Zelensky counts the cost, missing missile defense, Nazi memories surfacing, MAGA at a crossroads: RT stories that shaped the week

We look back at the essential stories that shaped the last seven days, from Russia’s retaliatory strikes on Ukraine to another AI escape Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s 40-day “influence” operation against Russia reached an ignoble end this week, with the murder of eight civilians on a beach in the Russian Black Sea resort of Gelendzhik. Six weeks of long-range strikes on Russian civilian targets seemed to convince some of Zelensky’s Western backers that Ukraine could defeat Russia, but Kiev’s debts quickly came due. Russia escalated its missile and drone campaign against Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, crippling the country’s already reeling economy and shutting off a key transit route for Western weapons entering Ukraine. RT examined the scale of Russia’s campaign against Ukrainian ports here, and as Russian missiles rained down on logistics hubs across Ukraine, asked whether Zelensky’s PR operation succeeded in “turning the tide.”Ukraine’s air defense droughtFor Ukraine to stand any chance of repelling Russia’s missile strikes, its military will need the latest American-made PAC-3 interceptors for its Patriot batteries. Zelensky spent the week begging for these valuable weapons,...