7 voices reflect on a single day of Putin’s war
Vladimir Putin addressing the Kremlin Palace. “It’s a battle for the West,” he told a Russian parliament in an extraordinary session
People often accuse Putin of wanting to resurrect the Soviet Union. One can argue that Putin is more interested in the Russian empire than the lands of it. In speeches about Ukraine he criticizes the creation of the republic by the soviets.
Indeed, just hours before Friday’s ceremony, Putin formally recognized the regions of Kherson and Zaporzhzhia as “independent” from Ukraine — despite Russian forces controlling only a portion of the territory.
According to Putin, the referendums showed the will of millions of people despite the reports from the ground that voting was done at gun point.
He hoped the New Year would bring all this. We are ready to fight for it. That is the reason each of us is here. I am here. We are here. You are here. Everyone is here. We are all from the same country.
The Russian president believes that the annexation was an attempt to fix a mistake that was made after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Putin made a vow that Russian forces would prevail in Ukrainian during his New Year’s address. Speaking surrounded by Russian soldiers instead of the traditional Kremlin backdrop, Putin said that the year had been hard but that he wanted to protect Russia from Western aggression.
Russia’s plan to fly its flag over a huge swath of Ukrainian territory is being harshly criticized by the international community but it will not back down.
The Russian leader spoke in the chandeliered St. George’s Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace — the same place where he declared in March 2014 that the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was part of Russia.
Russian lawmakers meet for an extraordinary session of both chambers on Wednesday, when Putin is also expected to address a rally at Moscow’s largest stadium.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told a joint session of the Russian parliament and the Kremlin officials that the war in Ukraine was a struggle against the West.
There were numerous military actions by the Western world over the centuries, from the British Opium War in China in the 19th century to firebombing of Germany in the Vietnam and Korean Wars.
The United States, he said, was the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war. “By the way, they created a precedent,” Mr. Putin added in an aside.
The large-scale Russian bombardment struck several cities including far reaches of westernUkraine close to NATO’s eastern flank, pushing the conflict into a new phase and coming as much of the country was starting to roar back to life.
Vladimir Putin and the newly integrated territories are Together forever. The Donbas, Russia, commemorated on Sept. 27, 2012, in the Kremlin
There is a celebration on Red Square on Friday. Official ratification of the decrees will happen next week, said Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman.
During the war in defiance of international law, referendums were held in occupied territory. People who voted in the war were sometimes put at risk, as much of the population fled fighting since February.
The Donbas is a region where Mr. Putin wants to cement Russia’s hold over and which hawks in Russia dislike because they feel Russian forces aren’t doing enough to stop Ukrainian forces.
The war has made Russians feel like they are back in the 18th century, as a result of Mr. Putin’s order to send more troops to bolster his forces. Men who were drafted were ineligible due to factors like age or disability.
Hundreds of thousands of citizens are fleeing partial Mobilization, and with even his allies expressing concern Putin has taken to making strange speeches offering his distorted view of history.
“The people made their choice,” said Putin in a signing ceremony at the Kremlin’s St. George hall. “And that choice won’t be betrayed” by Russia, he said.
The Russian leader insisted that the status of annexed territories wasn’t on the table for discussion, even though he called on Ukrainian to end hostilities and hold negotiations with Moscow.
There are banners saying “Russia and the Newly Integrated Territories are Together forever” outside of the Kremlin, in preparation for a concert and rally.
Sept. 27: Russia claimed that staged referendums in four occupied regions of Ukraine showed the people chose to join the Russian Federation. The process was a violation of international law, said leaders of the United Nations.
A year ago, the Russian leader called for formalRecognition of the two pro-Russian republics of eastern Ukraine, and for the international diplomatic efforts to find a solution to the conflict in the Donbas.
Putin, however, framed the decision as a historical justice following the breakup of the Soviet Union that had left Russian speakers separated from their homeland — and the West dictating world affairs according to its own rules.
Western officials have pointed to the timing as evidence of Kremlin desperation to solidify Russian gains before their lines collapse further. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of seeking to mobilize Ukrainians in annexed areas for the military campaign as well.
Formal ratification of the territories into the Russian Federation will now move to Russia’s parliament and constitutional court — whose approval is widely seen as a foregone conclusion.
The Russian government’s annexation of the country has evolved as it works to deploy a larger contingent of soldiers to bolster its military campaign while the Ukrainians have taken back some of their territory.
Meanwhile, Russian officials have openly warned that the newly incorporated territories would be entitled to protections under Russia’s nuclear umbrella.
After Russia first invaded in 2014, the U.S. military stepped up training for the Ukrainian military in western Ukraine. U.S. trainers continued working in Ukraine right up until the full-scale Russian invasion a year ago.
According to a poll by the independent Razumkov Centre, a majority of Ukrainians said they believe Ukraine is “heading in the right direction” in light of the war. Even though both the European Union and the NATO bloc had reservations about granting Ukrainian membership prior to the war, domestic support for joining NATO was overwhelming.
Oct. 2: Leaders of nine European countries made a joint statement in support of Ukraine joining NATO. Pope Francis pleaded with Putin to end the war.
You can read past recaps here. More of NPR’s coverage can be found here. Also, listen and subscribe to NPR’s State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day.
American officials say there is little chance of a widespread collapse in Russian forces that would allow Ukraine to take another huge swath of territory, similar to what it claimed last month. With sustained Ukrainian pressure, individual Russian units could break in and allow the city of Kherson to be seized by the Ukrainian army.
The Cold Cold Cold War: Vladimir Putin in Ukraine and the consequences for the US–Russian embassy stance on the war in Afghanistan
Editor’s Note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a vice president at New America, and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. Bergen is the author of a book. The views he expresses in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had a plan to seize Ukraine quickly. The Russian invasion had no effect on those plans because of their failure to capture Kyiv.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Putin lost Lyman just as he was publicly declaring that the Donetsk region – in which Lyman sits – was now annexed by Russia.
At home, Putin is also facing growing criticism from Russians on both the left and the right, who are taking considerable risks given the draconian penalties they can face for speaking out against his “special military operation” in Ukraine.
(Indeed, his revisionist account defines his rationale for the war in Ukraine, which he asserts has historically always been part of Russia – even though Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.)
When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, they planned to install a puppet government and get out of the country as soon as it was feasible, as explained in a recent, authoritative book about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, “Afghan Crucible” by historian Elisabeth Leake.
During the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, the US was initially reluctant to escalate its support for the Afghan resistance, fearing a wider conflict with the Soviet Union. It took until 1986 for the CIA to arm the Afghans with highly effective anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, which ended the Soviets’ total air superiority, eventually forcing them to withdraw from Afghanistan three years later.
American weapons will play an important role in the future on the battlefield. At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the US was also initially leery of deeper involvement, fearing a wider conflict with the Russians.
The incoming missiles were shot down by Ukrainian air defense systems provided by NATO Allies, he said.
Putin’s legacy in the era of the Russo-Japanese War and his role in Russia’s recovery from the Soviet Union
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was caused by the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, which was two years earlier.
Looking further back into the history books, he must also know that the Russian loss in the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 weakened the Romanov monarchy. Czar Nicholas II was responsible for sparking the Russian Revolution in 1917 after the First World War. Subsequently, much of the Romanov family was killed by a Bolshevik firing squad.
The war gave the world a lot of surprises. Russia’s army turned out to be much less competent than anyone expected; Putin was not quite the genius many believed.
