And they will remember the hyposcicy. I believe in redemption. Christianity is built on it. But it starts in one place – telling the truth about what happened and accepting responsibility for it. Read the full article on my Substack: economicsofpower.substack.co…

"Our lives are more important than the price of energy.” - President Zelenskyy