The D Brief: Russia pounds Ukraine; Trump disavows NATO principle; Europe talks nukes; DOGE’s oops; And a bit more.

By admin On Mar 7, 2025

Russia’s Ukraine invasion, day 1108

Russia’s military unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine just days after U.S. President Donald Trump halted the transfer of air defense munitions to Kyiv.

Some 67 missiles and 194 drones were used in Russia’s attack, which targeted energy infrastructure across at least four regions—Odesa, Poltava, Chernihiv, and Ternopil, Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy said Friday. And “In Kharkiv, a Russian missile hit close to an apartment building. People were injured. They are receiving the necessary assistance,” he said on social media.

Notably, French Mirage jets “successfully intercepted Russian cruise missiles,” said Zelenskyy, and added a note of thanks to Paris. Those jets just arrived last month. Nearly three dozen missiles and more than 90 drones were not intercepted by Ukrainian air defenses, the air force acknowledged.

ICYMI: Trump ordered a halt to “the delivery of interceptor missiles for Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, which have saved an untold number of lives as they shielded Ukrainian cities from missile and drone attacks,” the New York Times reported Wednesday.

Coming possibly next Tuesday: A meeting of U.S. and Ukrainian officials, Zelenskyy said Thursday on social media. “Ukrainian and American teams have resumed work, and we hope that next week we will have a meaningful meeting,” he wrote.

U.S. diplomat: “We are now in discussions to coordinate a meeting with the Ukrainians in Riyadh or even potentially Jeddah—the city is moving around a little bit,” Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters outside the White House on Thursday. “The idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial cease-fire as well,” he added.

Kyiv: “Everyone must ensure that Russia, the sole source of this war, accepts the need to end it,” Zelenskyy wrote separately online Thursday, reiterating his most recent conditions for moving forward. “This can be proved by two forms of silence: no attacks on energy and other civilian infrastructure—a truce for missiles, bombs, long-range drones; no military operations in the Black Sea.”

Zelenskyy also met with NATO chief Mark Rutte on Thursday. “I informed Mark about the development of a plan that will include a unified European vision for ending the war, concrete security guarantees, and strengthening Ukraine. We also discussed enhancing our air defense,” the Ukrainian president said.

In Washington, Trump again threw uncertainty into the NATO alliance and its unifying principle of collective defense during remarks with reporters Thursday. Trump was asked if he will make it a U.S. policy not to “defend NATO countries that don’t pay their fair share” in terms of defense spending.

While ignoring the alliance’s Article 5, which the U.S. invoked after the 9/11 attacks, Trump replied, “Well, I think it’s common sense. If they don’t pay I’m not gonna defend them. No, I’m not gonna defend them.”

Meanwhile in Romania, a Russia-backed coup plot to end NATO membership was recently foiled, Germany’s Deutsche Welle reported Thursday.

“One of the suspects is 101-year-old retired major general Radu Theodoru. The former officer is a Holocaust denier who has praised Romania’s fascist leadership from the World War II, and has described the current government as ‘a system organized to rob [the] country.’” Read more, here.

A separate far-right terrorist plot in Germany resulted in jail time after a court this week heard the case of five people who “planned to use violence to trigger civil war-like conditions,” as the BBC reported Thursday. According to authorities, “The group had planned to kidnap Health Minister Karl Lauterbach—an advocate of strict Covid-19 measures during the pandemic—and to kill his bodyguards if necessary.”

Worth noting: The defendants, inspired by QAnon, were all between the ages of 46 and 77. The New York Times has more.

Also: “Three Bulgarian nationals accused of spying for Russia have been found guilty of espionage charges in a trial that heard how they were involved in a string of plots around Europe directed by a fugitive based in Moscow,” the Guardian reported Friday. The plots involved surveilling a journalist and collecting Ukrainian soldiers’ phone numbers via “a military-grade snooping device not previously seen in criminal hands.”

Update: Europe is seeing a rise in disinformation and attacks on the media, particularly in Georgia, DW reported this week citing the Council of Europe’s latest annual press freedom report (PDF). Europeans also last year saw “the first documented cases of AI-generated disinformation campaigns targeting journalists directly,” the report’s authors write. “Policymakers will have to include AI governance in broader media protection strategies,” they advise.