Putin is an example of how the delusions and illusions of one individual can be allowed to shape events without any challenge. Autocrats who put their cronies into key positions, control the media to crowd out discordant voices … are able to command their subordinates to follow the most foolish orders.”
The economic damage has already ended Putin’s reputation for providing stability that was once a basis for his support among Russians in the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR.
The Attack of Sunday’s High-Energy Russian Bridge on Kiev’s City of Zaporizhzhia as an Act of Terrorism
There is a global affairs analyst named Michael Bociurkiw. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a regular contributor to CNN. His opinions are his own in this commentary. CNN has more opinion.
In some ways, Monday’s attacks were unsurprising, since Russian President Putin called Sunday’s attack of the bridge an act of terrorism.
The significance of the strikes on central Kyiv, and close to the government quarter, cannot be overstated. Western governments should see it as a red line being crossed on this 229th day of the war.
As of midday, the area around my office in Odesa was quiet between air raid sirens, although there were reports of missiles and drones being shot down. (Normally at this time of the day, nearby restaurants would be heaving with customers, and chatter of plans for upcoming weddings and parties).
The city of Zaporizhzhia was hit by at least one strike on apartment buildings just a few hours later. At least 17 people were killed and several dozens injured.
The assault damaged civilian infrastructure in cities all across Ukraine, killing multiple people and knocking out power in pockets of the country. Giles said that they were an indication of the nature of the threat from Russia. “For many months now, the Russian objective has been to destroy Ukraine rather than possess it.”
In scenes reminiscent of the early days of the war, some Kyiv media outlets temporarily moved their operations to underground bomb shelters. A small group of people sing and cover the platforms in a metro station that is a shelter.
There will be millions of people spending most of the day in bomb shelters in Ukraine, and businesses have been told to relocate work online as much as possible.
The attacks could cause another blow to business confidence, as many asylum seekers return home, despite the fact that many regions ofUkraine are restarting.
It was a day of high drama in a war that’s still playing out. But as an historian, Viatrovych also sees the actions of President Vladimir Putin as part of a pattern of behavior by Russian leaders.
dictators seem to think of hardwiring newly claimed territory with expensive infrastructure projects. Putin personally opened the highest bridge in Europe in 2018, driving a truck across it. That same year, one of the first things Chinese President Xi Jinping did after Beijing reclaimed Macau and Hong Kong was to connect the former Portuguese and British territories with the world’s longest sea crossing bridge. The $20 billion, 34-mile road bridge opened after about two years of delays.
Cold War and the Cold War: Putin’s Fate, his Oscillations, His Death, and the Misfortune of Crimea
The hilarious meme that lit up social media channels was a reaction to the explosion. Many text people their jubilation.
For Putin, consumed by pride and self-interest, sitting still was never an option. He responded by unleashing more death and destruction, with the force that most likely came from a former KGB spy.
It was also an act of selfish desperation: facing increasing criticism at home, including on state-controlled television, has placed Putin on unusually thin ice.
Earlier in the week, the leader of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told a local newspaper that he expects Ukrainian forces to move into Crimea by the summer.
What is crucially important now is for Washington and other allies to use urgent telephone diplomacy to urge China and India – which presumably still have some leverage over Putin – to resist the urge to use even more deadly weapons.
It is important to have high tech defense systems to protect the energy infrastructure in the country. With winter just around the corner, the need to protect heating systems is urgent.
The time has also come for the West to further isolate Russia with trade and travel restrictions – but for that to have sufficient impact, Turkey and Gulf states, which receive many Russian tourists, need to be pressured to come on board.
Putin will be allowed to continue his violence, as well as add to the humanitarian crisis that will spread throughout Europe if these measures are not taken. A weak reaction can be a sign that the Kremlin is weaponizing energy, migration and food.
On Monday, state television not only reported on the suffering, but also flaunted it. There was a long-range forecast promising months of freezing temperatures in the area along with empty store shelves.
The wide bombardment echoed the early days of Russia’s scattershot initial invasion in February, but also underlined that the conflict in Ukraine, which for months appeared to be descending into a slow and painful grind in the Donbas, has erupted once again as winter nears.
Not for the first time, the war is teetering towards an unpredictable new phase. Keir Giles is a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme and he said that this war is the third, fourth or fifth one they have observed.
The sight of half-ruined Ukraine is worse for the outside world than the idea of a defeated Russia. Just a year ago, Ukraine called on the world to find courage, this time they are doing it again.
Oleksii Hromov, a military official of the Ukrainian army, said last week that his forces had regained some 120 settlements in the Kharkiv, DONETSK and Kherson regions. The Ukrainian government said on Wednesday that it had liberated five settlements in Kherson.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Friday that remaining troops have been transferred out of Kherson to the east bank of the Dnipro River early Friday with “not a single piece of military equipment or weapons” left on the other side.
These counter-offensives have shifted the momentum of the war and disproved a suggestion, built up in the West and in Russia during the summer, that while Ukraine could stoutly defend territory, it lacked the ability to seize ground.
The Russians are playing for time, hoping to avoid a collapse in their frontline before the winter sets in, according to a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
This has been a flop for the Russians, so they will be ecstatic if they get to Christmas with the frontline looking as it is.
Landing a major blow in Donbas would send another powerful signal, and Ukraine will be eager to improve on its gains before temperatures plummet on the battlefield, and the full impact of rising energy prices is felt around Europe.
There are so many reasons for the Ukrainian government to do things quickly. The winter energy crisis in Europe and the lack of power inUkraine are always going to be a test of resilience for the country and its Western backers.
Ukraine’s national electricity company, Ukrenergo, says it is able to provide a stable power supply to the central and eastern parts of the country after Russian missile attacks on Monday and Tuesday. But Ukrainian Prime Minister has warned that “there is a lot of work to do” to fix damaged equipment, and asked Ukrainians to reduce their energy usage during peak hours.
Experts believe it remains unlikely that Russia’s aerial bombardment will form a recurrent pattern; while estimating the military reserves of either army is a murky endeavor, Western assessments suggest Moscow may not have the capacity to keep it up.
“We know – and Russian commanders on the ground know – that their supplies and munitions are running out,” Jeremy Fleming, a UK’s spy chief, said in a rare speech on Tuesday.
Russia may not have enough precision weapons to disrupt the ongoing counter-offensives by Ukrainians, according to the I SW.
The success rates against Russian cruise missiles have risen significantly since the start of the invasion in February, according to an expert with the Royal United Services Institute.
The barrage of missile strikes will be used for shows of extreme outrage because the Russians don’t have the stock to sustain such a high-tempo strike into the future.
Moscow feels the fire of war on its own land: Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ilyashenko tells RIA Novosti and TASS
Russia was able to launch its invasion of Ukraine through the help of neighboring Belarus, a country that border’s the north of Kyiv.
“The reopening of a northern front would be another new challenge for Ukraine,” Giles said. He said it would provide a new route into the Kharkiv oblast, which has been reclaimed by Ukraine, if Putin prioritised an effort to grab that territory.
In the southern city of Kherson, Ukrainian forces are working hard to provide basic needs for residents after Russia’s retreat. The President of Ukraine hailed the beginning of the end of the war when he visited the city on Monday. Both sides are getting ready for their next moves as they move along shifted front lines.
Ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Paris, NATO Secretary General Jens Sprottenberg said that more system should be installed to better halt missile attacks.
