In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Vladimir Putin enters a hall to meet with graduates of higher military educational institutions at the Kremlin on June 23, 2025. (Alexander Kazakov via Getty Images)
A formation of Dongfeng-41 nuclear missiles takes part in a military parade celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on October 1, 2019. (Xia Yifang via Getty Images)
Senior lecturer in the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University, Council of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pose for a picture with European leaders following a meeting at the White House on August 18, 2025. (Win McNamee via Getty Images)
A US Marine Corps VXE30 Stalker unmanned aerial system is staged during a maritime domain awareness training exercise in southern Finland on July 31, 2025. (DVIDS)
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of Syria's Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, is welcomed by supporters at the capital's landmark Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, on December 8, 2024. (Abdulaziz Ketaz/AFP via Getty Images)
A local resident stands outside of a destroyed building following a missile attack in Odesa, Ukraine, on November 17, 2024. (Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP via Getty Images)
Ukrainian servicemen of the mobile air defense unit fire a machine gun at Russian drones during night patrol on December 2, 2024, in Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine. (Maksym Kishka/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)