Revealed: Trump and Putin’s $12 trillion partnership plan & wargaming a Russian attack on NATO with Lt Gen Ben Hodges, former commander of US Army Europe

Day 1,446.


Today, in a rare public outburst against the Trump
administration, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accuses
the United States of “backtracking” on the so-called Anchorage
Agreement, under which Washington allegedly agreed to pressure
Ukraine into ceding parts of the Donbas that Russian forces have
failed to capture after nearly four years of war. We examine
President Zelensky’s comments suggesting that a new White House
peace deadline may be linked to Donald Trump’s US midterm
election campaign, and report on how Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán is seeking to leverage the war in Ukraine to shore
up domestic political support. And later, we speak to the former
commander of US forces in Europe, retired Lieutenant General Ben
Hodges, about the state of the war and how prepared Europe and
NATO are for a potential Russian move on the Suwałki Gap.


Contributors


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


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


With thanks to Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges (former
commander of US forces in Europe). @general_ben on X.


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CONTENT REFERENCED:


A small Russian force could break Nato, it’s being said. As a US
general, here’s my take (Ben Hodges in The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/05/russian-wargame-nato-defeat-suwalki-gap-general-ben/ 


Russia offered US £9tn co-operation deal, Zelensky says (The
Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/07/us-gives-june-deadline-peace-ukraine-russia/ 


Would the US military obey Trump on Greenland? US General Ben
Hodges answers (Battle Lines episode):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mcz_bDmXjE 


The German wargame (Die Welt):


https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article6984a7189d88d6e920be111f/ernstfall-podcast-wargame-exposes-gaps-in-germanys-response-to-a-hypothetical-russian-attack-on-lithuania.html 


Russia accuses US of backing out of alleged Ukraine territory
surrender agreement (The Telegraph):


https://kyivindependent.com/russia-accuses-us-of-backing-out-of-alleged-ukraine-surrender-agreement/ 


Washington Post GoFundMe:


https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-washington-post-international-employees 


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