Ukraine “badly needed” modern systems such as the IRIS-T that arrived this week from Germany and the NASAMS expected from the United States , Bronk said.
Russia felt the fire of war on its own land on Sunday as bombs exploded in the Russian border region and the offices of Russia’s government in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, severely damaging them.
According to the RIA Novosti and TASS news agency, the Russian Defense Ministry characterized the shootings as a terrorist attack. It said the two gunmen were from a former Soviet nation and had fired on the soldiers during target practice at a firing range.
The War on Crimea: The Rise of the Russian Empire in the Cold Cold War and the Implications for the Budget of the United States
NATO will hold nuclear deterrence exercises starting Monday. NATO has urged Russia not to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine because of the “Steadfast Noon” drills.
Russian agents detained eight people on Oct. 12 suspected of carrying out a large explosion on a bridge to Crimea, including Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian citizens.
Russia was condemned by the General Assembly for annexing four regions of Ukraine. In the Oct. 13 session, four countries voted alongside Russia, but 143 voted in favor of Ukraine’s resolution, while 35 abstained.
Many people think the war can end with a victory for the Ukrainians. I hope so, but I doubt it. Russia’s GDP was 15 times bigger in 2021 than in the previous year, its population was 10 times bigger, and it spent 10 times more on defense. Russians have been known to have a high capacity for pain. (The Soviet Union lost 24 million people in World War II compared to America’s 420,000.) And while Russia’s economy is in slow decline, Ukraine’s has fallen off a cliff. GDP contracted by about 30% in 2022, and the government is spending more than double what it takes in (thanks to Western aid).
Sasha Dovzhyk is a special projects curator at the Ukrainian Institute London and associate lecturer in Ukrainian at the School of Slavonic and East-European Studies, University College London. A translator and producer, she splits her time between London and Ukraine, where she works for foreign journalists.
The money that Congress has given will be used to help Ukraine over the next few months. But at some point later this year, President Biden is certain to seek more money for Ukraine, and we’ll see how the Republicans in the House respond.
U.S.-Borzegov-Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Sweden, Ukraine, and Security Council and General Assembly Sessions on Ukraine
Also Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Before it can join NATO, Sweden must meet certain conditions.
Also on Wednesday, the U.N. General Assembly holds a special session on Ukraine. Russia requested that the Security Council discuss the Nord Stream line. The parliament of Russia will hold extraordinary meetings.
Russia rejoined a U.N.-brokered deal to safely export grain and other agricultural goods from Ukraine, on Nov. 2. Russia had suspended its participation in the deal a few days before after it was announced that Ukraine had attacked its ships in the Black Sea.
The U.S. Congress approved four separate spending bills for Ukraine in the past year totaling $112 billion. More than half has been for military help. The rest is funding the Ukrainian government (this helps pay the salaries of Ukrainian government workers) and humanitarian aid to help the millions of Ukrainians who have been driven from their homes.
Iran admitted for the first time it had given some drones to Russia, but denied it was continuing to supply them. Zelenskyy said that Iran was lying, because the Ukrainians shoot down at least 10 Iranian drones a day.
The Russian Embassy in Kherson, the Lone Bridge across the Dnipro River, declared by the Ukrainian Defense Minister: “I Want to Live”
The agency told Russian soldiers who were abandoned by their military leadership to surrender, and offered to protect their rights under the “I Want to Live” program.
“Your commanders ordered you to dress in civilian clothes and try to flee Kherson independently. Obviously, you won’t succeed,” the Ukrainian statement said.
The Ukrainian flag was on top of the Kherson city administration building and police headquarters, as well as jubilant locals in nearby villages who celebrated liberation, since early Friday morning. Russian billboards that read “Russia is Here forever” were torn down by Ukrainians.
The announced Russian withdrawal came amid reports that the area’s lone bridge across the Dnipro had been destroyed. Videos shared online appeared to show a large section of the bridge sheared off completely. Russian and Ukrainian officials were at odds about who was to blame.
In what appeared to be carefully staged remarks, Surovikin called the decision to withdraw to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River “difficult,” but one that would allow Russia to save the lives of military personnel and preserve Russia’s combat capability.
The Ukrainian government had previously voiced concerns that a pullout of Russian troops from Kherson could be a Kremlin ploy to lure the Ukrainian forces into the city.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Reuters in an interview on Thursday he believed it would take “as a minimum, one week” for Russian forces to leave the city and that Moscow still has some 40,000 troops in the region.
Despite abandoning Kherson to Ukrainian forces, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted Russia still maintains a legal hold over the territory. “Here there can be no changes,” Peskov said.
What is going on in Indonesia: The Russia-Ukraine War, the U.S. Climate Conference, and the European Parliament’s Dignity
The G-20 summit continues in Indonesia, where the Russia-Ukraine war and its global economic fallout loom large. President Biden had a conversation with Chinese leader, the topics were Ukraine, and other issues. Biden is going to meet the British Prime Minister.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield visited Kyiv, Nov. 8, to talk about world hunger and press for renewal of the grain deal, due to expire Nov. 19. That followed a Ukraine trip the week before by the top U.S. diplomat on European and Eurasian affairs, Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried.
American basketball star Brittney Griner was moved to a Russian penal colony to begin serving out her nine-year sentence on drug smuggling charges Nov. 9.
The war in Ukraine was a serious issue at the U.N. climate conference. Ukraine used the COP27 summit to talk about how the war has caused “ecocide,” while experts pointed out the war is driving a new push for fossil fuels.
Ukrainian authorities have been stepping up raids on churches accused of links with Moscow, and many are watching to see if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store for a working dinner Monday in Paris.
Also in France, on Tuesday, the country is set to co-host a conference with Ukraine in support of Ukrainians through the winter, with a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A Russian Missile Blast into the Kyiv House of Teachers: Volodymyr Viatrovych in the City of Melitopol
The US built a coalition to leverage the oil market against Russia’s energy sector. Earlier this month, the G7 imposed a $100 price cap on crude oil, but that’s largely symbolic, with the current market hovering around $76. Russia has a $44 per barrel price cap on its production, meaning there’s still plenty of profit to be had in the country even with the market rate and price cap where it is.
There were targets hit in the city of Melitopol, including a church which is thought to be used as a Russian military base. Officials said Ukrainian forces used long-range artillery to reach targets in the city in southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.
Russian forces turned the city of Bakhmut into burned ruins, Zelenskyy said. Russia is attempting to take over the city in the eastern Donbas region.
The leaders of France and Turkey, as well as President Zelenskyy, had a phone call with President Biden on Dec. 11 in an effort to increase communication over the Russian invasion.
“The Russian empire started to expand with Ukraine. In the mind of many Russians, their empire cannot exist without Ukraine. The reason they keep coming back is because of that, according to Volodymyr Viatrovych, a member of Ukraine’s parliament.
He lives near the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which the Russians pulverized in the first days of the war. When the Russians invadedUkraine, Viatrovych’s wife and son went to western Ukraine for safety.
He then drove to Kyiv for an emergency session of parliament, which declared martial law. By 2 p.m. that day, he received a rifle so he could join the security forces defending the capital.
Ukraine first declared independence from Russia in 1918, doing so in an elegant, whitewashed building in the center of Kyiv that still stands and now serves as the offices for the Kyiv House of Teachers.
