When the world's at stake,
go beyond the headlines.

Welcome to The Adversarial. Every other week, we’ll provide you with expert analysis on America’s greatest challengers: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and jihadists. Read more below.***RussiaIn the last two weeks, Russia has retaken almost all of the territory held by Ukrainian forces in Kursk oblast. While Russian forces had been making gradual advances over the last several months, the key breakthroughs happened after North Korean troops returned to the fight in mid-February. According to reports, the returning troops were more prepared and had better tactics than in their initial attacks in January. The pause in sharing of U.S. military intelligence on March 3 led Ukrainian forces to stop using precision-guided weapons such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. On March 8, Russian forces walked through a disused gas pipeline to get behind Ukrainian lines. A concurrent assault by North Korean forces constrained Ukrainian supply lines. Over the following 10 days, Ukrainian forces conducted a withdrawal from most of the sector they still controlled.Ukrainian officials worked to repair the political damage from the Zelensky-Trump Oval Office meeting on Feb. 28. This effort succeeded in persuading the United States to resume military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. By publicly offering to agree to a ceasefire, Ukraine put pressure on Russia to make some public demonstration that it was not the primary obstacle to peace. The result was the announcement on March 18 — after a call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump — that Russia was willing to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure if Ukraine did likewise. While this falls far short of agreeing to a full ceasefire, it is the first sign of Russian willingness to limit attacks on Ukraine since the collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in the summer of 2023.Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs