Fears of a new Russian offensive

Plus: What is the Space Academy?  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Richard Hall | August 31, 2026     Hello there and welcome to Monday’s edition of The Brief. Russia’s casualties are mounting in Ukraine and it is struggling to recruit fast enough to replace its losses. But everything suggests Moscow will choose to escalate in response to its setbacks. Read on to find out why.  We also have the latest on President Donald Trump’s plans for a new Space Academy, and a promising new drug to lower cholesterol. IN TODAY’S BRIEF Trump’s Space Academy Nvidia’s Hugging Face gambit A weapon against cholesterol Russian maneuvers 290 million barrels of oil A new space telescope         READ THIS FIRST What is Trump’s U.S. Space Academy? President Donald Trump signs an executive order to begin creating a U.S. Space Academy during the Congressional Space Medal of Honor ceremony at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Aug. 28, 2026. Melissa Phillip—Houston Chronicle via Getty Images President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order creating a commission to develop plans for the United States Space Academy, which is intended to “educate and develop the next generation of leaders across the space domain.” “Given the rapid growth of the Space Force and the commercial space industry and the expansion of our ambitions to the moon and far beyond the moon, it’s clear we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled service members, engineers, and civil operators,” Trump said in remarks at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, on Aug. 28. The proposed academy is envisioned as serving the military, civil government, and broader space industry. However, the exact admissions requirements for Space Academy—which will help characterize who it serves and how—are yet to be determined. Future Space Force officers currently attend the U.S. Air Force Academy. — T. Michelle Murphy         SPONSORED Slack replies in seconds. Not minutes. Dictate into Slack, email, LinkedIn, or any app and get polished, send-ready text. Wispr Flow strips filler and formats everything. 89% of messages sent with zero edits. Works on Mac, Windows, and iPhone. Start flowing free         THE CONTEXT The bigger bet behind Nvidia’s $12.9 billion Hugging Face deal Jensen Huang speaks to members of the media in Tokyo on July 16, 2026. Kiyoshi Ota—Bloomberg/Getty Images Nvidia has reportedly agreed to buy popular AI library Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. The deal is partly a hedge against an emerging threat: AI companies that consume enormous quantities of Nvidia hardware are increasingly developing chips of their own. In a future where AI becomes centralized in a small group of players with their own chips, those companies could demand lower prices from Nvidia or bypass it altogether. Hugging Face, an online hub where developers share open AI models and datasets, gives Nvidia a stake in an alternative future, where downloadable AI models allow startups and governments to build systems of their own. Few would have the scale to develop custom chips.  With roughly 85% of the AI chip market, Nvidia’s share has only one way to go. But a smaller slice of a much larger market could still mean more sales, says Umesh Padval, a Managing Partner at Seligman Ventures. “If the deal goes through, I think it’s a brilliant chess move.” —Harry Booth         HEALTH CHECK An experimental one-time treatment for high cholesterol shows promising results Eugene Mymrin—Getty Images Heart disease remains the leading killer of people worldwide, and one of the key risk factors driving deaths is elevated levels of cholesterol. In a new article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers report that a gene-editing therapy helped people with increased levels of cholesterol and triglycerides maintain lower levels of these lipids for at least a year. The findings build on earlier results of the therapy, reported last November. The gene-editing treatment, developed by the biotech company CRISPR Therapeutics, uses CRISPR technology to precisely edit a gene involved in cholesterol regulation. The gene, called ANGPTL3, makes an enzyme that blocks the breakdown of bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides.  In the small study, 15 people with severe forms of high cholesterol and triglycerides showed drops in the two lipids of up to 50%, which the latest results show lasted for at least a year. —Alice Park         SPONSORED Your Competitors Just Hired an Entire GTM Team. No Humans. AI agents are doing the work of full GTM teams. Pipeline, content, customer service. The startups using them aren't waiting for headcount approvals. Get the free Practical Guide to Agentic GTM for Startups and see exactly where to start. Unlock the Playbook         IN FOCUS The threat of a new Russian attack  A local resident removes scattered debris next to destroyed vehicles the day after a Russian missile and drone attack in Kyiv, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. Francisco Seco—Associated Press Ukraine has made great strides in leveling the playing field with Russia since Russian forces almost surrounded the the capital, Kyiv, in 2022. In the last year especially, it has developed its own sophisticated drone industry to defend itself and strike deep inside Russia, targeting the defense and energy industries that fuel the war.  But one area where it can’t compete is manpower. Ukraine now warns that Russia may be planning to use that advantage to launch a new attack on the capital Kyiv and turn the tide of the war in its favor.  Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, told reporters that intelligence points to planning for an operation “in several variants in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv.” While he insisted that the existence of a plan does not mean an imminent attack, Ukraine has seen other concerning signs. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said earlier this month that Russia was planning to mobilize some 300,000 more troops after State Duma elections in September, possibly to target Ukraine’s southeast or open up a new front in the north. Russia has increased its missile attacks on Kyiv in recent weeks, while Ukraine says its missile defenses are running low.  These reports come at the same time as a surprise visit by CIA director John Ratcliffe to Moscow, where he warned Russia against attacking NATO countries—a message prompted in response to U.S. intelligence suggesting Moscow was considering such a move.  Taken together, the apparent flurry of Russian planning suggests the war in Ukraine is entering yet another critical phase. But officials in both Ukraine and the U.S. suggest these developments come from a position of weakness, rather than strength.  During the same visit to Moscow, Ratcliffe reportedly delivered a grim assessment of Russia’s position in the war and urged it to reconsider returning to negotiations, according to the New York Times.  Russia’s troop losses have mounted this year without any corresponding battlefield advances. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Russia’s casualty rates of 30,000 a month now exceed its recruitment rates of 27,000.  “The Russia-Ukraine casualty rate has likely risen to nearly 8:1 in the first half of 2026, up from between 2:1 and 3:1 for much of the war, in large part due to Ukraine’s use of drones—including AI-enabled drones—as part of its aggressive air interdiction campaign,” it said in a recent report.         ONE NUMBER 290 million President Donald Trump said Sunday that he would use oil from a deal struck with Venezuela to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As of August 21, the reserve held about 290 million barrels, near a 44-year low. SOURCE: REUTERS         A VIRAL MOMENT Dark side of the moon NASA launched a flagship astronomical observatory on Sunday. The $4 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off from the Kennedy ⁠Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and will settle in orbit beyond the moon.          SPONSORED Find the perfect marketing agency, for free. Stop writing RFPs. Tell us your budget and needs, and our experts send back 3 or 4 agencies worth pitching. The no cost way to source the best agency, without lifting a fingers Get Matched Free       Linked In this addictive word-association game, find the steps that will unite two seemingly unrelated words in just four moves. PLAY NOW       ALSO WORTH YOUR TIME IDEAS Doing Random Acts of Kindness Is Good for You WORLD  King Harald V of Norway Has Died After 35 Years On the Throne. Meet His Successor, Haakon     EMAIL US: thebrief@time.com More Newsletters from Click to sign up. D.C. BRIEF +FUTURE PROOF +HEALTH MATTERS +INSIDE TIME +IN THE LOOP +WORTH YOUR TIME + Connect with TIME   PRIVACY POLICY     © 2026 TIME USA, LLC. All rights reserved. TIME Customer Service, P.O. Box 37508 Boone, IA 50037-0508, United States Unsubscribe