Notes and Essays -- John Brown

Yaroslav Suzanskyi, 18, at a juvenile correctional facility in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, in July. He was sentenced after being recruited by Russia to attack his own country.   Photos by Serhiy Morgunov/For The Washington Post By Serhiy Morgunov The Washington Post Today [ jb - Sept 20 ] [at 5:00 a.m. EDT/8 min] Article contains additional photographs The Washington Post KREMENCHUK, Ukraine — Yaroslav Suzanskyi was 16 when he saw an ad on the Telegram messaging app offering “easy money,” about $165, to do an odd job. It turned out to be a want-ad for sabotage: Suzanskyi was paid to set fire to a railway relay cabinet. Now 18, Suzanskyi is incarcerated at a juvenile correctional colony, both a perpetrator and a victim of a hidden part of Russia’s war against Ukraine: recruiting vulnerable young people to attack their own country. He is one of eight inmates at Kremenchuk — in a population of 72 — convicted of national security or public safety offenses linked to Russia. Many of the chil...

  A new sanctions bill is meant to pressure President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to end the war in Ukraine. But President Trump is doubling down on a different approach: offering enticements to Russia. President Trump shaking hands with President Vladimir Putin of Russia during their meeting in Alaska last year. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times By Anton Troianovski Reporting from Washington and Kyiv, Ukraine The New York Times Published Sept. 17, 2026 Updated Sept. 18, 2026, 6:45 p.m. ET Oiginal article contains links When President Trump’s envoys sat down with Vladimir V. Putin at the Kremlin this month, the Russian leader exuded confidence. Within months, he said, Russian troops would finally capture Ukraine’s entire Donbas region. And Russia was poised to pummel Ukraine’s electricity grid, setting the stage for a miserable winter. Then one of the envoys, Jared Kushner, tried to push back. With all due respect, you told us exactly that a year ago, Mr. Kushner said to the ...