There was a reminder of that history two months ago. That’s when a Russian missile slammed into the street outside the Kyiv House of Teachers.
The blast blew out the windows, as well as parts of the glass ceiling in the hall where independence was declared in 1918. The windows are boarded up. There are shards of glass on the floor.
Steshuk Oleh, the director of the House of Teachers, pointed to parallels to a century ago. “This building was also damaged in the fighting back then. And now it’s damaged again. Don’t worry. We will rebuild everything.”
Ukraine’s victory in a war against Nazi Germany is the only guarantor of its territorial integrity, and Putin is fighting to free it self from Russia
From the very beginning of the war, President Putin has drawn parallels between the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and the current military campaign against supposed “neo-Nazis” in Ukraine. It hasn’t let up because it’s a powerful emotional and recruitment tool. The Soviets fought Hitler’s armies, losing 20 million of their own. In other words, the war affected nearly every family here.
He said that if you looked at the hardship that Ukraine experienced in the 20th century, it was time for all the wrongs of the last hundred years to be fixed.
Ukrainians thought this matter was finally resolved in December 1991, when they held a referendum on independence. 98% of people voted to go their own way. The Soviet Union collapsed later that month.
“I have said it before, but I want to say it again: Russia can be the only real guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” Putin said earlier this month.
Because “if he’s losing a war, especially a war of his own making, he doesn’t survive,” he said. “The outcome may signal the end, not just of Putin’s era, but the era of the empire. It’s 21st century. It’s time for empires to go.”
Kasparov was still living in Russia 15 years ago when he entered politics and challenged Putin’s hold on power. When it became clear his safety was at risk, he left Russia, and now lives in New York.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/16/1142176312/ukraine-ongoing-fight-to-free-itself-from-russia
“What will we learn from the end of the Cold War” – Valeriy Chaly, a former Ukrainian ambassador to the US, stated by Arakev
The war will not produce a clear resolution, according to many military analysts. They say that it will require negotiations and compromises.
Ukrainians do not attack foreign territory and do not kill civilians. As RF [Russian Federation] does … Second. RF must leave the occupied territories – only then will it have a ‘temporary truce’. Podolyak said to keep hypocrisy to yourself.
The region would become more stable if Ukrainians join NATO, says Valeriy Chaly, the former ambassador to the US. This is what Ukraine’s government wants, though joining the alliance is highly unlikely in the near term.
He said that being a buffer zone or gray zone was not good from a political point of view. Everybody wants to make a step if you are a gray zone between two security blocs. This has happened with Ukraine.”
“I believe our generation has an opportunity to put an end to this. He said Ukrainians are more prepared to fight than they were in 1918.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak meets with the EU force in Ukraine and a nuclear power plant expert report on the IAEA sanctions on natural gas prices
A European Union cap on natural gas prices is expected to be announced, the latest measure to tackle an energy crisis that was caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes his first appearance as prime minister before the Commons Liaison Committee, where the Ukraine war and other global issues are discussed. The meeting between Sunak and the members of the U.K. led European military force took place on Monday in Latvia.
Russian news reports say President Putin and his Chinese counterpart will talk over the internet this month.
The Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations are taking place for the first time since the Kremlin launched a full-on invasion of Ukraine in February.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Dec. 13 it made an agreement with Ukraine’s government to send nuclear safety and security experts to each of the country’s nuclear power plants.
An American was freed from Russian-controlled territory as part of a 65-person prisoner exchange. Suedi told ABC News he was tortured and imprisoned for months in eastern Ukranian.
Vladimir Putin uses the word war fighting to combat the Ukraine conflict: a comment on the Kremlin and a trip by Zelensky
When Democrats were in control of the Senate and the House, these measures were approved. Some Republicans are saying the U.S. should stop funding Ukraine. At this point, they are relatively small. Democrats in Congress overwhelmingly support aid for Ukraine, and most Republicans do as well.
Putin’s critics say that using the word “war” to describe the Ukraine conflict has effectively been illegal in Russia since March, when the Russian leader signed a censorship law that makes it a crime to disseminate “fake” information about the invasion, with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison for anyone convicted.
“Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war,” Putin told reporters in Moscow, after attending a State Council meeting on youth policy. “We have been and will continue to strive for this.”
Nikita Yuferev, a municipal lawmaker from St. Petersburg who fled Russia due to his antiwar stance, on Thursday said he had asked Russian authorities to prosecute Putin for “spreading fake information about the army.”
“There was no decree to end the special military operation, no war was declared,” Yuferev wrote on Twitter. “Several thousand people have already been condemned for such words about the war.”
The US official told CNN that Putin likely made a slip of the tongue, and that their initial assessment was that it wasn’t intentional. The officials will be paying close attention to what the Kremlin says about it in the coming days.
Putin’s comments Thursday followed a historic trip by Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington, where the Ukrainian president gave an impassioned speech to Congress appealing for greater US support for the war effort.
Putin accused Zelensky of refusing to negotiate, saying that all armed conflicts end with some kind of negotiations.
He said that the Ukrainian leadership refused to conduct negotiations and that sooner or later anyone fighting the conflict will sit down and negotiate.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/22/europe/putin-uses-word-war-fighting-ukraine-russia-intl-hnk/index.html
Multiple Air Raids in Kyiv, Ukraine, after the Last Day of the Full-Scale Invasion: Putin and Shoigu
The Kremlin would make a lot of investment in the military, according to Putin and Shoigu. The initiatives include increasing the size of the armed forces, accelerating weapons programs and deploying a new generation of hypersonic missiles to prepare Russia for what Putin called “inevitable clashes” with its adversaries.
The sounds of at least 10 loud explosions echoed through the center of Ukraine’s capital on Saturday afternoon. Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko reported that major blasts caused “ruins” in four of the city’s neighborhoods. He added that at least one person died, and several more have been hospitalized.
“Russian terrorists have been saving one of the most massive missile attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion for the last days of the year,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Twitter Thursday. “They dream that Ukrainians will celebrate the New Year in darkness and cold. They are not able to defeat the Ukrainian people.
Since there hasn’t been a major attack on the city in a few weeks, people are often left assessing the level of risk when air-raid sirens are activated.
Hryn went into the elevator with his neighbors to get to the cinema for the new movie after the sirens gave the all clear. People continued with holiday plans even though the parents of their children went to school.
Forty percent of Kyiv residents were without power, mayor Vitali Klitschko said, adding that this was due to security measures taken by power engineers during the air raid alarm and that they were now working to resume services. “The city is supplying heat and water in normal mode,” Klitschko said on the messaging app Telegram.
At least three people, including a fourteen-year-old, were injured and two were pulled from a damaged home on Thursday, Ibraheim stated earlier. Homes, an industrial facility and a playground in the capital were damaged in attacks on Kyiv, according to the city military administration.
Senseless barbarism is what it is. There could be no hiding from the fact that there was no neutral in sight as Moscow prepared to launch a fresh wave of attacks on Ukrainian cities.
At the time, Putin insisted his forces were embarking on a “special military operation” — a term suggesting a limited campaign that would be over in a matter of weeks.
The War against Ukraine Has Left Russia Isolated and Struturing with More Tumult Ahedrally Ashedrally as It Was Before the War
Yet the war has also fundamentally upended Russian life — rupturing a post-Soviet period in which the country pursued, if not always democratic reforms, then at least financial integration and dialogue with the West.
