British tank training began for Ukrainian troops

The Year of Return: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin’s annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine

President Vladimir V. Putin plans to declare on Friday that some 40,000 square miles of eastern and southern Ukraine will become part of Russia — an annexation broadly denounced by the West, but a signal that the Russian leader is prepared to raise the stakes in the seven-month-old war.

The other two regions — Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas — were recognized as independent by Moscow back in February. At the time, Putin signed a security pact with them, which he then used as justification to send Russian troops into Ukraine days later.

Reports from the ground suggested that voting took place in some instances at will, but Putin tried to claim that the referendums reflected the will of millions of people.

“One wish for all Ukrainians,” he said. This year should be the year of return. The people are back. Soldiers are with their families. Prisoners — to their homes. Immigrants — to their Ukraine. The lands are return of ours. The temporarily occupied will become free.

The Russian president said the annexation was an attempt to correct a mistake made after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Putin delivered his remarks days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. The Kremlin said the uniformed soldiers in the audience came from the fronts of Moscow’s special military operation.

Russia is going to go ahead with its plan to raise its flag over some 100,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory despite international condemnation.

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.

The Russian parliament and the governors sat in the audience for Mr. Putin’s speech.

Zelensky said “Russian leader is hiding behind the troops, behind missiles, behind the walls of his residences and palaces” and behind his people. “He hides behind you and burns your country and your future. Zelensky stressed that no one will ever forgive you for terror.

Vladimir Putin and the Soviet Union: What does the Kremlin want to learn from the American and Western military victories in the next hundred years?

He showed how the Western military actions spanned over a hundred years, from the British Opium War in China in the 19th century to firebombing of Germany in the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

He claimed that the United States was the only country to use nuclear weapons in war. “By the way, they created a precedent,” Mr. Putin added in an aside.

A large number of Russian troops are thought to have been killed in an apparent Ukrainian strike in eastern Ukraine.

A celebration will take place on Red Square. The Kremlin spokesman says that the official approval of the decrees will occur next week.

The moves follow staged referendums held in occupied territory during a war in defiance of international law. The war has taken a heavy toll on the civilian population of the provinces, and people who did vote have been held at gun point.

At a time when Russia is being criticized by some for not doing enough, allowing the Kremlin to proclaim a victory in the Donbas could allow it to do what Mr. Putin considers his primary prize.

This possibility that Putin could be heralding a bloody new twist in a war that has gone through multiple strategic phases since the invasion in February was weighing heavy on the minds of political and military leaders in Washington Monday. Their reaction was revulsion that Putin was unleashing warfare against civilians that evoked Europe’s 20th century horrors.

Mr. Putin is expected to deliver a “voluminous” speech, his spokesman said. He is most likely to downplay his military’s struggles. He will probably ignore the international condemnation of the sham referendums in occupied Ukraine which were used to join Russia.

Putin said that the people made their choice during the signing ceremony. He said that the choice will not be betrayed by Russia.

The bottom line, though, is that Putin has still shown no willingness to negotiate an end to the war, US and western officials say – or even that he would be willing to accept anything less than a full overthrow of Kyiv.

The Kremlin and the Donbas: The War Between the Soviet Union and the West, and the Exodus of Russian Soldiers

A concert and a rally were planned outside the Kremlin as part of an effort to show that Russia and the newly integrated territories are together forever.

The move caps a week that saw the Kremlin choreograph referendums in Russian-occupied territories that purportedly delivered overwhelming majorities in favor of joining Russia.

It was precisely a year ago that the Russian leader called on the international community to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict in the Donbas, in order to retain Ukrainian territorial integrity.

The decision was framed as a historical justice by Putin because the soviet union broke up, leaving Russian speakers separated from their homeland and the West in charge of world affairs.

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 said that Moscow tried to mobilize Russians in annexed areas for the military campaign.

Legislative approval of the annexation will take a few days, but it is expected to be a formality. Putin and his allies effectively control both branches of the Russian legislature, and the space for political dissent in Russia has shrunk in recent years.

Russian bombardments have been intensified in recent days, as Moscow moved quickly with its newest annexation and ordered a mass response at home. More than 100,000 Russian men fled the country after the call-up was unpopular at home.

The newly incorporated territories would be entitled to protections under Russia’s nuclear umbrella, according to Russian officials.

Andrey Kortunov, who runs the Kremlin-backed Russian International Affairs Council in Moscow, sees it, too. He told CNN that president Putin wants to end it quickly.

Russian media said the exodus was even higher. They say more military age men have fled the country since conscription – 261,000 – than have so far fought in the war – an estimated 160,000 to 190,000.

Russia has complained about the deliveries, but it has been relatively quiet about crossing what could have been considered red lines.

The Kremlins propagandists have been reporting on military details in a similar way to the milbloggers over the past week. The Kremlin narrative avoided discussing the current military operations in favor of general statements of progress. The Kremlin had never openly recognized a major failure in the war prior to its devastating loss in Kharkiv Oblast, which prompted the partial reserve mobilization.”

He made threats of nuclear strikes if Ukraine tries to take the annexed territories back, like they did in the case of the annexation of Crimea.

The fighting is important because it is at a pivotal moment in the war. Facing Ukrainian gains on the battlefield, which he frames as a U.S.- orchestrated effort to destroy Russia, Putin this week intensified threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.

Russian role in a war with Ukraine: Putin’s warnings to Europe and the threat of invasion by the Kremimenko regime, as explained by the Danish and Swedish seismologists

Both Danish and Swedish seismologists recorded explosive shockwaves from close to the seabed: the first, at around 2 a.m. local time, hitting 2.3 magnitude, then again, at around 7 p.m., registering 2.1.

The Danes, Germans and Norway sent warships to protect the area after roiling patches of sea were discovered.

Russia denies responsibility and says it has launched its own investigation. But former CIA chief John Brennan said Russia has the expertise to inflict this type of damage “all the signs point to some type of sabotage that these pipelines are only in about 200 feet or so of water and Russia does have an undersea capability to that will easily lay explosive devices by those pipelines.”

Brennan says that Russia is likely responsible for the sabotage in order to send a message to Europe. So who knows what he might be planning next.”

Nord Stream 2 was never operational, and Nord Stream 1 had been throttled back by Putin as Europe raced to replenish gas reserves ahead of winter, while dialling back demands for Russian supplies and searching for replacement providers.

The diplomatic “shaping operations,” which are in support of the Ukrainian army, can ensure that Russia’s least-bad option is aligned with what the West wants. It is not the same as accepting red lines. Red lines is a mirror image of a metaphor used at the beginning of the war. When Russia looked strong, many proposed giving Mr. Putin an “off-ramp” to persuade him to stop fighting. Now Russia is weaker, they call for Western restraint to persuade him not to fight more recklessly.

In an interview with state television, Putin said that Russia would negotiate some acceptable outcomes with the participants of the process.

Such expectations naturally ratcheted up Ukrainian war aims. President Volodymyr Zelensky was once a member of the peace-deal camp in Ukraine. Nuclear status of our state is non-nuclear. He declared one month into the conflict that he was ready to go. He wants a complete victory, the reconquering of every inch of Russian occupied territory. Polls indicate that Ukrainians will settle for nothing less. The leaders of Ukraine and some of their Western supporters are thinking about putting Mr. Putin and his circle in a real court of law.

Alperovitch says the likelihood of Putin using a nuclear weapon is very low. But it can’t be dismissed. He paints this possible scenario: “If he does use it, I think he’s going to do a demonstration strike in a remote area, perhaps over the Black Sea, in the hopes that the West would somehow pressure Kyiv to come to the negotiations.”

The explosion in the Kupiansk district: “сruelty that can’t be justified”: a spokesperson for the security service of Ukraine

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced earlier on Friday that its forces have completed their partial withdrawal from the Kherson region, after Moscow ordered the retreat Wednesday,

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.

Ramzan Kadyrov blamed the retreat on one general being “covered up” for by higher-up leaders in the General Staff. He wanted more drastic measures.

Meanwhile, on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, the governor of the city of Sevastopol announced an emergency situation at an airfield there. Explosions and huge billows of smoke could be seen from a distance by beachgoers in the Russian-held resort. Authorities said a plane rolled off the runway at the Belbek airfield and ammunition that was reportedly on board caught fire.

Zelensky’s administration has a lot of work ahead of it, especially if the Zelensky regime succeeds in gaining control of Russia’s occupied peninsula of Crimea. For the time being, the guy from Kryvyi Rih shows no signs that he will back down.

A convoy of vehicles was attacked this week in the Kupiansk district, leaving 24 people dead, according to the governor of the region. He called it “сruelty that can’t be justified.” He mentioned 13 children and a pregnant woman as dead.

