Key Takeaways from the ISW:
- NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte assessed that Russia is the largest existential threat to NATO members today and that Russia is preparing for a protracted war with NATO.
- The Kremlin continues efforts to augment Russian combat power by setting conditions to subsume forces from Russia’s Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) allies under a Russian military command.
- Russian forces are expanding their use of motorcycles along the frontline in Ukraine — a tactic that the Russian military may leverage in future wars beyond Ukraine, possibly including operations against NATO states.
- NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte highlighted NATO’s plans to invest more in its own defense capabilities, including by investing in the Ukrainian defense industrial base (DIB) — in line with US President Donald Trump’s initiative for Europe to shoulder more of the burden of collective security.
- Ukraine’s European partners allocated military aid to Ukraine and financial support for drone production during the NATO summit on June 24.
- Russian forces conducted a series of drone strikes against Ukraine on the night of June 23 to 24 that resulted in over 100 civilian casualties.
- Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk and Kherson City, and Russian forces recently advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and near Chasiv Yar, Pokrovsk, and Novopavlivka.
Authors: Anna Harvey, Olivia Gibson, Jennie Olmsted, Angelica Evans, Jessica Sobieski, William Runkel, and Kateryna Stepanenko.
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