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Ben Wolfgang

Ben Wolfgang

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

Ukrainian servicemen study a Sweden shoulder-launched weapon system Carl Gustaf M4 during a training session on the near Kharkiv, Ukraine, April 7, 2022. Western weaponry pouring into Ukraine helped blunt Russia's initial offensive and seems certain to play a central role in the approaching battle for Ukraine's contested Donbas region. Yet the Russian military is making little headway halting what has become a historic arms express. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko, File)

Backfire: Sweden, Finland eye NATO in reaction to Russian invasion

Finland and Sweden signaled Wednesday that they may announce plans to apply to join NATO within a matter of weeks, dealing a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's hopes of weakening the Western military alliance and offering further evidence that the alleged atrocities committed by Mr. Putin's troops in Ukraine have only hardened anti-Russian sentiment across the West. Published April 13, 2022

In this file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, poses with Col. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov during an awarding ceremony in Moscow's Kremlin, Russia on March 17, 2016. Dvornikov was appointed the new military commander for the campaign in Ukraine. (Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) ** FILE **

Defiant Putin vows victory in Ukraine, denies atrocities

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Tuesday to press on with his military campaign in Ukraine, casting it as a "noble" mission that will end in victory and setting the stage for what is likely to be the bloodiest fighting so far as regrouping Russian troops mount a concentrated assault on the disputed Donbas region. Published April 12, 2022

Ukrainian tanks move in a street in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Ukraine braces for Donbas battle as Moscow’s war effort faces new questions

Ukraine braced itself Monday for a massive Russian assault on the country's eastern Donbas region, which is set to become ground zero in a bloody conflict that shows no sign of stopping despite growing questions about whether Moscow can secure anything resembling the original victory it sought. Published April 11, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via teleconference in Moscow, on March 10, 2022. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Rethinking Russia: Failures in Ukraine dent military’s reputation but stoke fears of escalation

ANALYSIS: Russia may have proven itself to be less of a great power and more of a loose cannon. Six weeks into Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and on the heels of a stunning loss in the battle for Kyiv, the overall competency of Russia's military is suddenly in doubt and its perceived spot near the top of the 21st-century global pecking order is being reassessed. Published April 10, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, April 6, 2022. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Kyiv failure reverberates for Putin’s shaken regime

Russia's push to capture Kyiv has failed and all of its troops have retreated from the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Pentagon officials said Wednesday, marking a crushing defeat for the Kremlin and dealing a blow to the country's perceived status as a global military power. Published April 6, 2022

People walk by an apartment building destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Borodyanka, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 5, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops of gruesome atrocities in Ukraine and told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that those responsible should immediately be brought up on war crimes charges in front of a tribunal like the one set up at Nuremberg after World War II.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Ukraine battles, fallout far from over, Pentagon brass warn

Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine is far from over, and the West must prepare for a yearslong commitment to support the government in Kyiv, guard NATO's eastern border and gird for the revival of an era of great-power conflict, top Pentagon leaders said Tuesday. Published April 5, 2022

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. Published 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. Published 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. Published March 24, 2022

A Ukrainian soldier stands on the ruins after Russian shelling of a shopping center, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, March 21, 2022. At least eight people were killed in the attack. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukraine rejects Moscow’s surrender demand amid exodus of refugees, growing death toll

Defiant Ukrainians rejected Russia's surrender demands Monday and vowed to keep fighting in the face of indiscriminate shelling and a growing death toll, while relations between Moscow and the West sunk to a post-Cold War low amid outrage over "massive war crimes" committed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his troops. Published March 21, 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. Published March 16, 2022