The pictures were taken by the Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU. At least one truck was mangled in the crash, and some bodies were left in its bed. Another vehicle at the front of the convoy also had been ablaze. Bodies lay on the side of the road or still inside vehicles, which appeared pockmarked with bullet holes.

The destruction of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine by Russian forces and asymmetric missile defenses, and the onset of Russian-Russian tensions

Russian forces seized the Director-General of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on Friday, in an attempt to wrest control over the newly annexed territory, according to the Ukrainian state nuclear company.

Russia didn’t comment on the report. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Russia told it that “the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.”

“Today the enemy carried out another massive attack on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine,” Halushchenko said in a post on Facebook. “Unfortunately, there is some damage to generation facilities and power grids.”

The number of Russian servicemen killed in Makiivka, which was claimed earlier by the Ukrainian military, is being clarified. It hasn’t admitted a role in the strike. CNN can not independently confirm those numbers or the weapons used.

US President Joe Biden is expected to announce an additional $1.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s expected visit to the White House. The significant boost in aid is expected to be headlined by the Patriot missile defense systems that are included in the package, a US official told CNN.

It comes two days after an eruption damaged a crucial bridge to Crimea and dealt a strategic blow to the Kremlin. A wounded Vladimir Putin, who has also seen weeks of Russian losses on the battlefield, had been under pressure to respond with force following the explosion, which Putin on Sunday blamed on Kyiv and described as an act of terror.

In an article that was published Sunday, the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda said that the Russian forces in the last few days of their occupation were plagued by desertion, poor planning and a delayed arrival of reserves.

On Russia’s flagship Sunday political show, “News of the Week,” on Channel 1, the fall of Lyman wasn’t even mentioned until after more than an hour of laudatory coverage of Russia’s growth from 85 to 89 regions in an annexation most of the world views as illegal.

The First Casualty in War: Russia’s Attack on the Nord Stream Gas Pipeline and the West’s War with the West

The soldiers were fighting both with the Ukrainians and NATO soldiers when they had to retreat.

Moscow Calling said at the weekend that the movements of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles were asking for trouble. Russian units in the area lack information because commanders have failed to integrate intelligence-gathering into battlefield decisions.

Truth, the saying goes, is the first casualty in war. Nowhere is that more true than in Russia, where the Kremlin has engaged in a campaign of false advertising to sell its invasion of Ukraine to the public.

The idea that Russia is fighting a broader campaign was repeated in an interview with Aleksandr Dugin, a far-right thinker whose daughter, also a prominent nationalist commentator, was killed by a car bomb in August.

“There are many things Russia can do to make the war personal, not just for people of Ukraine but around Europe, to try to force pressure on governments to remove their support for Ukraine,” Giles said.

Mr. Dugin believes that the Western countries have sabotaged theNord Stream gaspipeline which exploded after underwater explosions last month.

“The West already accuses us of blowing up the gas pipeline ourselves,” he said. “We must understand the geopolitical confrontation, the war, our war with the West on the scale and extent on which it is unfolding. We must join the battle with the mortal enemy who will not hesitate to use bombs, including exploding gas lines.

The nonstop messaging campaign may be working, at least for now. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s senior fellow said many Russians feel threatened by the West.

As such, many Ukrainians are against the war, with “no war” becoming a common slogan. But polls show that does not equal pacifism, with the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians supporting a prolonged defensive war.

Russia is trying to stop recent Ukrainian advances while rebuilding their ground force decimated during eight months of war. Military analysts had predicted that Russian men would deployment to the front line areas with high numbers of casualties, after a chaotic deployment in September. Russian forces are on defense in the south but attacking in the east.

On Tuesday, about 70 countries and international organizations pledged more than $1 billion to help repair Ukraine’s infrastructure. Last week, the Pentagon announced that an additional $275 million in security assistance for Ukraine had been approved, including weapons, artillery rounds and equipment to help Ukraine boost its air defense. The $53 million US package was announced for repairs to the Ukraine’s power system.

NATO leaders have vowed to stand behind Ukraine regardless of how long the war takes, but several European countries – particularly those that relied heavily on Russian energy – are staring down a crippling cost-of-living crisis which, without signs of Ukrainian progress on the battlefield, could endanger public support.

You can read about previous recaps here. You can find more of NPR’s coverage here. Also, listen and subscribe to NPR’s State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the country had taken back Lyman, while the Ukrainian military said it had recaptured the nearby villages of Drobysheve and Torske, putting Kyiv in a better position as it seeks to take back the Luhansk region.

Lloyd Austin said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that he believes Ukraine is making progress, thanks to the weapons supplied by Washington.

“What we’re seeing now is a kind of change in the battlefield dynamics,” Austin said. “They’ve done very, very well in the Kharkiv area and moved to take advantage of opportunities. The Kherson region is going a bit slower, but they are making progress.

Elon Musk’s Twitter attacks on Kiev: resolving the Ukrainian war-torn country without destroying UN Charter and international law

The contests have been widely panned as a farce that failed to meet internationally recognized standards of free and fair elections. Reports suggest that voting took place at some point in the past.

“And these realities indicate that the Russian Federation has new subjects,” he said, referring to four areas Russia has claimed to have annexed, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

EU member states began summoning Russian ambassadors in a coordinated manner on Friday to “convey strong condemnation of these actions” and demand the “immediate halt to steps undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity and violating UN Charter and international law,” a spokesman for the bloc said.

The Ukrainian military made gains in the south of the country as Russian forces were on the run across a broad swath of the front line.

Elon Musk drew backlash on Monday from Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his unsolicited advice on how to bring about “peace” amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.

A majority of respondents on Twitter voted “No” in response to Musk’s poll. In a follow-up tweet, Musk appeared to blame these results on a “bot attack.”

After sending Starlink internet terminals, which can operate from anywhere with power, to the war-torn country, Musk and his company became involved in the war.

After a months long war that has left a trail of destruction, his latest musings were not well-received by Ukrainian officials.

As Russian troops began to amass on Ukraine’s borders in the weeks preceding the February assault, around 55% of Ukrainians said they didn’t trust Zelensky to lead them into war. It was a rating likely influenced by him not keeping some of his campaign promises, especially failing to launch an effective fight against corruption in the judiciary.

Musk continued to tweet out defenses for his initial Twitter thread, seeming to suggest that there was little chance of victory for Ukraine, which recently began swiftly reclaiming territory in its northeast, including the strategically important transport hub of Lyman.

The commentary came a day after Musk had announced that the car company had lowered delivery and production numbers for the third quarter. His fight to back out of his proposed $44 billion deal to buy the company is heating up.

The War Between Iran and Ukraine: An International Viewpoint on the World’s Most Distant Currents and Challenges in the War for Freedom

Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are not of hers. You can have an opinion on CNN.

On Sunday, almost by accident, two groups of demonstrators came together in London. One person waved Iranian and Ukrainian flags. When they met, they cheered each other, and chanted, “All together we will win.”

Nobody is sure what will happen next. No one knows how all this ends. The world is at an “inflection point” as the people of Iran and Ukraine fight for freedom. History waits to be written.

The battles show bravery that the rest of us can’t, and is inspiring similar support in places like Afghanistan.

Moscow and Tehran in the wake of the Amini-Zhina conflict: two different regimes with different ideologies of repression

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month sparked a fire in Iran. Known as “Zhina,” she died in the custody of morality police who detained her for breaking the relentlessly, violently enforced rules requiring women to dress modestly.

In scenes of exhilarated defiance, Iranian women have danced around fires in the night, shedding the hijab – the headcover mandated by the regime – and tossing it into the flames.

Their peaceful uprising is not really about the hijab; it’s about cutting the shackles of oppression, which is why men have joined them in large numbers, even as the regime kills more and more protesters.

Russia, which has been a dominant military force in Syria since 2015 and helps maintain the government’s grip on power, still keeps a sizable presence there. But the change could herald shifts in the balance of power in one of the world’s most complicated conflict zones, and may lead Israel — Syria’s enemy — to rethink its stance toward the Ukraine conflict.

It is clear from the resume of the new Russian general in charge of the war that he served in Chechnya and Syria. In both places, Russia indiscriminately bombarded civilian areas and razed built-up districts and infrastructure and is accused of committing serious human rights violations.

The repressive regimes in Moscow and Tehran are now isolated, pariahs among much of the world, openly supported for the most part by a smattering of autocrats.

Since beginning of his war in Russia, Putin has traveled to many countries besides the former Soviet Union, and his most recent trip was to Iran. Is it any wonder Iran has trained Russian forces and is now believed to have provided Russia with advanced drones to kill Ukrainians?

These are two regimes that, while very different in their ideologies, have much in common in their tactics of repression and their willingness to project power abroad.

There have been several mysterious deaths of Putin critics. Many have fallen out of windows. According to Freedom House and other groups, Russia and Iran have become leading practitioners of subverting the sovereignty of other countries.

