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Ben Wolfgang

Ben Wolfgang

bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com

Ben Wolfgang is a National Security Correspondent for The Washington Times. His reporting is regularly featured in the daily Threat Status newsletter.
Previously, he covered energy and the environment, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016, and also spent two years as a White House correspondent during the Obama administration.
Before coming to The Times in 2011, Ben worked as political reporter at The Republican-Herald in Pottsville, Pa.
He can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Ben Wolfgang

Soldiers place the Ukrainian flag on the coffin of 41-year-old soldier Simakov Oleksandr, during his funeral ceremony, after after he was killed in action, at the Lychakiv cemetery, in Lviv, western Ukraine, Monday, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

World ‘trending toward greater instability,’ Pentagon leaders say

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the latest indication that the world is rapidly becoming more unstable, top Pentagon leaders said Tuesday, as they warned that the prospects of major conflict between the U.S. and other great powers such as China and Russia are increasing.

April 5, 2022
A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the Antonov An-225 aircraft destroyed during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, at the Antonov airport in Hostomel, outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

U.S. can do more to help Ukraine, rattle Putin, former Moscow CIA chief says

The U.S. is missing a key opportunity to ramp up its military support to Ukraine and fuel the domestic pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who could see his grip on power in the Kremlin evaporate if Russia's invasion fails and Ukraine emerges victorious, former CIA station chief in Moscow Daniel Hoffman said Monday.

April 4, 2022
In this image provided by the U.S. Air Force, a U.S. Air Force F-35 Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 34th Fighter Squadron, departs from a KC-10 Extender aircraft after receiving fuel over Poland, on Feb. 24, 2022, as it flies in support of North Atlantic Treaty Organization enhanced air policing missions. Russia's attack on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has renewed calls for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, despite the repeated rejection of the idea by western leaders concerned about triggering a wider war in Europe. (Senior Airman Joseph Barron/U.S. Air Force via AP)

Blocked Zelenskyy drops demand for NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's impassioned video plea to Thursday's gathering of NATO leaders in Brussels for emergency military aid effectively dropped what had been Kyiv's No. 1 ask in the unequal fight to hold off invading Russian forces -- a no-fly zone to block Russian fighter jets from the skies over its smaller neighbor.

March 24, 2022
In this photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, Russian army tanks are loaded onto railway platforms to move back to their permanent base after drills in Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Tanking? Russia’s struggles raise new questions over armored advantage

The classic armored tank's future as an effective battlefield weapon is once again in question amid a less-than-stellar showing so far in Russia's nearly three-week military campaign in Ukraine, which has seen the iconic ground combat vehicles routinely reduced to rubble by anti-tank weapons, drones and other countermeasures.

March 16, 2022
In this file photo taken on June 24, 2020, Russian RS-24 Yars ballistic missiles roll in Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia. Russia's nuclear warheads cache — the largest in the world at more than 6,200, according to figures compiled by the Arms Control Association — has added an untold level of danger and complexity to the current military campaign in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Nuclear weapons a looming threat as war against Ukraine enters third week

Russia's economy is smaller than Italy's, and its military has yet to impress two weeks into its invasion of Ukraine. Still, the West is treating the crisis as a potential precursor to World War III for one simple reason: Moscow's massive stockpile of nuclear warheads and the growing fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin may resort to using the world's most devastating weapons.

March 10, 2022
United Nations members vote on a resolution concerning the Ukraine during an emergency meeting of the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Russia bombards major Ukrainian cities as U.N. condemns Kremlin

Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed to a second round of peace talks even as Russian troops stepped up their assault of the key cities of Kharkiv and Kherson and neared the capital of Kyiv, while a defiant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared his country will never surrender as a brutal war that has drawn global condemnation enters its second week.

March 2, 2022