The relationship between Washington and Kyiv has appeared frosty in recent weeks, but the Trump administration may be giving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy exactly what he’s been pleading for: more Patriot missile interceptors.

The State Department late last week approved the possible sale of 500 Patriot missile interceptors, worth about $2.1 billion, to Ukraine. The deal will be paid entirely by partners in Europe and North America, the State Department said. 

This is important for multiple reasons. For starters, it could represent an attempt by the Trump administration to cool tensions even as it pushes hard for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. But the potential deal will also raise questions about whether the U.S. has enough of its own Patriot interceptors to protect military bases and other key sites across the Middle East. Stockpiles of those interceptors have dwindled because of the U.S.-Iran war. 

And for Ukraine, there were immediate repercussions. Russia unleashed a devastating series of weekend missile and drone strikes on Ukraine after Friday’s announcement. Thousands of Ukrainians were left without power. That seems to be Moscow’s effort to hit Ukraine before it can deploy more Patriot systems.

The past several days have brought a whirlwind of suspected cyberattacks targeting everything from a leading cryptocurrency to Ukraine’s emergency services mobile apps and even grocery store refrigerators and freezers across Europe.

Here’s a quick rundown: The FBI blamed North Korean hackers for orchestrating the theft of more than $6 billion from the leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Federal authorities named an entity known as “TraderTraitor” as responsible for an operation believed to be the largest crypto heist in history.

Separately, authorities in both Ukraine and Russia said their emergency alert mobile apps were targeted by hackers. 

And grocery stores in Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg reported unexplained temperature spikes in their refrigerators and freezers, with at least one store reportedly claiming a cyberattack was to blame. Don’t forget: the Pentagon is also investigating a series of freezer and refrigeration malfunctions at U.S. military base commissaries.

Foreign Affairs Correspondent Vaughn Cockayne is tracking the latest from Doha, Qatar, where U.S. and Iranian delegations held indirect negotiations aimed at ending the conflict. Those meetings come amid a growing belief among national security insiders that President Trump could order new strikes against Iran after the U.S. midterm elections Tuesday.

The Iranian delegation reportedly left Doha on Monday morning after reiterating their so-called two-day plan. That proposal would reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz and institute a ceasefire agreement across the region within 48 hours, leaving the door open to further, detailed negotiations between the two nations.

Timing, of course, is everything here. Foreign policy analysts say they believe Iran may be delaying the peace process, anticipating election losses for Republicans that could see Mr. Trump’s Democratic opponents take control of both houses of Congress. If that happens, Mr. Trump could face serious congressional challenges to his ability to wage war against Iran — though he would have a critical window of opportunity between Election Day and when the next Congress is seated in January.

The subversion campaigns began long ago and have continued under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. The goal, according to a new book by former CIA analyst John Gentry, is to divide Americans, sow hatred for the U.S. and ultimately destroy the American system and its culture.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz has a deep-dive look at Mr. Gentry’s book, which the author himself describes as a “grim” message about the dangers posed by Russian and Chinese influence operations inside the U.S.

Today, subversion funded and orchestrated by Beijing has made significant progress in fomenting political polarization, radicalizing American youth in schools and colleges, infiltrating Marxists into leadership positions in the Democratic Party and growing the neo-Marxist Democratic Socialists of America, according to the book. 

They’ve already sworn an oath to protect the nation and put their lives on the line to do so. But U.S. troops can strengthen the republic in another way: by casting ballots on Election Day.

In a column for The Washington Times, Jeremy Hunt, a West Point graduate and former Army intelligence captain, argues Mr. Hegseth made the right call by urging troops to vote and ordering a one-day “stand-down” across the military so they can register and request absentee ballots.

“Only 67% of active-duty troops were registered to vote in 2024, 3 percentage points lower than in 2020, and fewer than half of them voted,” Mr. Hunt writes. “It is not difficult to imagine why those numbers are so low. With a busy training schedule and competing priorities, service members often do not have time or the opportunity to vote.

“That is why setting aside one day in the training schedule each election year for voting makes all the difference,” he says.

• Nov. 2 — Artificial Intelligence Power and National Security Conference: Open Models, Governance and U.S.-China Military Competition, Hudson Institute

• Nov. 4 — The Return of the Nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM-N) | HTK, Center for Strategic and International Studies 

• Nov. 5 — Israel After the Elections: What’s Next for U.S.-Israel Relations? Brookings Institution 

• Nov. 10 — China, America and the Fragmentation of the Global Economy: A Conversation with Aaron Friedberg, American Enterprise Institute

• Nov. 10 — 2026 Homeland Security Summit, Potomac Officers Club

• Nov. 10 — Elisabeth Braw on ‘Undersea War’ and the Battle Over Cables and Pipelines, Atlantic Council

• Nov. 16 — The Black Sea Blueprint for Taiwan: Lessons in Asymmetric Naval Warfare, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

• Nov. 17 — Special Threat Status Event: The Golden Age of Space, Threat Status

• Nov. 18 — Rebuilding the Arsenal of Freedom and Reindustrializing America, Hudson Institute

• Nov. 20-22 — Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, HFX