For people in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, there’s more than passing interest in the admittedly low probability that the Iranian regime could fall. It would be transformative for their countries and their lives, heavily influenced by Tehran. Iran has a constitution that calls for spreading its revolution.

The End of the Cold War: Peter Bergen’s Account of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the Strategic Impact on the Russian Military

Putin is one example of how 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.”

Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor at Arizona State University. View more opinion on CNN.

(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.

The US was initially hesitant to ramp up support for the Afghan resistance due to a bigger 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.

The war in Ukraine is still going on despite being at a stalemate. General David Petraeus predicts the war will look different this year with significant offensives likely staged by the two sides. Overall, the war continues to demonstrate basic weaknesses in Russia’s military, which was once thought to be one of the most capable in the world.

He said that the NATO air defense systems made a difference since many of the incoming missiles were shot down by Ukrainian air defense systems.

The Crimes of 1917 and 1991 in the Russian Dialogue of the Cold War: Russia, the West, and the Shadows of the Minister of Defense

Putin is also surely aware that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was hastened by the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan two years earlier.

The Romanov monarchy was weakened by the loss of the Russian empire during the war in 1905. The Russian Revolution was triggered by Czar Nicholas IIs feckless leadership during the First World War. Subsequently, much of the Romanov family was killed by a Bolshevik firing squad.

The President of Russia has made a big mistake so far in the war that he is giving the west the impression that Russia could lose it. The early Russian strike on Kyiv stumbled and failed. The Russian behemoth seemed not nearly as formidable as it had been made out to be. The war suddenly appeared to be between Russian incompetents and savvy Ukrainians.

The errors by the Russian military are now becoming so blatant, and as the Makiivka attack shows, so deadly to Russian forces, that some of Putin’s most ardent apologists have now begun turning on the military establishment.

Putin’s gamble may lead to a third dissolution of the Russian empire, which happened first in 1917 as the First World War wound down, and again in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.

We need to stop lying, said a former colonel-General in the Russian military, and member of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. We had brought this up many times before. But somehow it’s apparently not getting through to individual senior figures.”

The ministry of defense is accused of evading the truth about Ukrainian cross-border strikes in Russian regions.

Valuyki is in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine. In regards to striking Russian targets across the border, Kyiv has adopted a neither-confirm-nor-deny stance.

“There is no need to somehow cast a shadow over the entire Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation because of some, I do not say traitors, but incompetent commanders, who did not bother, and were not accountable, for the processes and gaps that exist today,” Stremousov said. “Indeed, many say that the Minister of Defense [Sergei Shoigu], who allowed this situation to happen, could, as an officer, shoot himself. But, you know, the word officer is an unfamiliar word for many.”

Kadyrov has been less reticent about naming Russian commanders when it comes to blaming them.

“The Russian information space has significantly deviated from the narratives preferred by the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) that things are generally under control,” ISW noted in its recent analysis.

The man who recently announced his promotion to the rank of colonel general, is Kadyrov, who has been arguing for the past’s harsh methods. He mentioned in a Telegram post that if he could get his way, the government in Russia would have extraordinary wartime powers.

Kadyrov said in the post that he would declare martial law and use any weapon because the country was at war with NATO.

Two explosions on Saturday afternoon hit the Dnipro River and a bridge connecting Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, killing one man and wounding two

The barrage continued on a day when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to human rights activists in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, an implicit rebuke to Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, for his invasion of Ukraine.

Overnight nearly 40 Russian rockets hit Nikopol, on the Dnipro River, damaging at least 10 homes, several apartment blocks and other infrastructure, according to the head of the regional military administration, Valentyn Reznichenko. He claimed that one man was killed and another was wounded in Friday evening’s shelling.

They damaged 13 buildings, three four-story buildings, a children’s clinic and a school. “Russians confirm their status as terrorists every day.”

What Russian authorities are calling a truck bomb on Saturday hit the huge bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed eight years ago from Ukraine. Road and rail traffic on the bridge were temporarily halted, damaging an important supply route for the Kremlin’s forces and dealing a sharp blow to Russian prestige.

“We established the route of the truck, so it went to a number of places, such as Georgia, North Ossetia and Krasnodar,” he said.

At least two people are dead and emergency services are working to get them out of the rubble of a three-story home that was hit by a Russian missile in the city of Kryvyi Rih. “There may be people under the rubble,” the deputy head of the presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said.

“There was one explosion, then another one,” 76-year-old Mucola Markovich said. In a flash, the fourth-floor apartment he shared with his wife was gone.

The Kerch Bridge: Why Russian President Putin hasn’t responded to Moscow’s attack on Crimea, but he is “demoralized”

About 3 kilometers (2 miles) away in another neighborhood ravaged by a missile, three volunteers dug a shallow grave for a German shepherd killed in the strike, the dog’s leg blown away by the blast.

The Russian president, who formed the committee to investigate the bridge explosion, did not respond forcefully enough to appease the war hawks, according to Abbas Gallyamov, a former speech writer for Putin. The attack and response, he said, has “inspired the opposition, while the loyalists are demoralized.”

He said that when the authorities say everything is going according to plan, that they’re lying, and it demoralizes them.

In May of last year Putin personally opened the Kerch Bridge, which was a symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea. The bridge, the longest in Europe, is vital to sustaining Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine.

Crimea is a popular vacation resort for Russians. People trying to drive to the bridge from the Russian mainland had hours-long traffic jams.

Lyman was killed by rocket explosions in the third day of Ukrainian occupation. Air raid alert lifted after the attack on Saturday night in Zaporizhia

— In the devastated Ukrainian city of Lyman, which was recently recaptured after a months-long Russian occupation, Ukrainian national police said authorities have exhumed the first 20 bodies from a mass burial site. Initial indications are that around 200 civilians are buried in one location, and that another grave contains the bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. The civilians, including children, were buried in single graves, while members of the military were buried in a 40-meter long trench, according to police.

Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s biggest, lost its last external power source early Saturday morning following shelling, but the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that the plant had been reconnected to the grid.

The municipal mayor’s building was damaged in the rocket attack. The building had a partially collapsed ceiling and rows of windows with smoke coming from them. Cars were burned out near each other. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Kyiv didn’t claim responsibility or comment on the attack.

The Ukrainian military said that the majority of cruise missiles fired at Ukraine on Thursday were intercepted, with its defense forces shooting down 54 of 69, according to preliminary data. Ukrainian air defense units destroyed 16 missiles over Kyiv, according to the world’s richest man.

Underground stations in the city were used as a “bunker” for several hours on Monday. But the air raid alert in the city was lifted at midday, as rescue workers sought to pull people from the rubble caused by the strikes.

Crimea bomb attacks on the Crimea bridge and Putin’s special military operations in Ukraine are unacceptable: Ukraine, the Netherlands, and the United Nations

Demys Shmygal, Ukraine’s prime minister, said Monday that a total of elevencrucial infrastructure facilities in eight regions had been damaged.

Generator hum is the soundtrack to daily life in the capital. Cafes and restaurants are full, offering partial menus even during power cuts. There are bookshelves in the shops. On February 15, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city hadn’t had any power failures for days and that the city was gradually returning to its electric transport services. The energy minister of Ukraine said that electricity generation was enough to meet the demand.

Putin held an operational meeting of his Security Council on Monday, a day after he called the explosions on the Crimea bridge a “terrorist attack” and said the organizers and executors were “Ukrainian special services.”

The Russian-appointed head of annexed Crimean, Sergey Aksyonov, said Monday that his country’s approaches to its special military operation in Ukraine have changed.

“From the first day of the special military operation, I have been saying that if we destroyed the enemy’s infrastructure every day we would have finished them in May and won the war,” he said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at the meeting that they had a goal to leave Ukrainians without light, water and heat.

The Ukrainian military’s fresh success, just a week after a fast advance across much of Kharkiv, helped reinforce international support for Ukraine’s war effort, even as US officials urged Zelensky to change his rhetoric on negotiations.

“Again, Putin is massively terrorizing innocent civilians in Kyiv and other cities,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. The Netherlands condemns these heinous acts. Putin does not understand the will of the people of Ukranian.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the attacks “another unacceptable escalation of the war and, as always, civilians are paying the highest price.”

The G7 Emergency Meeting Reports on Crime, Security and Security: CNN’s Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro)

Zelensky said on social media that he would address the emergency meeting of the G7 group of nations via video conference on Tuesday.

Editor’s Note: Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) is a global affairs analyst. He was a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe before joining the Atlantic Council. He contributes to CNN Opinion. The opinions he expresses are of his own. View more opinion at CNN.

There was a feeling of worry in Kyiv on Friday, due to the fear that Russia might launch a attack on the day of the anniversary.

The strikes occurred as people headed to work and while kids were being dropped off at schools. A friend in Kyiv texted me that she had just exited a bridge span 10 minutes before it was struck.

