Ken Harbaugh’s latest report from Ukraine exposes the moral difference between fighting for power and fighting for freedom.
Innovation, courage, and black humor are Ukraine’s strongest weapons against Russian brutality.
The U.S. military faces its own loyalty test as Trump blurs the line between constitutional duty and political obedience.
From Kyiv to Washington, the fight against authoritarianism depends on those who still know what an oath means.
Ken Harbaugh’s story began on a six-hour drive through Ukraine with a soldier named Andreii — a man who’d lost his leg in battle and returned anyway. “They don’t take their ticket out,” Ken said, describing how wounded soldiers rejoin their units out of love for one another and for freedom itself. That devotion isn’t just symbolic; it’s the core of Ukraine’s resistance. The reunion between Andreii and the man who saved his life turned one soldier’s story into proof of a national will that refuses to break.
In a war of uneven odds, creativity has become strategy. Ukraine, Ken explained, is “printing parts for tomorrow’s warheads,” adapting in real time to new Russian tactics. Drones, 3D printers, and sheer nerve have replaced traditional arsenals, making innovation the new frontline. Rick Wilson called it the purest form of ingenuity — not just technological, but moral — a nation inventing its own survival in the face of annihilation.
Ken also warned that the threat of authoritarianism isn’t confined to the battlefield. “There isn’t a [Mark] Milley in the Pentagon anymore,” he said, a stark reminder of what happens when power demands loyalty over law. Trump’s efforts to politicize the military — and merge ICE and the National Guard into a single show of force — are designed to make Americans fear their own defenders. What Ukraine fights with weapons, the U.S. now fights with truth and conscience.
By the end, the connection between the two struggles was impossible to ignore. Ukraine’s soldiers risk everything for democracy; Americans are being asked to defend it at home. “No fucking kings,” Rick said in closing — a reminder that freedom isn’t inherited, it’s enforced by those who refuse to kneel.
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Tune in for this powerful Strategy Session with Rick Wilson, Joe Trippi, and Ken Harbaugh.
