Russia bombs American factory in one of war’s largest attacks, defying Trump peace efforts

Day 1,275.


Today, as Russia’s foreign minister accuses the Coalition of the
Willing of “undermining” efforts to secure peace in Ukraine –
comments later described as nothing but “noise” – Vladimir Putin
makes clear how serious he is about negotiating peace by
launching another mass aerial attack. Far from ending the war, we
hear how Donald Trump is apparently going to “step back” from
peace talks “for now”. Plus, we look at how Ukraine has
demonstrated the next stage of drone development with a strike on
Russian forces in the Black Sea, and interview the commander of
Finland’s armed forces.


Contributors:


Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence). @DomNicholls
on X.


Francis Dearnley (Executive Editor for Audio). @FrancisDearnley
on X.


With thanks to the Commander of the Finnish Army, Lt Gen Pasi
Välimäki


Content Referenced:


US will only give ‘minimal’ security guarantees to Ukraine,
Europe warned (The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/08/21/us-elbridge-colby-minimal-security-guarantees-ukraine/ 


Trump steps back from Russia and Ukraine peace talks for now,
sources say (The Guardian):


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/21/trump-ukraine-russia-peace-talks 


Why Steve Witkoff Is Trump’s Master of Disaster (Foreign Policy):


https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/08/19/steve-witkoff-trump-putin-russia-ukraine-war-diplomacy 


Witkoff delivered Russian medal from Putin to family of American
who was killed fighting for Russia in 2024 (CNN):


https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/20/politics/witkoff-delivered-medal-from-putin-family-american-killed 


A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants (William J Burns
in The Atlantic):


https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/10/trump-retribution-public-servants/683914/





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