As of midday local time, the area around my office in Odesa remained eerily quiet in between air raid sirens, with reports that three missiles and five kamikaze drones were shot down. At this time of the day, nearby restaurants would be crammed with customers and talk of upcoming weddings and parties.

The mayor said energy infrastructure facilities were damaged as a result of the attack and an explosion occurred in one city district. It wasn’t immediately clear whether that was caused by drones or other munitions. Emergency power outages were underway in the capital, and a wounded 19-year-old man was hospitalized.

At least 10 missiles struck various targets in Kharkiv region, in the north, damaging energy facilities and a hospital, according to Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional military administration. Power was beginning to be restored in Kharkiv city after being knocked out for much of the day. “There is a colossal infrastructural damage,” Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said, instructing residents to use so-called “invincibility points” – makeshift centers offering relief from power outages – to collect food and hot drinks, and recharge cellphones.

Other videos showed cars driving in the city center beeping horns as people on the sidewalks shouted “Glory to Ukraine!” In another, a group of people reached out to touch Ukrainian soldiers through the open windows of a moving vehicle.

Indeed, millions of people in cities across Ukraine will be spending most of the day in bomb shelters, at the urging of officials, while businesses have been asked to shift work online as much as possible.

Just as many regions of Ukraine were starting to roar back to life, and with countless asylum seekers returning home, the attacks risk causing another blow to business confidence.

A war is still playing out, and it was a day of high drama. But as an historian, Viatrovych also sees the actions of President Vladimir Putin as part of a pattern of behavior by Russian leaders.

The reaction among Ukrainians to the explosion was instantaneous: humorous memes lit up social media channels like a Christmas tree. People shared their enthusiasm via text messages.

The message was clear for everyone to see. Putin does not intend to be humiliated. He will not admit defeat. He is prepared to cause indiscriminate terror and civilian carnage in response to his battlefield reversals.

It was an act of desperation, as Putin has been placing himself on thin ice, because of increased criticism at home.

Speaking over Zoom from Kyiv, Kamyshin is taciturn, with a ready supply of one-liners. He said it was possible to get trains into Mariupol, a city destroyed by the Russians. He says Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, wasn’t entirely unexpected, and the government had contingencies in place in case of war. Ukrainian Railways has a plan. The problem was, that plan was on paper. It was not relevant.

It is important for Washington to use urgent phone diplomacy to urge China and India to not use more deadly weapons, as they still have some leverage over Putin.

Showing unity and resolve is the most important thing for the West right now, against a man who probes for weakness and tends to exploit divisions. Western governments also need to realize that rhetoric and sanctions have little if no impact on Putin’s actions. They need to continue to arm Ukrainians and provide urgent training, even if it means sending military experts closer to the battlefield to speed up the integration of high technology weapons.

The country is in need of high tech defense systems to protect crucial energy infrastructure. The need to protect heating systems is urgent with the winter around the corner.

Russian Air Force Attacks on Ukrainian Cities and Infrastructure: What the West Wants from the Collision of December 31, 2012, During the First White House Talk with Putin

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.

Air strikes on December 31 disrupted that sense of normal. The family had invited friends over to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but when the missiles hit the city they rushed downstairs to the shelter.

But the targets on Monday also had little military value and, if anything, served to reflect Putin’s need to find new targets because of his inability to inflict defeats on Ukraine on the battlefield.

The bombing of power installations, in particular, Monday appeared to be an unsubtle hint of the misery the Russian President could inflict as winter sets in, even as his forces retreat in the face of Ukrainian troops using Western arms.

New attention to what the US and its allies need to do after sending billions of dollars of arms and kits toUkraine in an effective proxy war with Moscow, was given by the deadly attacks on civilians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been seeking more missile systems from NATO and the US. Zelensky thanked the US for its continued support and asked for more air defense help during a conversation with Joe Biden last Sunday. He told Biden that “Russian missile terror” has destroyed about half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, suggested Washington was looking favorably on Ukraine’s requests and was in touch with the government in Kyiv almost every day. He told CNN that he did the best he could to meet those needs in subsequent packages.

Kirby was also unable to say whether Putin was definitively shifting his strategy from a losing battlefield war to a campaign to pummel civilian morale and inflict devastating damage on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, though he suggested it was a trend developing in recent days and had already been in the works.

“It likely was something that they had been planning for quite some time. Kirby did not say that the explosion on the bridge might have accelerated their planning.

But French President Emmanuel Macron underscored Western concerns that Monday’s rush-hour attacks in Ukraine could be the prelude to another pivot in the conflict.

He knew where he was going in the winter. Vindman said on “New Day” that he is going to force the Ukrainian population to compromise by going after the infrastructure.

If we had more modern equipment, we might be able to raise the number of those missiles downed and not kill civilians or injured Ukrainians.

The Kremlin, reticent so far to escalate the war beyond Ukraine, could also aim to directly disrupt or deter foreign military assistance to Kyiv. Such efforts might involve attacks on NATO satellites or other reconnaissance assets, jamming or “sensor blinding” them to render them temporarily or permanently inoperable. Russia could conduct cyberattacks against Europe or the United States in order to hurt domestic supporters of the Kyiv government. The war then would no longer be confined to the borders of Ukraine.

It appears that Putin does not know that revenge is not a good way to behave on the battlefield and in the final analysis it is likely to cause serious damage to Russia.

The Russian War of Crime and the War in Ukraine, a mother of three who blogs about the War, has come to an end: The Ukrain Navy is running low on air missiles

Olena Gnes, a mother of three who is documenting the war on Youtube, told Anderson Cooper that she was angry at the return of fear and violence in the lives of Ukrainians from a new round of Russian terror.

“This is just another terror to provoke maybe panic, to scare you guys in other countries or to show to his own people that he is still a bloody tyrant, he is still powerful and look what fireworks we can arrange,” she said.

On Monday, the state television reported on the suffering and flaunted it. The picture showed smoke and carnage in central Kiev, along with empty store shelves and a long-range forecast that promised months of freezing temperatures.

We don’t currently see that Russia is massing its planes for a massive aerial attack. We do know that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory and a lot of capability left,” he said. “That’s why we’ve emphasized that we need to do everything that we can to get Ukraine as much air defense capability as we possibly can.”

The risk to the government and people of Ukrainians is too familiar, as they know that the Russian mix of missiles will wreak more havoc among the population if they persist with their use of swarms of missiles.

The head of the Ukrainian military intelligence alleged last Monday that Russia had nearly exhausted its arsenal of high-precision weapons, but still had enough supplies to cause harm. John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said that Iran had not delivered any missiles to Russia.

The Pentagon’s view at the time was that of its weapons stocks, Russia was “running the lowest on cruise missiles, particularly air-launched cruise missiles,” but that Moscow still had more than 50% of its pre-war inventory.

Some of the inventory was dispatched this week. But Russia has recently resorted to using much older and less precise KH-22 missiles (originally made as an anti-ship weapon), of which it still has large inventories, according to Western officials. Weighing 5.5 tons, they are designed to take out aircraft carriers. Dozens of casualties were caused by a KH-22 at a shopping mall in June.

The Russians have been adapting the S-300 to be an offensive weapon, with some effect. These have wrought devastation in Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv, among other places, and their speed makes them difficult to intercept. But they are hardly accurate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made rare public comments specifically addressing the attacks from the Russian Armed Forces on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

A senior Defense Department official added that work was continuing on improving Ukrainian air defenses, including “finding Soviet-era capabilities to make sure that countries were ready (and) could donate them and help move those capabilities.”

Yermak said the drones were Shahed models, known for crashing into the targets with explosive payloads. Ukraine estimates that Russia ordered 2,400 of the drones from Iran, a number that overwhelms Ukrainian air defense systems. As of 10am, Ukraine’s Air Force claims to have shot down 11 drones.

Ukraine’s shopping list, in order to prevail, might be divided into the now (shells, more air defenses, and longer-range missiles and rockets) and the next (tanks, Patriot batteries, and ground-launched small diameter bombs known as GLSDB with a nearly 100-mile (160-kilometer) range that have been promised by the US.)

He told the Defense Contact Group meeting that such a system would not be able to control all of the airspace over Ukraine, but that they were designed to control priority targets. What you’re looking at really is short-range low-altitude systems and then medium-range medium altitude and then long-range and high altitude systems, and it’s a mix of all of these.”

Western systems are beginning to trickle in. The first units of the US National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAM) are expected to arrive in the US in the next few weeks, according to the Ukrainian Defense Minister.

“This is only the beginning. “And we need more”, he said before he met with the donors at the meeting. Feeling optimistic.”

There is a system expected from the United States, as well as a system that arrived this week from Germany. “Bronk said that.”

