International Press Review dated 6 – 17 October 2025
- Anton Kuchuhidze
- Oct 16
- 6 min read
In recent weeks, the international media has been focused on the peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, as well as the possibility of applying a similar scenario to end the war in Ukraine. According to European officials, the main condition for such an approach would be strong pressure from the US on the Russian aggressor. The achievement of peace in the Middle East gives hope for an accelerated end to the war in Ukraine.
An article in The Wall Street Journal emphasizes that the main lesson that US President Donald Trump can learn from the agreement between Israel and Hamas and apply in the case of Ukraine is "pressure." However, unlike the situation in the Middle East, such pressure has not yet been fully applied to russia. Although Trump has imposed tariffs on India, one of moscow's key partners, he has so far refrained from taking more serious steps, in particular, he has not imposed tough sanctions against russia's "shadow fleet," which circumvents oil export restrictions.
Another article in The Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump is considering increasing military aid to Ukraine, including the transfer of Tomahawk cruise missiles or intelligence data for strikes on russia's energy infrastructure. However, a final decision has not yet been made.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is actively developing its own long-range weapon, the Flamingo cruise missile, capable of hitting targets at a range of up to 3,000 km. In addition, according to Bloomberg, Ukraine and the UK are preparing joint production of interceptor drones to combat the drones that russia is using en masse. The project, called Octopus, is in the final stages of approval and could start in the coming months. The plan is to produce up to 2,000 drones per month, which will be supplied exclusively for Ukraine's needs.
Financial and technological partnerships with Ukraine are also deepening. The Financial Times published a column in which the author emphasizes that Ukraine should be perceived not as a victim, but as a strong, effective ally capable not only of restraining russia, but also of ensuring the security of the entire European continent. The Ukrainian army has already proven that it is capable of standing up to the kremlin on its own, and the country has become a center of military innovation that could significantly change approaches to warfare in the 21st century. Ukrainian drones and missiles are created in a decentralized manner, in the style of Silicon Valley, rather than through traditional defense bureaucracy.
Some countries are already building joint defense enterprises with Ukraine. For example, Denmark has signed a €67 million agreement to create Ukrainian defense capabilities on its territory.
According to Bloomberg, the UK and Canada will join the EU initiative to use part of the $300 billion frozen in Russian Central Bank accounts in G7 countries to finance Ukraine's needs.
Ukraine's victory is not only a matter of justice, but also a guarantee of security, stability, and prosperity for Europe. Supporting Ukraine today is an investment in the West's own future. A strong, sovereign, and technologically advanced Ukraine is a shield, a military arsenal, and a strategic partner for the entire democratic world.
Germany on Wednesday pledged more than $2 billion in military aid for Ukraine, as the government in Kyiv signaled that it would need $120 billion in 2026 to stave off Russia’s nearly four-year all-out war .
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Germany would buy $500 million worth of U.S. weapons for Ukraine under a new program to fast-track military equipment. Estonia, Finland, Lithuania and Sweden said that they would also participate in the funding initiative.
President Donald Trump on Sunday warned Russia that he may send Ukraine long-range Tomahawk missiles if Moscow doesn’t settle its war there soon — suggesting that he could be ready to increase the pressure on Vladimir Putin’s government using a key weapons system.
“I might say, ’Look: if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew to Israel . “The Tomahawk is an incredible weapon, very offensive weapon. And honestly, Russia does not need that.”
President Trump scored a major foreign-policy win in Gaza by brokering the release of hostages from captivity and securing an end to the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Now Europeans are hoping Trump can repeat the success with another knotty foreign-policy problem.
Trump will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday, according to officials familiar with the plans, on the heels of his diplomatic victory tour in the Middle East. At his stops in Israel and Egypt, Trump referenced the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine, underscoring how, as he touted his achievements on one major conflict, he has still set his sights on resolving another.
President Trump threatened to send long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, should Russian President Vladimir Putin continue to decline his efforts to negotiate a peace deal in the region.
“I might say, look, if this war’s not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday as he flew overseas to Tel Aviv, where he is set to take part in a ceremony for a landmark peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
Trump is still hoping Moscow will make a deal to halt that conflict but has become frustrated at the lack of diplomatic progress and more open to pressuring Putin militarily. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The European Union is increasingly convinced that tapping around €200 billion ($232 billion) in frozen Russian central bank assets is the only viable way to put funding for Ukraine on a sustainable footing as other sources of financing run dry.
The EU will aim to reach a political agreement to use the assets at a summit meeting of leaders in Brussels next week, according to people familiar with the matter.
The UK and Canada will join a European Union plan to tap a portion of the almost $300 billion in Russian central-bank assets held by Group of Seven nations, in an effort to ramp up their financial support to Ukraine.
European allies are nearing an agreement to provide loans through a mechanism that would avoid them having to seize the assets outright, according to western officials, who described it as an important step in ensuring Ukraine’s financial security.
Ukraine and the UK plan to start joint production of interceptor drones to combat the swarms of Shahed-type unmanned aircraft launched by Russia on a daily basis, causing severe damage to civilian and energy infrastructure.
The project, called “Octopus,” is currently being negotiated and may be implemented in coming months, according to the UK’s Minister of State for Defense Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard.
“Very shortly we’ll be producing around 2,000 drones a month, deliberately shipping all of them to Ukraine so they can be used to intercept Russian drones,” Pollard told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the Defense Industries Forum in Kyiv.
Ukraine is Europe’s innovation nation — building, deploying and reinventing drones and missiles with a bottom-up, decentralised approach to war and innovation that looks a lot more like Silicon Valley than the Pentagon. The future of war is being invented there, and Kyiv can help us to bring that future to our own militaries and to our defence industries. For example, low-cost drones, often guided by AI, are now responsible for more casualties than artillery — and inventing, flying and buying them is highly decentralised.
A strong, prosperous Ukraine will be Europe’s shield, Europe’s arsenal and Europe’s innovator. And a strong, prosperous Ukraine will not just protect Europe’s security. It will make the whole world safer by reaffirming the most powerful accomplishment of the post-1945 order: that no internationally recognised state may be annexed by foreign conquest. That is why we need to work with Ukraine today, to support it and its war economy, and to lay the foundations for its future prosperity.
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