There has been a ban on criticism of the military or leadership since February. Nearly 20,000 people have been detained for demonstrating against the war — 45% of them women — according to a leading independent monitoring group.
Lengthy prison sentences have been meted out to high profile opposition voices on charges of “discrediting” the Russian army by questioning its conduct or strategy.
The repressions extend elsewhere: organizations and individuals are added weekly to a growing list of “foreign agents” and “non-desirable” organizations intended to damage their reputation among the Russian public.
The rights group was forced to stop their activities because of alleged violations of foreign agents law.
The state has expanded Russia’s anti-gay laws, which they argue are a symptom of a larger attack on traditional values.
Repressions will still be targeted for now. Some of the new laws are still unenforced. The measures are intended to crush dissent if the moment arises.
When the new “fake news” laws criminalized it, a number of prominent independent media outlets and vibrant, online investigative startups relocated or shut down.
internet users are also subject to restrictions American social media giants were banned in March. Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 100,000 websites have been blocked by the Kremlin’s internet regulators.
Access to independent sources of information remains available with technical workarounds such as VPNs and Telegram. But state media propaganda now blankets the airwaves favored by older Russians, with angry TV talk shows spreading conspiracies.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/31/1145981036/war-against-ukraine-has-left-russia-isolated-and-struggling-with-more-tumult-ahe
War against Ukraine Has Left Russia Isolated and Struturing with More Tortuttle Ahelvy: Analysis of the Russian Exodus
Many perceived government opponents left in the early days of the war because they feared for their safety.
Yet Putin’s order to mobilize 300,000 additional troops in September prompted the largest outflow: Hundreds of thousands of Russian men fled to border states including Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Georgia in an attempt to avoid the draft.
Putin argued it was good riddance, part of a “self-cleansing” of Russian society from traitors and spies. Russian officials have suggested that citizens who left the country be stripped of their passports. Yet there are questions whether Russia can thrive without many of its best and brightest.
Meanwhile, some countries that have absorbed the Russian exodus predict their economies will grow, even as the swelling presence of Russians remains a sensitive issue to former Soviet republics in particular.
The ruble regained value thanks to Russian price controls. McDonald’s and several other brands ultimately relaunched under new names and Russian ownership. The government reported by the end of the year that there had been a 2.5% decline in the economy.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/31/1145981036/war-against-ukraine-has-left-russia-isolated-and-struggling-with-more-tumult-ahe
Putin’s military campaign in Ukraine and what the Kremlin’s bad news can tell us about the state of affairs in the Cold War
President Putin believes that the Europeans will blink first when it comes to sanctions since they’re angry over soaring energy costs at home. He said there would be a five-month ban on oil exports to countries that abide by the price cap.
When it comes to Russia’s military campaign, there’s no outward change in the government’s tone. Russia’s Defense Ministry provides daily briefings recounting endless successes on the ground. Putin, too, repeatedly assures that everything is “going according to plan.”
Yet the sheer length of the war — with no immediate Russian victory in sight — suggests Russia vastly underestimated Ukrainians’ willingness to resist.
The number of Russian men that have lost their lives is officially around 6,000, although it is a very difficult subject to broach at home. Western estimates are much higher.
Indeed, Russia’s invasion has — thus far — backfired in its primary aims: NATO looks set to expand towards Russia’s borders, with the addition of long-neutral states Finland and Sweden.
The allies in Central Asia criticized Russia out of concern for their own sovereignty, a blatant insult that would never have been considered by the Soviets. China and India have bought discounted Russian oil, but have stopped giving full support to Russia’s military campaign.
After multiple delays and cancellation, the Kremlin finally gave up on last year’s address after a trickle of bad news from the battlefield in Ukraine.
The big press conference, which allows the Russian leader to handle questions from the majority of the media, was tabled until 2023.
The Kremlin has given no reason for the delays. Many suspect it might be that, after 10 months of war and no sign of victory in sight, the Russian leader has finally run out of good news to share.
Valery Zaluzhny, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the History of Crime in Ukraine
The commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, said his air defenses successfully intercepted a total of 12 incoming attacks, six of which were in Kyiv. There was not known the total number of attacks.
Several emergency services were dispatched to the city. Several videos show injuries, including severed limbs and bloodied faces, on a single residential street.
The commander of Russian forces in the center of Europe was honoured with a military honor called the Order of Saint George by the Russian leader.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also announced the return of 82 Russian prisoners of war following what it said were negotiations with “territories under the control of the Kyiv regime.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told a crowd on New Years Eve that he was afraid of the invasion of Russia, but was hopeful that his country would win.
Standing in darkness with a Ukrainian flag rippling gently in the breeze behind him, Mr. Zelensky recounted in a videotaped speech many notable moments from the war — including the attack on a maternity hospital, the intense fighting at the Azovstal steel plant, the destruction of a Russian bridge to Crimea, the retaking of Kherson, the sinking of a Russian flagship — as the video cut to footage that underscored his words.
“This year has struck our hearts,” he said, according to a translated transcript posted on his official website. We have cried out all the tears. Prayers have been said. There are 311 days. Every minute, we have something to say.
Zelensky, Putin, Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church: How a Cold War has Awakened in Ukraine, and How to Unite the World
By March, my initial shock and fear of the war turned into a desire to act through sports. Athletes could fight Russian propaganda the best way they know how. The truth about the war and Ukrainians was told to us. How we have united to defend our country.
The world has rallied around Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky said, from the main squares of foreign cities and their halls of government to the top of Google’s search results.
The defense minister was ordered to implement a temporary truce in the country on Thursday. The president’s order came after Kirill called for a ceasefire between January 6 and January 7 to observe Orthodox Christmas.
Zelensky said that Russia was trying to use Christmas as a cover to halt Ukrainian advances in the east of the country.
Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration, told Ukrainian television that they just want to get some respite from fighting for a day or two.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak responded to Putin’s move on Twitter by saying that Russia must leave “occupied territories” in Ukraine before any “temporary truce.”
US President Joe Biden expressed skepticism on Thursday, telling reporters that he was “reluctant to respond anything Putin says. I found it interesting. He was preparing to blow up hospitals and churches during the New Year.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price described it as “cynical” and that the US had “little faith in the intentions behind” Russia’s proposed ceasefire.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday also warned that the promise of a ceasefire would not bring “either freedom or security” to the people living under Moscow’s brutal war.
“If Putin wanted peace, he would take his soldiers home, and the war would be over. But apparently, he wants to continue the war after a short break,” she said in a tweet.
Kirill has been a vocal supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and gave a sermon in September in which he said that “military duty washes away all sins.”
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill of Moscow, responded to the response by cutting ties with the spiritual leader of the Constantinople. The emergence of a church independent of Moscow has infuriated Putin, who has made restoration of the so-called “Russian world” a centerpiece of his foreign policy and has dismissed Ukrainian national identity as illegitimate.
Russian attacks on January 7, 2014, and their consequences for the image of Russia: an Orthodox Christian woman in Kherson and the Orthodox community in Ukraine
The Gregorian calendar says Christmas is celebrated on December 25 in the Western world. Orthodox Christians mark the festival of January 7 instead of January 6 because they follow a different calendar.
In recent years a large part of the Orthodox community in Ukraine has moved away from Moscow, a movement accelerated by the conflict Russia stoked in eastern Ukraine beginning in 2014.