The War in Ukraine Revisited: Russia, the Kremlin, the Stars, the Wind, and the Ejecta. How the Russians See the Situation

Ukraine’s senior military commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, tweeted Tuesday his thanks to Poland as “brothers in arms” for training an air defense battalion that had destroyed nine of 11 Shaheeds.

He said Poland had given Ukraine “systems” to help destroy the drones. Last month there were reports that the Polish government had bought advanced Israeli equipment (Israel has a policy of not selling “advanced defensive technology” to Kyiv) and was then transferring it to Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine ramped up further south as Russia also launched fresh assaults on Kherson overnight, after a wave of fatal shelling in the region earlier this week. Ukrainian forces retook control of the city last month in one of the most significant breakthroughs of the war to date.

The war is going towards an unpredictable phase for the first time. Keir Giles, a senior consultant at Chatham House, believes that this is the third, fourth, or fifth different war they have been observing.

“What seemed a distant prospect for anything that could be convincingly described as a Ukraine victory is now very much more plausible,” Giles said. Russia’s response is likely to get worse.

Ukrainian troops hoist the country’s flag above a building in Vysokopillya, in the southern Kherson region, last month. Ukrainian officials say they have liberated hundreds of settlements since their counter-offensive began.

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.

According to CNN, the Russians are hoping to avoid a collapse in their frontline before the winter sets in.

“If they can get to Christmas with the frontline looking roughly as it is, that’s a huge success for the Russians given how botched this has been since February.”

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 a lot of reasons for the Ukrainian government to get things done quickly. The winter energy crisis in Europe and the damage done to Ukrainian power infrastructure will always test the resilience of the Western countries that support the country.

Russia launched a pair of missiles on Monday and Tuesday, disrupting the country’s national electricity company Ukrenergo said it has been able to restore power to some areas. Ukrainian Prime Minister has asked his countrymen to cut down on their energy use during peak hours in order to fix damaged equipment.

“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’s use of its limited supply of precision weapons in this role may deprive Putin of options to disrupt ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensives,” the ISW assessed.

The scramble to provide tanks is the latest iteration of this gap. Leopard 2s, Challengers and Abrams M-1s have been earmarked for Ukraine and are vastly superior to the Russian main battle tanks. But the numbers are unclear – ranging from a few dozen to 300 – and even with a following wind the first won’t be in the field until April, and must then be integrated into combined formation battle groups, ready to take the fight to the enemy.

Any further Belarusian involvement in the war could also have a psychological impact, Puri suggested. “Everyone’s mind in Ukraine and in the West has been oriented towards fighting one army,” he said. Inside Russia, Belarus joining the invasion “would play into Putin’s narrative that this war is about reuniting the lands of ancient Rus states.”

Giles said the reopening of a northern front would be a new challenge for Ukraine. It would provide Russia a new route into the Kharkiv oblast (region), which has been recaptured by Ukraine, should Putin prioritize an effort to reclaim that territory, he said.

Mr. Zelensky described the trials and joys of Ukrainians as he prepared for the New Year. He said the first missiles had destroyed the illusions, but also showed Ukrainians what they were capable of.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday thatUkraine wanted more systems to stop missile attacks.

The struggle for Bakhmut between Ukraine and the United States: Moscow’s military response to a Syrian attack in Donetsk, Ukraine

Petraeus: It could if Putin mobilized all of Russia successfully. However, to date, the mobilizations have been partial, as Putin seems to fear how the country might respond to total mobilization. In fact, reportedly, more Russian men left the country than reported to the mobilization stations in response to the latest partial call-up of reserves.

The mayor’s office was hit by a rocket attack in the city of Donetsk, which is controlled by the pro-Russian rebels, while Ukrainian officials said Russian warplanes hit a town across from the nuclear power plant.

The struggle for Bakhmut has grown ever more ferocious in recent days. The fighting in the city is the most difficult, according to the Ukrainian President.

There are long jail sentences meted out to opposition voices who questioned the conduct and strategy of the Russian army.

Zelenskyy’s office said Moscow was shelling towns and villages along the front line in the east Sunday, and that “active hostilities” continued in the southern Kherson region.

Meanwhile, Russia opened an investigation into a shooting in that region Saturday in which two men from a former Soviet republic who were training at a military firing range killed 11 and wounded 15 during target practice, before being slain themselves. The Defense Ministry said it was a terrorist attack.

France, which has been lagging in support for Ukraine, is increasing its military training for the country. Up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers will be embedded with military units in France, rotating through for several weeks of combat training, specialized training in logistics and other needs, and training on equipment supplied by France, the French defense minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said in an interview published in Le Parisien.

The institute for the study of war accused Russia of forcibly expelling people from the country, which it said was likely to be ethnic cleansing.

It referenced statements made this week by Russian authorities that claimed that “several thousand” children from a southern region occupied by Moscow had been placed in rest homes and children’s camps amid the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The original remarks by Russia’s deputy prime minister, Marat Khusnullin, were reported by RIA Novosti on Friday.

Russian authorities have previously admitted that they broke an international treaty against genocide when they put children from Russian-held areas ofUkraine into adoption with Russian families.

The Ukrainian military accused the pro-Kremlin fighters of violating international humanitarian law by evicting civilians from occupied territories to house officers in their homes. It said the evictions were happening in Rubizhne, in the eastern Luhansk region. There was no evidence for its claim.

The question is when the blame will begin shifting from the military to Putin himself, particularly since he has seemed ill-prepared to change the leadership at very the top. The last change was the appointment of Sergei Surovikin as the first person to be placed in overall command of all Russian forces on the Ukraine front — an army general formerly in charge of the brutal Russian bombardment of Aleppo in Syria.

Girkin and Borrell in Brussels: Iran’s war on the battlefield, Ukraine’s armed forces, and the EU’s top diplomat

Girkin has been on an international wanted list over his alleged involvement in the downing of Kuala Lumpur-bound flight MH17, which killed 298 people. He remains the most high-profile suspect in a related murder trial, with a verdict expected next month.

Moscow’s battlefield failures have been lashed out at in recent posts on a social media platform. The $100,000 reward is for anyone who captures him.

Sullivan and Milley also hold regular joint calls with top Zelensky adviser Andriy Yermak and Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces. These calls give Sullivan and Milley a chance to get the latest reports from the battlefield and assess the Ukrainian military’s needs.

He removed the picture of “Geran-2,” Russian for “Iranian drones,” from his post after commenters accused him of confirmation of a Russian strike.

There is a meeting of EU foreign ministers today in Luxembourg. Before the meeting, Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, told reporters that the bloc would look into “concrete evidence” of Iran’s involvement in Ukraine.

The partnership of convenience is between two dictatorships that are in dire straits, according to an Iran expert.

The economies and politics of both countries are struggling. Iran is trying to quash street protests that pose the most serious challenge to the government in a long while, while Russia is trying to manage the effects of the war effort and an unpopular draft.

Nuclear Deterrence in the Balkans: Does Putin Really Want to Stay in Ukraine During Putin’s Presidency? The Case of the Volodymyr, Kolbe and Alperovitch

Nuclear deterrence exercises will be held by NATO. NATO has told Russia not to use nuclear weapons in the Balkans but says the drills are a regular activity.

Russian agents arrested people believed to be involved in carrying out a large explosion on a bridge.

“Even if President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy reached some conclusion that maybe we should, to stop the punishment, we should negotiate. I don’t think he can do that anymore because of the conviction of the Ukrainian people.”

The annual conference in Sea Island, Ga., hosted by The Cipher Brief brings together a group of people from the national security community to look at the big picture of global security.

A top Ukrainian official, Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to President Zelenskyy, told the conference the conflict needs to end with a Ukrainian victory on the battlefield.

The former CIA officer who runs the Intelligence Project at Harvard says that the Russian leader is not looking for a solution to the conflict. In fact, he says, just the opposite. “Putin’s memory is built upon his running into an obstacle,” said Kolbe. There are a lot of tricks he can pull out to try to undermine the belief in the West.

This annexation is a huge deal. Dmitri Alperovitch runs a think tank and he says that Putin hopes to remain in Ukraine during his presidency.

“That is essentially a metaphorical burning of bridges,” said Alperovitch. “What this means is that this war is likely to continue for many, many months, potentially many years, as long as he’s in power and as long as he has the resources to continue fighting.”

Part of the difficulty of making wartime assessments is that the war has gone through different phases, with one side and then the other having an advantage. The Russians defeated the Ukrainians in the battle for Kyiv, only for Russia to start fighting in the Donbas during the summer.

The cold war in Georgia: how the Soviet Union fought in the era of heavy shell-bombs and heavy shells, and what the Ukrainian military helped to do

At the Georgia conference, in a ballroom filled with experienced national security types, no one suggested the war was near an end. “Most wars end with some sort of negotiated solution, whether that comes out of stalemate or defeat, but I don’t see any prospects of talks in the near term,” said Paul Kolbe, the former CIA official.