Related reading: “American allies don’t trust Trump with the intelligence they share,” veteran intelligence reporter Shane Harris wrote Thursday for The Atlantic.

Developing: Poland “must” pursue nuclear weapons, the country’s prime minister told lawmakers Friday in Warsaw. “Poland must pursue the most advanced capabilities, including nuclear and modern unconventional weapons,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. “This is a serious race—a race for security, not for war,” he said.

The precautions don’t end there. He said officials are “preparing large-scale military training for every adult man in Poland. Our goal is to finalize the plan by year’s end to ensure a well-trained reserve force ready for potential threats,” said Tusk. He’s also hoping he can convince parliament to authorize Poland’s exit “from the Ottawa Convention and possibly the Dublin Convention. This concerns anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions,” he said.

Developing: Emmanuel Macron is discussing with allies how French nukes could protect Europe, he announced Wednesday in what Reuters described as a “grave address to the nation.”

Where this comes from: German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz recently pitched the idea in the face of Donald Trump’s hostile and distancing rhetoric toward NATO allies. “Responding to the historic call of the future German Chancellor, I have decided to open the strategic debate on the protection of our allies on the European continent through our (nuclear) deterrence,” Macron said Wednesday.

“You are, I know, legitimately worried about the current events, which are disrupting the world order,” Macron said in his address. “Russia has become a threat for France and Europe,” and “to watch and do nothing would be madness,” he said.

Reuters points out: “France’s nuclear deterrent is air- and sea-based, with Rafale fighter jets and nuclear submarines being able to strike at any time, on the instruction of the French president alone.”

And in case you’re curious: “France has an estimated 290 nuclear warheads and the United Kingdom 225,” according to the Federation of American Scientists.

Related reading:

Welcome to this Friday edition of The D Brief, a newsletter dedicated to developments affecting the future of U.S. national security, brought to you by Bradley Peniston and Ben Watson. Share your tips and feedback here. And if you’re not already subscribed, you can do that here. On this day last year, Sweden joined the NATO alliance, a result of Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion, which Putin himself said was partly intended to contain the spread of NATO.

Trump 2.0

Heroes, Enola Gay are among 26,000 photos flagged for removal in Pentagon DEI purge. AP: “References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press.” More, here.

Related: “The US Army Is Using ‘CamoGPT’ to Purge DEI From Training Materials,” from WIRED.

For reference: The Defense Department has issued a list of Trump administration actions and executive orders pertaining to “Federal Personnel & Readiness Policies,” including ones on DOGE, credit cards, and paper straws.

Some of these actions have drawn lawsuits. Just Security is keeping a running tally of its own, here.

Overheard at the Pentagon Thursday: “I’ve got my five points ready. I’ve been a productive member of society.”

Additional reading:

“Army Corps knew Trump order would waste California water, memo shows,” the Washington Post reported Friday;
See “The Federal Workers Who Were Fired, Then Rehired,” via a news graphic published Thursday by the New York Times;
“A Sensitive Complex Housing a CIA Facility Was on GSA’s List of US Properties for Sale,” WIRED reported Thursday;
“U.S. cuts funding for Danab special forces and other aid to Somalia,” Somali outlet Hirraan Online reported Wednesday; Danab is a U.S.-trained advanced infantry unit, which you can read more about from Foreign Policy, reporting in April 2023 during a visit to Somalia, here;
ICYMI, “Minneapolis man charged with trying to join the Islamic State group” in Somalia, the Associated Press reported last week;
And “Federal surveillance balloon breaks free at Texas border and travels to Dallas area before crashing,” AP reported in video on Thursday.

Etc.

Soldiers charged with trying to sell Stryker and Bradley secrets to China. “The defendants were identified as First Lt. Li Tian, a health services administrator; Sgt. Jian Zhao, a supply sergeant assigned to the 17th Field Artillery Brigade; and Ruoyu Duan, of Hillsboro, Ore. who served in the Army from 2013 to 2017. The two soldiers were stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state,” the New York Times reported Thursday. The Army Counterintelligence Command posted this.

More reading:

Defense One