In the southern region of Kherson, Pavlo Skotarenko doesn’t expect much to change. “They shell us every day, people die in Kherson every day. And this temporary measure won’t change anything,” he said.
A Ukrainian soldier told CNN that the temporary ceasefire announcement seemed like an effort to clean up Russia’s image.
“I do not think that this is done for some military tactical purpose, one day will not solve much,” the Ukrainian soldier, who goes by the call sign Archer, told CNN by phone.
“Perhaps this is done to make the image of the whole of Russia a little more human, because so many atrocities are constantly emerging, and this could earn them few points of support from the people,” the soldier said.
In the capital city of Ukraine, where Russian attacks on New Year soured even the most modest celebrations, Halyna Hladka thought that the temporary ceasefire was an attempt by Russians to win time.
Russia has shown its faith in a lot of things. And besides, in almost a year of war, Russia has not behaved itself as a country capable of adhering to promises,” she said.
Kiev ceasefire probed with artillery fire: a surprise Europe tour for the Ukrainian President and a pledge to send fighter jets to Ukraine
Around 200 and 300 million people are estimated to be Orthodox Christians. Majority-Orthodox countries include Russia, Ukraine and Greece, whose churches are part of the Eastern Orthodox branch, which is also followed by the majority of Christians in the Middle East. Most of the Orthodox communities in Egypt and Ethiopia are part of the Oriental Orthodox branch.
Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 decided to standardize Christian holidays with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, which put the birth of Jesus Christ as December 25. The Orthodox Church split into its own branch of Christianity during the Great Schism of 1054, following years of increasing tensions over religious and political differences.
On Friday, the conflict in Ukraine continued after the proposed start time of the ceasefire at noon Moscow time (4 a.m. ET), as CNN teams observed incoming and outgoing artillery fire around Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian President went on a surprise Europe tour, meeting leaders in London, Paris and Brussels to reiterate his call for fighter jets to be sent to their country.
The world marked one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. In the lead-up, President Biden made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and later to Poland.
The international team investigating the downing of the Malaysian Airlines flight in 2014) said that there is strong indication that Putin gave the go-ahead to give anti-aircraft weapons to the rebels.
“We are peaceful people. Lukashenko, who has a close friendship with Putin, said at a press conference that he doesn’t want war.
CNN Observations of the Second Ukrainian-Brussian War on the Balkans: The First Day of Russian-Invasion of Ukraine
The CNN team were 100 meters (328 feet) away from the Ukrainian side, where they saw the Belarusian government’s fortification of the border area with barbed wire in a carefully orchestrated and tightly controlled press tour.
The Ukrainian side of the border crossing in Dyvin has closed and the crossing from the other side is still functioning according to officials from the two countries.
At the border crossing, there was a Ukrainian flag on the other side and a red and white flag associated with the opposition in the country.
Russian troops began their invasion of Ukraine on February 24, crossing into the country from Belarus after months of amassing along the border. The first days of the assault saw a number of missile attacks on targets in Ukraine, launched from Belarusian airspace. The two countries have been holding military drills near the border.
February 23, 2022 is the evening. The boss of a news site relaxes with a bath and candles. A woman goes to bed and plans to celebrate her husband’s birthday in the morning. In Moscow, a journalist happens to postpone his travel plans to Kyiv.
Within hours, their lives are dramatically and radically transformed. On the next day, Russian President Putin launches his invasion of Ukraine.
In the space of a year, the war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions more. It has unleashed unfathomable atrocities, decimated cities, driven a global food and energy crisis and tested the resolve of western alliances.
The First Day of the War: Russia’s First War against Ukraine, and Everyday Is Yours to Thrive. A Memory from the Day of February 23, 2022
February 23, 2022. I went to bed thinking that I would celebrate my husband’s birthday the next day. Our life was going better. My husband was running his own business. Our daughter had started school and made friends there. We were lucky to have arranged support services and found a special needs nursery for our son. I finally had time to work. I felt happy.
We’re trying to live here in the present. We are broken, but the truth is. Our hearts have stayed in Ukraine even though we are in Prague.
The Czech Republic provided opportunities for Ukrainians and my husband got a job. I found special needs classes for my son. He is part of an adaptation group for Ukrainian children. My daughter studies in the Ukranian school and in a Czech school.
A journalist and former editor in chief, Mikhail Zygar is also the editor in chief of an independent TV news channel. He is the author of “All the Kremlin’s Men: There is an upcoming book “War and Punishment”. Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.”
That morning we woke up to learn that the invasion started. The open letter I wrote was co-signed by a number of Russian cultural figures. More than 100000 Russian citizens added their signatures soon after it was published.
We left Russia on the third day. I thought it was a moral obligation. I could no longer stay on the territory of the state that has become a fascist one.
We moved to Berlin. My husband was volunteering at the refugee camp next to the railway station, where hundreds of Ukrainians would arrive every day. And I started writing a new book. It starts like this:
This book is a confession. I am guilty for not reading the signs much earlier. I too am responsible for Russia’s war against Ukraine. As are my contemporaries and our forebears. Regrettably, Russian culture is also to blame for making all these horrors possible.”
This year has been a really difficult one for everyone. I read the news about people close to me killed by Russians – a teammate, the director of a sports school, or a friend’s parents.
And besides the obvious battles, there was another one to fight – trying to claim my life back. The life Russia took from me and millions of other Ukrainians.
Time and again since the Russian invasion started, I’m haunted by the darkness in my father’s eyes during the re-telling of chilling dinnertime stories of relatives shipped off to the Soviet gulag, never to return. Stories of millions of Ukrainians who starved to death in Stalin’s manmade famine of 1932-33.
A year into the full-scale invasion, my passport is a novel in stamps. My life is split between London, where I teach Ukrainian literature, and Ukraine, where I get my lessons in courage.
My former classmates from Zaporizhzhia have volunteered to fight addictions which I had expected to die from when I was a teenager. My hairdresser, whom I expected to remain a sweet summer child, turned out to have fled on foot from the Russia-occupied town of Bucha through the forest with her mother, grandmother and five dogs.
My capital, which the Kremlin and the West expected to fall in three days, has withstood 12 months of Russia’s terrorist bombings and energy blackouts. These dark winter nights, one sees so many stars over Kyiv which the Russians have only managed to bring closer to eternity.
It seems that since February 2022 we have experienced several eras. Putin, after a long time of stagnant ratings, received over 80% approval from the population.
By aborting the past, he canceled the future. When your superiors decide what you get and you take for granted what you are told, it’s easier to live this way.
For me personally and my family, what happened was a catastrophe to which it is impossible to adapt. I was labeled as a foreign agent by the authorities because I was an active commentator on the events, which made me seem to be living in an Orwellian anti-utopia.
On the evening of February 23 I washed my dog, cleaned the house, took a bath and lit candles. I have a cozy, one-bedroom apartment in a northern district of Kyiv. I loved taking care of it. I loved the life I had. All of it – the small routines and the struggles. That night was the end of my life.
I remember talking to colleagues, trying to assemble and coordinate a small army of volunteers to strengthen the newsroom. And calling my parents to organize buying supplies.
I knew the life I was about to start was falling apart soon after. It didn’t really matter if I took a shower, drank my morning tea, or how I dressed. Life mattered less and less, because the battle did.
Just a few weeks into the full-scale invasion it was already hard to remember the struggles, sorrows and joyful moments of the pre-war era. I would remember being upset about my boyfriend, but I could no longer relate. My life didn’t change on February 24, it was stolen from me on that day.