The war started with a Russian invasion and is now as intense as ever, he said. NPR’s national security correspondent is Greg Myre. Follow him @gregmyre1.

“Ukrainian artillery not only caused heavy losses to the advancing units but hit their rear too – cutting off both their supply links and their possible withdrawal routes.”

Our guide is Ukrainian military medic, who goes by her nom-de-guerre “Katrusya.” At a rapid pace, she brings our convoy into the city’s centre with her sunglasses and fatigues.

We were taken to see a building that had just been hit. Our car had not come to a stop as the second shell hit nearby. We had to hide for a bit as more bombs whizzed down around us.

The Struggle in the Bakhmut War: The Prigozhin’s Last Combatant and the Support of the Wagner Group

A handful of residents are still on on the streets of Bakhmut. There are no windows, the streets are pockmarked with craters, and industrial garbage bins have merged into small pools of trash.

Those who remain seem to live in a parallel universe. They’re out on their bikes, running a errand, and elderly women drag shopping carts behind them, which shops are open?

Sergey is one of those people still living in Bakhmut. Asked if he is worried about the shelling he replies, “Afraid of what, mate? Everything is going to okay.”

Katrusya says that the intense fighting has cost the lives of numerous soldiers and civilians here. It is a lot, but I cannot give you an exact number… there are a lot of dead and injured on both sides.

Two strategic towns in the Donestk region can be reached by taking a fork that leads to the south-west and north-west. All three are important for Putin’s control of the region.

The scenes in Bakhmut though are different to those across the rest of the country, where Ukraine has largely been able to repel and even gain territory in recent weeks as Russian forces retreated at the end of September.

Russian forces have made small, steady gains here thanks to the support of the Wagner group, which analysts consider to be a Kremlin-approved private military company.

Wagner update: Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said there are no Serbian nationals among the mercenary group’s fighters in Ukraine, after “the last one” left the area two months ago. The comments come after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić accused Wagner of trying to recruit Serbs to fight in Ukraine.

“They are a rabble. There are a few professional fighters, but most of them have ended up in this war looking for money or for the ability to escape jail.

In September, video surfaced appearing to show Prigozhin recruiting prisoners from Russian jails for Wagner, offering a promise of clemency in exchange for six months’ combat service in Ukraine.

Clinton thinks no one is asking for a blank check. “I believe that the Ukrainians have proven that they are a really good investment for the United States. They are not asking us to be there to fight their war. They are fighting it on their own. They want us and our allies to use all the means in the world to win.

Moscow and the Russian Invasion After World War II: Vladimir Putin’s new power and his warning message to the Ukrainians is doubted

The mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyansin, appeared to be taking pains to give assurances. Mr. Sobyanin wrote that there were no plans to limit the normal rhythm of the city’s life.

The governors of the region said no restrictions would be imposed despite Mr. Putin’s new power.

Analysts say that many Russians will see a warning message after Moscow declared martial law for the first time since World War II.

The people are worried about the future of the borders and the siloviki in the Kremlin will do what they want.

The commander of the Russian invasion said on Tuesday that his army’s position in Kherson was “already quite difficult” and that a tactical retreat might be necessary. General Surovikin said he was ready to make “difficult decisions” about military deployments, but did not say more about what those might be.

Many people think that the war can end with a victory for the Ukrainians. I think so, but I doubt it. Russia spent ten times more on its defense budget than it spent on population, GDP and goods and services. Russians are believed to have a high capacity for pain during war. (The Soviet Union lost 24 million people in World War II compared to America’s 420,000.) While Russia is experiencing a decline in its economy, Ukraine’s has fallen off a cliff. The government is spending more than it takes in due to Western aid.

The French War on the Battlefield: A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars that Might Still Happen

The author of the book A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars that Might Still Happen is a CNN contributor, as well as a member of the French Legion of Honor. He was a correspondent for CBS News in Europe and Asia. His own thoughts are reflected in this commentary. View more opinion at CNN.

First, he’s seeking to distract his nation from the blindingly obvious, namely that he is losing badly on the battlefield and utterly failing to achieve even the vastly scaled back objectives of his invasion.

This ability to keep going depends on a host of variables – ranging from the availability of critical and affordable energy supplies for the coming winter, to the popular will across a broad range of nations with often conflicting priorities.

In the early hours of Friday in Brussels, European Union powers agreed a roadmap to control energy prices that have been surging on the heels of embargoes on Russian imports and the Kremlin cutting natural gas supplies at a whim.

The emergency cap of the Dutch Title Transfer Facility, a benchmark for European gas trading, and the permission for EU gas companies to set up a price for gas on the international market are included.

While praising the summit, which he described as having maintained European unity, he conceded that there was only a clear mandate for the European Commission to start working on a gas cap mechanism.

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is skeptical of price caps. The energy ministers have to find out more about the Germans’ concern that such caps would encourage higher consumption.

All of these divisions are a part of Putin’s dream. The Kremlin has a point about Europe failing to agree on essential items, which could lead to success in Europe.

France and Germany are already at odds on a number of issues. The conference call for Wednesday was scheduled by the French and German leaders in an attempt to reach some agreement.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/25/opinions/putin-prolonge-war-ukraine-winter-andelman/index.html

The Case for a Resolution of the Italy’s Left-Right Puzzle: Matteo Salvini, the First Prime Minister and the Secretary of State

And now a new government has taken power in Italy. The first woman prime minister in Italy has tried to ignore the post-fascist image of her party. One of her far-right coalition partners meanwhile, has expressed deep appreciation for Putin.

At a meeting of Berlusconi’s party faithful, he boasted about Putin sending him 20 bottles of martini and a sweet letter for his 86th birthday.

Matteo Salvini, who became deputy prime minister of the Italian coalition on Saturday, said he would not want sanctions on Russia to hurt those who impose them more than those who are hit.

At the same time, Poland and Hungary, longtime ultra-right-wing soulmates united against liberal policies of the EU that seemed calculated to reduce their influence, have now disagreed over Ukraine. Hungary’s populist leader has been criticized by Poland for his pro-Putin sentiment.

This is trickier. Kevin McCarthy, the likely Speaker of the House of Representatives, warned the Biden administration that it would not get a blank cheque from the new GOP-led congress.

On Monday, the influential 30 member Congressional progressive caucus called on Biden to open talks with Russia to end the conflict while its troops are still occupying vast stretches of the country and its missiles and drones are striking deep into the interior.

Mia Jacob, the chairperson of the caucus, apologized in an email to reporters for her comments about Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba to renew America’s support.

Thirty Years of War: Russian Power, the West, Nuclear Arms, and the Nuclear Relics of the Cold Cold War: The Challenge for Middle East and Middle East

The west is continuing to try and curb the profits of Russian energy companies by limiting countries’ payments for Russian oil and using seaborne oil imports. Efforts are cutting into profits.

Russian production of hypersonic missiles has all but ceased “due to the lack of necessary semi-conductors,” said the report. Plants that make anti-aircraft systems are shutting down and Russia can no longer rely on aircraft for spare parts. Thirty years ago, the Soviet era ended.

A day before this report, the US announced seizure of all property of a top Russian procurement agent Yury Orekhov and his agencies “responsible for procuring US-origin technologies for Russian end-users…including advanced semiconductors and microprocessors.”

The Justice Department said that people and companies tried to smuggle high-tech equipment into Russia in violation of sanctions.

The strengthening relationship between Moscow and Tehran has drawn the attention of Iran’s rivals and foes in the Middle East, of NATO members and of nations that are still – at least in theory – interested in restoring the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which aimed to delay Iran’s ability to build an atomic bomb.

The historian Yuval Noah Harari has argued that no less than the direction of human history is at stake, because a victory by Russia would reopen the door to wars of aggression, to invasions of one country by another, something that since the Second World War most nations had come to reject as categorically unacceptable.

It’s still repercussions are still present far from the battlefields. When oil-producing nations, led by Saudi Arabia, decided last month to slash production, the US accused the Saudis of helping Russia fund the war by boosting its oil revenues. Saudis deny an accusation.

Syria’s airspace, bordering Israel, is controlled by Russian forces, which have allowed Israel to strike Iranian weapon flows to Hezbollah, a militia sworn to Israel’s destruction. Gantz has offered to help Ukraine develop defensive systems and it will reportedly provide new military communications systems, but no missile shields.

African and Middle Eastern countries benefit the most from Ukrainian and Russian wheat, corn, and cooking oil. Turkey and the United Nations brokered a deal last summer to allow Ukrainian grain to pass through Black Sea ports, but Russia is reportedly still hindering shipments. Russia is a major producer of both oil and urea. Disruptions to the flow of these goods are compounding other supply chain and climate challenges, driving up food and gas prices and causing shortages in places such as Chad, Tunisia and Sri Lanka.

