Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute
A US Marine veteran and one of the most widely read analysts of the war in Ukraine. Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, he reports from frontline units across the Donbas and is a regular co-host of the podcast.
Sam Cook and Rob Lee on why Ukraine's military past is essential to understanding today's frontline — from tracking the Russian buildup to the lessons reshaping modern warfare.
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Rob Lee and Dmytro Putiata break down the 2025 battlefield — Russia's infiltration tactics, drone lines, electronic warfare, and how Ukraine is adapting.
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Rob Lee and Dmytro Putiata break down the 15km kill zone, drone-driven brigade autonomy, the Dobropillia crisis, middle strike operations, and Ukraine’s path back to maneuver warfare.
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Rob Lee returns from Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk & Kharkiv with a granular frontline read: corps-level Hornets, brigade reform, $4K recon drones, UGVs, AI targeting, and why Ukrainian armor assaults may return.
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Rob Lee interviews Colonel “Shram” Tovstyi, commander of UAV Battalion Corsair (38th Marine Brigade): three-layer drone doctrine, Rubicon, fiber optic vs radio FPVs, UGV logistics, and the point system — from the Pokrovsk front.
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Rob Lee interviews Ievgen Malik on Mariupol’s final days: the failed April 9th breakout that killed ~400 marines in one night, the negotiation on the bridge, the surrender — and the descent through Olenivka into Ryazhsk prison, where the beatings began on arrival.
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The captivity story concludes: told he was going home, Ievgen Malik was instead transferred to Prison No. 10 in Mordovia — the standing regime, ritualized beatings, scars hidden from inspectors — until Friday, September 13th, 2024, when his name was finally called.
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Emergency panel filmed in Kyiv two days after the dismissal of defense minister Fedorov: why the streets are protesting, the case for gutting the general staff, the Fedorov–Syrskyi clash over how to fight this war — and the window for a 2026 offensive.
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The Fedorov panel concludes: his farewell list of the army’s systemic problems, debated point by point — E-points and its perverse incentives, the half-built corps reform, busification, the foreigners’ revolving door — and the panel’s verdicts.
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His face is blurred and his voice is altered — he is still fighting. A GUR special forces company commander on Russia’s rat tactics, a kill zone where 80% of casualties come from drones, and why future special operations units should be max 30% infantry.
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Rob Lee and Dima Putiata on the war right now: have we reached a turning point? The most sophisticated Russian assault yet, 20 FPVs to stop one tank, 80% of armor losses from drones, Starlink as a single point of failure — and Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief.
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One of the last journalists still reporting from the zero line: Dobropillia — the most destroyed city he has seen — the Donbas fortress belt under pressure, the October–November danger window, and the mobilization question hanging over the winter.
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Ukraine Military History Institute