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

Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum, only for War on the Rocks members. Each Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.American coverage often narrows the view to the battlefield — these pieces widen it, revealing the texture of daily life, politics, and public argument in a nation at war. The perspectives gathered here are varied, candid, and often surprising, together forming a more complete picture of Ukraine as it really is.Frontline and StrategyОбозреватель — Obozrevatel (“Observer”) Major Ukrainian outlet that sits center-right in its editorial voice“The Kremlin’s Nuclear Bluff”By Victor Taran/Aug. 27, 2026Tactical nuclear weapons (kiloton-range, delivered by systems like Iskander) are far smaller than strategic bombs but still have the potential for devastating local consequences, Victor Taran explains. Designed to break defensive lines, their Soviet-era logic assumed dense fronts with vulnerable rear areas, a scenario unlike today’s stretched, drone-monitored battlefields, where kill zones persist even after a nuclear strike, he concludes. The author argues such weapons offer no real breakthrough today, and that they’re political blackmail, not battlefield solutions. He argues using one would brand the user a nuclear terrorist state permanently, with no chance for reversal.“The modern front is arranged fundamentally differently: the defense is stretched and has no single node worth such a strike. The drone kill zone stretches twenty kilometers deep into the positions, and that won’t disappear after a nuclear explosion. Assault groups would still have to cross that same killing ground, only now also contaminated. The question is simple: how many of them would make it through? Therefore, my conclusion is fairly ordinary: today, a tactical nuclear warhead is an instrument of political blackmail, not a solution to