Everyone has already been affected by the war in Ukraine. The conflict has also sent fuel prices higher, contributing to a global explosion of inflation.

Higher prices have an impact on many aspects of our lives. They make a political punch when they have such powerful momentum. Inflation, worsened by the war, has put incumbent political leaders on the defensive in countless countries.

What Has the Russian Army Learned About Ukraine? The DEEP INFOgraphic SOURCE OF Vuhledar, Ukraine, During the McCarthy Era

There’s more to it than is on the fringes. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader who could become speaker of the House after next week’s US elections, suggested the GOP might choose to reduce aid to Ukraine. The letter was withdrawn by the Progressives and called for negotiations. Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official during the Obama administration, said they’re all bringing “a big smile to Putin’s face.”

The town of Vuhledar in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine has been the site of multiple Russian attacks over the last two weeks.

The statement said that Russian forces were staging up to 80 assaults a day and had a phone conversation with the commander of the allied force in Europe.

General Zaluzhnyi said they talked about the situation at the front. He told his colleague in the U.S. that the Ukrainian forces were beating back the attacks.

An assessment from the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based analytical group, also said that the increase in infantry in the Donbas region in the east had not resulted in Russia’s gaining new ground.

There are setbacks around the city that don’t bode well for a bigger Russian offensive. They have weakened the Russian ultranationalist community’s belief that Russian forces are able to launch a decisive offensive operation.

With Russian and Ukrainian forces apparently preparing for battle in Kherson, and conflicting signals over what may be coming, the remaining residents of the city have been stocking up on food and fuel to survive combat.

And Ukraine will be watching America’s midterm election results this week, especially after some Republicans warned that the party could limit funding for Ukraine if it wins control of the House of Representatives, as forecast.

The Annihilation of Kherson City by Russian Forces in Light of the U.S.-Embedding of Russian-American Defense Forces into NATO

Also Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Erdogan insists Sweden must meet certain conditions before it can join NATO.

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday is scheduled to discuss an International Atomic Energy Agency report, in which Ukraine is expected to be on the agenda.

On Nov. 2, Russia came back to the U. UN brokered deal to export grain and other agricultural goods from Ukraine. Moscow had suspended its part in the deal a few days prior after saying Ukraine had launched a drone attack on its Black Sea ships.

Bradley fighting vehicles will be supplied to the Ukranian Army by the United States as part of a new security assistance package, which is expected to take place on the anniversary of the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian military intelligence said that units of the armed forces of Ukranian are entering the city.

Videos shared by Ukrainian government officials on social media showed scenes of civilians who had endured nearly nine months of occupation cheering the arrival of a contingent of Ukrainian troops.

Less than 48 hours later, Russia’s defense minister announced that Russian troops would leave the city. After ordering all civilians to leave towns and villages in the region last month and engaging in a systematic effort to loot museums, government building, hospitals and homes, Russian forces this week blew up bridges and laid a vast network of mines to slow the Ukrainian advance as they abandoned long-held defensive positions west of Kherson city.

The east bank of the Dnipro River is the location of the Kherson region, which was annexed by Russia in violation of international laws.

The residents of the region were greeted with joy by the Ukrainian soldiers who continued to move through their towns and villages.

On the nature of the Russians in Kherson city. A retired citizen’s frustrations with the evacuation of a Ukrainian town from the Dnipro river

The commander of the Ukrainian drone patrol unit said he had not seen Russian troops in his area north of Kherson city.

He said the Russians left all the villages. We looked at a lot of villages and had no luck with the cars we saw. We don’t see how they are leaving. They retreat at night.

Serhiy, a retiree living in Kherson who asked that his last name not be published for security reasons, said in a series of text messages before Ukrainian soldiers swept in that conditions in the city had unraveled overnight.

He described a fire that raged at night in the center but it was not possible to call the fire department. “There was no phone signal, no electricity, no heating and no water.”

There was no visible military presence in the city on Friday but four residents said that they saw Russian soldiers dressed in civilian clothes move around the city.

Moving to the east bank will allow Russia to replenish troops and regain its defense in depth. Russian forces are well positioned along the Dnipro river, so any attempt by Ukrainian forces to cross it would be very costly. trenches appeared on satellite imagery, and civilians were kicked out of their homes close to the river.

A crowd was waving flags and chanting “ZSU” as Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video of celebrations in Kherson city.

Footprints of the Russian Army on the Dniepro River: Invasion and destruction of a bridge between Kherson city and northern Ukraine

There were no weapons left on the west bank of the military equipment. Russian servicemen moved to the left bank of the Dnieper.

Russian forces had been loading into boats that were good to cross the river, according to the southern operational command of the Ukrainian military.

Maxar Technologies satellite images and other photos show at least seven bridges destroyed in the last 24 hours, four of them crossing the Dnipro.

Alexander Kots, a reporter for the Russian pro-government tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda embedded with Russian forces, posted a video on his Telegram channel standing on the crossing, showing the entire center section of the bridge destroyed. The two collapsed spans of the bridge were behind him. “They were likely blown up during the withdrawal of the Russian group of forces from the right bank to the left,” or western bank to eastern bank.

The battle that took place on Monday was the result of the Russian retreat from the southern city of Kherson, and it gave the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a victory.

Russian forces destroyed the bridges to the village in order to prevent the Ukrainian military from taking control of the area.

There are videos on social media showing residents of the town of Bilozerka, on the western outskirts of Kherson city, hoisting a Ukrainian flag and ripping down Russian propaganda billboards.

An official in southern Ukraine warned Friday that residents might be at risk of being caught in mines when returning to recently liberated territory, after officials warned that Russian troops could turn the area into a “city of death” on the way out.

Vitaliy Kim, commander of Mykolaiv region military administration, said there were a lot of mines in the liberated territories. Don’t go there for your own sake. There are casualties.”

The impact of the Russian counter offensive on a critical dam and bridge in Nova Kakhovka on the day of the Novikovsky attack

Peskov said this is a topic of the Russian Federation. It has been fixed and defined. There can be no changes here.

The reporting from Kherson was contributed by Hannah Palamarenko. Mark and Pam did the editing. Chad Campbell produced a version of this story for broadcast.

The lives of civilians and troops are in danger because of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which targeted Russian army depots and command posts.

President Zelensky hailed Friday as a historic day. Zelensky said that they were returning the south of the country.

Success in Kherson may allow exhausted Ukrainian units some respite, as well as allow redirecting focus on Donbas, where fierce fighting continues.

Ukranian authorities also have a massive task of reconstruction ahead in Kherson, where Russian forces destroyed critical infrastructure and left a huge number of mines behind.

New damage has also appeared on a critical dam that spans the Dnipro in the Kherson region city of Nova Kakhovka, on the east bank of the river. For weeks, both sides have accused the other of planning to breach the dam, which if destroyed would lead to extensive flooding on the east bank and deprive the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia of water to cool its reactors.

The Dnipro has become the main front line in southern Ukraine, and officials there warned of continued dangers from fighting in areas that have been besieged by the Russians.

Through the afternoon, artillery fire picked up in a southern district of the city near the destroyed Antonivsky Bridge over the Dnipro, stoking fears that the Russian Army would retaliate for the loss of the city with a bombardment from its new positions on the eastern bank.

Mortar shells struck near the bridge, sending up puffs of smoke. There were loud, metallic booms in the area near the river. It wasn’t possible to assess what had been hit.

The mines are dangerous and people are so scared to leave the country,” Iryna Vereshchuk, a deputy prime minister in Kherson City, Ukraine

The Ukrainian government is going to set up transportation routes for people to leave the country, said Iryna Vereshchuk, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister. She said that they wouldn’t have time to repair power supplies enough to heat homes for people with reduced mobility. “It will not be a mass evacuation. It will cover those who are sick, the elderly and those left without care of their relatives.”

The mines are dangerous. Four people, including an 11 year old, were killed when a family driving in the village of Novoraysk outside the city ran over a mine. After the lines were damaged, six railway workers were injured attempting to restore service. There were at least four children injured by mines in the region, Ukrainian officials said.

Even as Mr. Zelensky visited Kherson, the death of several people underscored the threats still on the ground.

Mr. Zelensky said in a speech on Monday that he was coming to all of the country step by step.

Russian forces continued to fire from across the river on the towns and villages that were recently regained by the Ukrainian forces, according to the Ukrainian military. Two Russian missiles struck the town of Beryslav, which is just north of a critical dam, the military said. It was not known if there were casualties.

One resident who spoke via the secure messaging app from Oleshki said that people in Kherson City were robbed and traded for homemade vodka. They get drunk and even more aggressive. We are so scared here.” She asked that her surname be withheld for security.

“Russians roam around, identify the empty houses and settle there,” Ivan, 45, wrote in a text message. He wants his name not to be used out of worry for his safety, and he lives in Skadovsk, south of Kherson city. “We try to connect with the owners and to arrange for someone local to stay in their place. So that it is not abandoned and Russians don’t take it.”

