Category: John E. Herbst

North Korean troops are in Russia. Here’s why.

GET UP TO SPEED They’re already there. On Wednesday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed that North Korean troops are in Russia, backing up earlier reports from South Korean intelligence. This news came as Ukrainian intelligence officials warned that thousands of North Korean soldiers will soon be deployed to Kursk, near Russian territory that

The storm clouds may be parting after Zelenskyy’s tumultuous US visit

It has been quite a week for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He arrived in New York on Sunday to address the United Nations General Assembly and meet with world leaders. But his real agenda was to meet with US President Joe Biden and presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. From Biden, he wanted permission to

Dispatch from Kyiv: How Ukraine’s incursion into Russia has changed the war

KYIV—This week, the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center took sixteen of its congressional fellows, Senate and House staff members from both parties, on a whirlwind trip to Warsaw and Kyiv. We rode the train from Warsaw to Kyiv overnight and spent two full days meeting with Ukrainian government officials responsible for security, foreign policy, the economy,

How Ukraine’s incursion into Russia could change the war

GET UP TO SPEED The August surprise came from Ukraine. Beginning on Tuesday, as many as a thousand Ukrainian troops reportedly crossed the border into the Kursk region in Russia, capturing an estimated seventeen square miles of territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the move a “major provocation,” while the Ukrainian government has largely declined

Experts react: What the NATO Summit did (and did not) deliver for Ukraine

There’s no going back. At the NATO Summit in Washington this week, heads of state and government from the Alliance’s thirty-two allies pledged to support Ukraine on an “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.” However, the allies left open when exactly that membership would come, instead noting simply that they “will be

Ukraine’s fight against Russia gets three boosts from the G7

JUST IN Uno, due, tre. As the Group of Seven (G7) summit kicked off Thursday in Apulia, Italy, US President Joe Biden presented three big steps to help Ukraine in its ongoing fight against Russian aggression. First, G7 leaders agreed to send Ukraine fifty billion dollars that will be paid for by future interest from

Why the US is giving Ukraine the green light to attack inside Russia

JUST IN One hand may be coming untied. The White House announced Thursday that it will allow Ukraine to use US weapons for limited strikes inside Russia—a reversal of a policy that had been criticized for, in the words of the Czech foreign minister, leaving Ukraine to fight “with one hand tied behind its back.”

A bold policy to protect the US by helping Ukraine stop Russian aggression

Ambassador John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, testifies before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe hearing on “Closing the skies, liberating Ukraine.” Video from the hearings and other testimonies can be found below. Below is the oral argument presented by Ambassador John Herbst. The greatest national security challenge facing