I no longer cared about my personal ambitions. To raise our flag was the key to showing that we’re fighting even under such difficult circumstances.
I wasn’t happy about my victories on the track. They were possible because of the many defenders who had died. Soldiers on the frontline sent me messages. They wanted to follow our success and that was the main motivation for me to continue my career.
Life values have changed over time. I enjoy seeing and talking to my relatives and friends. And like other Ukrainians, I believe in our victory and that all of us will return to our beloved country. We need help from the world.
Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff believes that this is a critical moment. It’s going to be important for both Zelenskyy andPutin as to whether or not to go to war, because the battlefield is as difficult as it is.
“This is something that leads me to the question – for whom do we document all these crimes?” Oleksandra Matviichuk is the head of the Center for Civil Liberties. I’m a human rights lawyer and I document human pain to have all the Russians brought to justice.
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister in the midst of the Ukrainian-Russia war-anniversary: “We are going to keep fighting,” Yukawa told NPR
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister said that his country was learing from the war in Ukraine as well as keeping an eye on China.
“They have expansionist motivation. They want to continue to expand their sphere of influence. They want to continue to expand their power. And if they are not stopped, then they will continue to march on,” Wu told us.
“We’ve managed to avoid conflict directly between great powers,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NPR. “This system, for all its imperfections, works. But now, it’s being challenged.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/18/1157820509/ukraine-russia-war-anniversary
Victims of the First Battles in the War on Rakhine: Natalia and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Russian Ambassador to Ukraine, and the Security Conference in Munich
Natalia believes the family’s car was shelled by the Russian forces in the first days of the war. Her husband was killed, along with her 6-year-old nephew, Maxim. Vova survived the attack but was hospitalized for months with seven bullets in his body.
Danny Hajek produced the audio for this story. Additional editing and production help from Carol Klinger, Denise Couture and Nina Kravinsky. They provided reporting and translation help.
The dismemberment of the Soviet empire was duly halted at the borders of the Russian Federation — at the cost of two devastating Chechen wars, for which the Kremlin was given a free hand both domestically and internationally. As a result, Chechnya-Ichkeria became a testing ground for the military strategy now applied against Ukraine: state terrorist warfare.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy opened the Munich Security Conference, speaking via video link to attendees including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Vice President Kamala Harris. The vice president told the gathering that Russia had committed crimes against humanity.
NATO defense ministers met in Brussels, where Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged a boost in ammunition to Ukraine, warning that the Kremlin is preparing for new offensives and attacks.
The Russian government is operating at least 40 child care centers for thousands of Ukrainian children, a potential war crime, according to a Yale University report.
The Day After Biden Arrives to Ukraine: How the U.S. Helps Against Russian Insurgencies, Attacks and Destabilization
Former CNN producer and correspondent, Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, and a columnist for The Washington Post, as well as a columnist for World Politics Review. The views she expresses are her own. View more opinion on CNN.
The day after Biden arrives in Ukranian, he will give a big speech, calling for the world to help the country defend its independence, and promising to continue his aid of the country in its fight against autocracy.
The risky trip on Monday to an active war zone was not just a powerful symbol of American support, it was a shot in the arm to a population that has endured Russia’s devastating attacks on civilian apartment blocks, hospitals, schools and the power stations that provide heat and electricity.
The news that the President of the United States is in the country at a time when people are not happy is mind blowing, according to a service member who spoke with CNN.
Recall that in the early days of the invasion, Ukraine said it found Russian forces had brought along their dress uniforms apparently expecting a victory parade.
Biden is 80 and walks with a stiff gait. He is competent and has a lot of courage. Biden sounded the air raid sirens in Kyiv.
Biden made mincemeat of Putin’s strategy to make it look as if the war was a result of a Ukrainian provocation, revealing the plan before it unfolded. He rallied the NATO alliance that was disrespected by former President Donald Trump.
Who can forget the infamous phone call after which Trump was impeached, when Zelensky implored the US President for help to deter an aggressive Russia? Although he feared Biden as his most effective opponent, Donald Trump still wanted to push Ukraine to investigate him, despite the fact that he was the weakest candidate in the race.
A joyous Zelensky said Biden’s visit “brings us closer to victory,” adding it will “have repercussions on the battlefield in liberating our territories.”
Biden promised continuing support from the US, which is what most Americans want though backing has weakened somewhat. GOP Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CNN that bipartisan support for Ukraine is “still very strong.”
Of course, some GOP members criticized Biden for going to Ukraine. The trip was described as being “incredibly insulting” by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. And Rep. Scott Perry — at the center of a legal dispute with the Justice Department over his cell phone in the special counsel’s January 6 probe — described as “breathtaking” that Biden would help Ukraine defend its borders and not do the same for America.
Putin’s “Minor” Address on the First Day of World War II: Setting a New Start and Proving Security in the Light of the Pandemic
Those present were asked to stand for a moment of silence in memory of the Russians who lost their lives in the war. A range of packages for the families of the fallen was promised by the Russian leader.
Missing from Putin’s address was any discussion of Russia’s significant setbacks on the battlefield and its evident failure in the early days of the war to occupy Kyiv and remove Ukraine’s democratically elected government.
Putin said that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty, but he stressed that Russia wasn’t withdrawing from it.
Signed in 2010, New Start came into force in 2011, and was extended till 2026. Russia and the U.S. have the ability to deploy a number of strategic nuclear warheads. The two countries have the vast majority of all deployable warheads.
During the Pandemic of March 2020 regular inspection were put on hold in order to make sure neither side is cheating. Russia postponed talks to restart those inspections, as relations between Moscow and Washington continued to deteriorate over Ukraine.
Putin also said he’d instructed his military and civilian atomic energy agency to be prepared to test additional nuclear weapons – should the U.S. carry out new tests first.
The decision by Russia was described as “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible” by the Secretary of State. The U.S. has previously accused Russia of violating the last remaining nuclear arms treaty between the two countries.
The Russian leader again equated Ukraine’s “neo Nazi” government with Nazi Germany, and said Russia was defending itself just as the Soviet Union defended its territory during World War II.
The image of the Russian leader holding a court across a hallway to consult with his closest advisors has become famous, since he assembled his National Security Council for a televised session to discuss independence.
The Most Completely Fleeing Europe Since the Second World War: The Case of a Life in a Muddy Foxhole and a Battle over a Cold Water Field
More than 8 million refugees have fled Ukraine in what the World Health Organization describes as “the largest movement of people in the European Region since the Second World War.” Russia forced many of them to be relocated. In Germany and Poland, other people have placed a strain on resources.
A nuclear power is leading a 21st century war in Europe. It has made NATO and the EU uneasy and led to diplomatic shifts. For example, Turkey, despite being a NATO member, has increased trade with Russia since the start of the war and has thrown up objections to allowing Sweden and Finland into the alliance.
NPR’s Will Chase, Alex Leff, Pam Webster, Desiree F. Hicks and Nishant Dahiya contributed to this report. Previous work by other authors is the main reason for the text and graphics.
I’ll never forget the stories I heard on the Ukrainian-Polish border one year ago: Newlyweds who separated hours after saying their vows so the groom could return to the front. A tax preparer in Boston quit her job and left with suitcases of medical supplies to return to Ukraine. The wife of a border guard who made the three-hour round trip from Lviv to the Polish border almost daily to drop off fleeing women and children and pick up weapons and supplies.
