Notes and Essays -- John Brown

Drone teams compete to ascend a scoreboard that rewards units for successful attacks. Ukrainian officials say the contest helps keep soldiers motivated. Stun, 33, a drone commander for the Achilles regiment, in the Kharkiv region last month. Credit... Finbarr O'Reilly for The New York Times By  Kim Barker   and   Oleksandra Mykolyshyn Reporting from near Kharkiv, Ukraine, and from Kyiv The New York Times , Oct. 31, 2025  ;  original article contains a video  The Ukrainian drone zeroed in on the two Russian soldiers riding a motorcycle just after 9 a.m. on July 19, closer and closer, until it swooped down to hit its mark and the camera went dark. It was a high-value target for the drone operator’s regiment: worth as many as 24 points, to be exact. In a real-world game run by the Ukrainian government, regiments are being rewarded with points for successful attacks. Wound a Russian soldier? Eight points. Kill one? That is good for 12. A Russian drone pilot is ...

Reporter Kate Tsurkan, The Kyiv Independent Friday, Oct. 31 5 minutes read Amid the growing uncertainty of war, some Ukrainians look to taro t for answers. (Daria Filippova / The Kyiv Independent); on tarot, see The viewer count ticks upward — dozens, then hundreds, sometimes nearly a thousand. Just about everyone has tuned in for the same reason: to hear Tetya (Auntie) Fania’s latest predictions about the threat of Russian attacks against Ukrainian cities. “(Let’s look at) Kyiv in November,” she says during a recent broadcast, picking cards from a shuffled deck. “There could be problems with resources beyond electricity, gas, and the like. There will be serious water problems in Kyiv…Maybe rolling blackouts…” In wartime Ukraine, one’s future can vanish in a heartbeat. That’s why some Ukrainians are turning to tarot — a deck of cards that symbolizes life’s themes, spiritual lessons, and everyday experiences, used for both divination and self-reflection — to try and gain some semblance...