How sad that human beings were able to get back into the business of killing one another even though they had survived the waves of Covid. Spending large sums of money on missiles, tanks and other aid when more needs to be done to help communities with rising oceans and drying rivers isn’t right. It’s laughable that people in a bread basket of the world have gone hungry. It was madness when Putin declared that Ukrainians were included in his own people, even though his soldiers were accused of raping and murdering civilians.
Governments gussy up war. They talk of victory because it brings hope and strength to the soldiers. But in the end, war is death in a muddy foxhole. It’s an existential fight over a frozen field with no strategic value. It’s a generational grudge that begets new generational grudges. It’s an $11 billion, roughly 740-mile pipeline laid across the Baltic Sea rendered useless overnight. Some of the largest steel plants in Europe are unable to ship a single metal sheet. It is a pleasant seaside city that was devastated by bombings and siege.
Responding to a question from CNN’s Christiane Amanpour at a press conference in the capital city, Zelensky said: “Victory will be inevitable. I am certain that there will be a victory.
On Friday, the former President and deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council said that Russia’s aim was to push the borders of threats to the country as far as possible even if these are the borders of Poland.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladimir Zelensky tells Ukrainians that the future of the country will depend on it: the first anniversary of the Ukrainian war
Zelensky used the first anniversary of the war to call for international assistance for his country. He handed out awards to soldiers and visited wounded service members before holding the rare press conference.
Earlier on Friday morning, the Ukrainian leader addressed members of the military in Kyiv. He told them it was they who would determine the future of the country.
Ukraine’s international allies showed their solidarity on Friday, with landmarks around the world lit up in colors of the Ukrainian flag, and new weapons and funding announcements.
The international community was urged not to allow Putin to become our new normal by the US Secretary of State.
Germany said it would send a further four Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, increasing its original commitment from 14 tanks to 18. The prime minister of Sweden pledged to send tanks to Ukraine.
Fumio Kishida said that he intends to propose new sanctions against Russia during a virtual meeting with G7 leaders and Zelensky.
Kathalina Pahitsky, a 16-year old student, went to the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv to lay flowers in memory of two former students from her school who lost their lives fighting in the war.
It was a cold morning in the Ukrainian capital and she thought it was her duty as the student president of her school to pay respects to the fallen heroes.
There are photographs on the main street. It is a great honor. They died as liberators. So it’s very important for us. And it would have been for them,” she said.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/24/europe/kyiv-war-anniversary-intl-cmd/index.html
Olexander Atamas: I’m not afraid, but I feel confident in my abilities, and I am afraid to come out of the unknown
It was hard to describe the feelings of Olexander Atamas on Friday, he was an IT worker before the war.
“I am not afraid, but I feel confident in my abilities, so I would prefer to talk about that,” he said. “One year ago … I felt fear, I was stressed, psychologically it unsettled me. Not currently, there is fear in the air.
Editor’s Note: Fareed Zakaria hosts Fareed Zakaria GPS, airing Sundays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on CNN. The views expressed here are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.
Russia’s Importance for the Security and Security Issues of a World War I: The U.S. vs. Russia War
Russia’s performance in the war has been poor, but it is doing better, especially at holding territory. The International Monetary Fund thinks that Russia will do better than the UK or Germany this year due to its stabilization of its economy. Russia is trading freely with such economic behemoths as China, and India, as well as neighbors like Turkey and Iran. Because of these countries and many more, outside of the advanced technology sector, it has access to all the goods and capital it lost through the Western boycott. Russia is allowed to swim in the waters without being monitored because of a huge world economy that doesn’t include the West. The long-term costs of the war are not as big as some people think. Look at Libya, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela, and you will see that this kind of isolation and pain is never going to affect a dictatorships policies.
All that said, however, it is difficult to imagine a World War II style total victory. Most wars end in negotiations. It’s unlikely that this one will be different. Ensuring that the success of the fight is enough to convince the other side to negotiate with a strong hand is the task for the West. Only dramatic Ukrainian victories – like cutting off Crimea – will likely bring Putin to the negotiating table.
Also Tuesday, U.S. lawmakers will attend hearings about the Ukraine war in both the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House subcommittee on defense appropriations.
Some Russians defied the Kremlin’s rule by protesting against the war in several cities, with one independent Russian outlet reporting more than 50 people were detained at different demonstrations where they picketed, laid flowers and wrote messages.
China called for a cease-fire and peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, in a position paper released on the anniversary of the invasion. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese diplomat were in Moscow earlier in the week and pledged to strengthen their ties.
What Do Ukrainians Still Want to Know About Russia’s War-Ended Sovitarily Dwarf Republic? A Reflection from Albul
We took some time last week to pause and reflect on all that’s transpired in our live blog. As part of that coverage, we wanted to know what you still want to know.
Who knows? Most people think for at least another year. Both armies have suffered heavy losses, but no knockout blow to their reputations.
“We want peace around the world,” 70-year-old Kyiv resident Nina Albul recently told my colleague Hanna Palamarenko, “but we also want the world to know that it’s okay for enslaved people to fight back.”
But the Russian goal of “denazification” as a stated offensive goal has not faded into the background. Instead, the Kremlin has “flipped the script” from being the aggressor to the victim.
When the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, the new Russian Federation inherited all of the USSR’s treaties, diplomatic relationships, even embassies. Meanwhile, Ukraine had to pretty much start from scratch, establishing its own treaties and erecting embassies for the first time without approval from Moscow.
So in Ukraine, people mark the fall of the Soviet Union with “Independence Day,” while in Russia, it’s understood as a reformation of the same state with its roots in the Russian Empire.
The U.S. has training about 100 Ukrainians on the Patriot anti-missile system. This training has been getting better and better. The Western countries have gone from training the Ukrainians on specific systems to training larger units on how to carry out coordinated attacks.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159645125/when-will-ukraine-russia-war-end
When the U.S. will Ukraine war end: When will Ukraine really lose control of its air-flight production? The case of the G7 jet
Russia is the second largest supplier of oil to India and China, and sanctioning a third of the world’s population would be difficult.
It is theoretically possible for the U.S. to sanction countries that maintain economic ties with Russia. The Helms–Burton Act extends U.S. sanctions on Cuba towards any foreign company that does business in Cuba with the U.S. Several countries accused the U.S. of violating their sovereignty when President Bill Clinton signed the law in 1996.
Third countries would not sanction Cuba at the time due to lack of political will. It’s possible today’s situation with Russia might make such a policy more politically palatable if the U.S. attempted it again, though I can’t find any serious proposal in the government to do just that.
The G7’s price cap could be lower, but that would effectively eliminate profits from Western oil suppliers, where production costs have traditionally been higher than in Russia.
As a result, Russia essentially stopped flying fighter jets over Ukraine. Russia had an estimated 1,500 fighter jet before the war began, and still has the majority of them, probably 1,400 or more.
I wrote about this recently, noting that we’re seeing air battles daily, but pilots are rarely involved. This will increasingly be the future of air warfare.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159645125/when-will-ukraine-russia-war-end
Do NATO and the USA want a War in Europe? The Russian president has no intention of a war with the United States on the scale of NATO
It is not likely. It is something neither side cared about. NATO does not want a full-scale war in Europe, and Russian President Vladimir Putin knows he would lose a conflict with a 30-member military alliance led by the Americans.