G-20 Summit Report on U.S. and U.K. Views on Russia-Ukraine War, Climate, and Military Intelligence

The G-20 summit continues in Indonesia, where the Russia-Ukraine war and its global economic fallout loom large. President Biden talked with China’s leader on the sidelines Monday. The British Prime Minister is going to meet with Biden.

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 U.N. climate conference was concerned with the war in Ukranian. Ukraine used the summit to talk about the war and how it is causing “ecocide.” Experts pointed out that the war is driving a new push for fossil fuels.

Poland is a NATO member, and the first missile to have landed in the country may have been a Ukrainian anti-aircraft rocket intercepting an incoming Russian missile, as Polish and NATO leaders suspected. (President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, has insisted the missile was not Ukrainian)

Whatever the exact circumstances of the missile, one thing is clear. “Russia bears ultimate responsibility, as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Wednesday.

Some Russian soldiers have rebelled against what they were told to do and refused to fight. Amid plummeting morale, the UK’s Defense Ministry believes Russian troops may be prepared to shoot retreating or deserting soldiers.

Indeed a hotline and Telegram channel, launched as a Ukrainian military intelligence project called “I want to live,” designed to assist Russian soldiers eager to defect, has taken off, reportedly booking some 3,500 calls in its first two months of activity.

Zygar had no choice but to leave the EU if a future combat air system was coming – a Russian journalist’s warning

One leading Russian journalist, Mikhail Zygar, who has settled in Berlin after fleeing in March, told me last week that while he hoped this is not the case, he is prepared to accept the reality – like many of his countrymen, he may never be able to return to his homeland, to which he remains deeply attached.

Rumbling in the background is the West’s attempt to diversify away from Russian oil and natural gas in an effort to deprive the country of material resources to pursue this war. The President of the European Commission told the G20 on Tuesday that they learned that it was an unsustainable dependency and they need reliable and forward looking connections.

Putin dreamed that the conflict would drive more wedges into the Western alliance, but it isn’t happening. On Monday, word began circulating in aerospace circles that the long-stalled joint French-German project for a next-generation jet fighter at the heart of the Future Combat Air System – Europe’s largest weapons program – was beginning to move forward.

The Ukrainians and the Russians have both used cluster bombs, but the Russians use them more often and against civilian targets, including parks, clinics, and a cultural center.

CNN has learned that the Biden administration officials have been fielding and rejecting the request for months, but have not rejected it completely.

A long-term risk to anyone who encounters a cluster bomb is similar to the threat posed by a landmine. They also create “nasty, bloody fragmentation” to anyone hit by them because of the dozens of submunitions that detonate at once across a large area, Mark Hiznay, a weapons expert and the associate arms director for Human Rights Watch, previously told CNN.

The Biden administration has not taken the option off the table as a last resort, if stockpiles begin to run dangerously low. But sources say the proposal has not yet received significant consideration in large part due to the statutory restrictions that Congress has put on the US’ ability to transfer cluster munitions.

The risk to the civilian population from unexploded ordnances is thought to be higher than those restrictions apply to them. President Joe Biden may be able to get around the restriction, but the administration thinks that’sunlikely in the near term.

“The ability of Ukraine to make gains in current and upcoming phases of conflict is in no way dependent on or linked to their procuring said munitions,” a congressional aide told CNN.

The Defense Ministry told CNN it doesn’t comment on reports regarding requests for particular weapons systems, choosing to wait until an agreement is reached with the supplier.

The M30A1 alternate warhead was used in the US to replace the dual-purpose improved conventional munitions. 180,000 small steel fragments can not leave unexploded grennels on the ground, so the M30A1 contains them. Ukrainian officials, however, say that the DPICMs the US now has in storage could help the Ukrainian military enormously on the battlefield – more so than the M30A1.

“Heroes of Russia” and “The Crimean Bridge”: The Ukraine’s connection with a “drone attack”

Speaking after an awards ceremony for “Heroes of Russia” at the Kremlin, he addressed a group of soldiers receiving the awards, clutching a glass of champagne.

He listed a series of events he blames on the Ukrainians: “Who hit the Crimean bridge? Who blew up the power lines from the Kursk nuclear power plant?”

The reference to Kursk appears to reference Russia’s announcement that an airfield in the Kursk region, which neighbors Ukraine, was targeted in a drone attack. The Ukrainian defense ministry didn’t comment on the recent explosions in Russia. The targets are beyond the scope of the country’s declared drones.

On the water crisis in Borodianka, Kazakhstan: a response to the Moscow Gazprom attack on February 24, 2004 by the Russians

He ended his apparent off-the-cuff comments by claiming there is no mention of the water situation. “No one has said a word about it anywhere. At all! Complete silence He said that was what he meant.

Local Russian authorities in the city have said that there have been frequent shelling this week.

He and the school have nearly 1,000 students. When power is out for extended periods, the school serves as a shelter, providing heat, food and water.

He says the power cuts have lasted up to 24 hours. In this agricultural region, farming equipment and warehouses were destroyed. He estimates business activity is one-third of what it was.

The Russians occupiedBorodianka on February 24, and killed about 200 Ukrainians over the course of March. The town’s prewar population of 14,000 dwindled to a little more than 1,000. It’s back up to about 9,000 despite the lack of resources.

“The people coming are mostly from the houses on the main street. The volunteers in charge of the temporary housing are fromUkraine and they say the ones destroyed and burned down were the ones that were destroyed.

Taras Shevchenko’s bust of Ukraine’s independence from Russia is a boy throwing a man to the floor

During an interview, the lights go out, leaving her standing in a darkened hallway. She won’t make a decision until she sees if the power comes back. If it starts to get chilly, she’ll turn on the generator. It’s like this every day, she adds.

There is a bust of TarasShevchenko in the central part of town. He worked for Ukraine’s independence from Russia in the 19th century. He wrote, “It’s bad to be a slave and be locked up.”

A well-known British artist well-known for his street spray-paintings, Banksy secretly painted some badly scarred walls last month, eventually admitting it was his work on social media.

The picture shows a boy throwing a man to the floor. They are wearing martial arts attire. The man is widely assumed to be Russian leader Vladimir Putin, a judo enthusiast.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/10/1141536117/russia-war-ukraine-town-borodianka-banksy-power-cuts

Nuclear Power Outages in Simferopol and Odesa: State-by-State U.S. Air Force and Drone Attacks

People are happy that we’re getting attention. But the paintings are on buildings that were destroyed,” Yerko says. “We’re planning to remove the paintings and put them somewhere else.”

There were reported blasts in the city of Simferopol at around 9 p.m. local time on Saturday.

An explosion at a Russian military barracks in Sovietske killed at least one and wounded many, according to the unofficial media portal of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Sergey Aksenov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, said on Telegram: “The air defense system worked over Simferopol. The services are working as usual.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that Russian drone strikes on the southern port city of Odesa left more than 1.5 million people in that region without power Saturday night, the latest attacks in an ongoing series of assaults on Ukrainian energy infrastructure by the Kremlin.

“In general, both emergency and stabilization power outages continue in various regions,” Zelensky said. The power system is far from normal, to say the least.

“This is the true attitude of Russia towards Odesa, towards Odesa residents – deliberate bullying, deliberate attempt to bring disaster to the city,” Zelensky added.

Ukrainian Air Force, Security, and the Crisis in the Middle East: Implications for Poland and for the future of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine

EU lawmakers approved about $19 billion in financing for Ukraine, Dec. 14, and more sanctions on Russia. The aid package was promised by dozens of countries and global institutions earlier in the week, to help the country with power, heat, food and medical supplies.

The enemy wanted to scatter air defense attention, according to a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force. Ukraine’s top military chief, Valeriy Zaluzhny, later said that 60 of the missiles were downed by the country’s air defense forces.

Ukrainians rely on plants and equipment for heat and light, and the attacks have drawn condemnation from world leaders who have made it their priority to keep the lights on.

He urged people to cut back on their power use because there is an acute shortage in the power grid.

There are attacks on infrastructure in the country. Residential buildings, hotel, shop and a place for festivals were damaged. There are dead and injured,” he wrote.

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.

In France on Tuesday, there will be a conference with Ukraine in support of Ukrainians through the winter with a video address by President Zelenskyy.

Russia’s Oil and Fuel Crisis in the Light of Zelenskyy’s Call for a Smoothing Out of Relations with Russia

Russia is an oil and fuel producer. The Russian oil, gas and diesel that European countries relied on skyrocketed in price after they banned it. Europe locked in alternative sources, along with a mild winter, helped reduce the price hikes. Now prices have returned to what they were before the invasion.

The leaders of Turkey, France, and the United States all received calls from President Zelenskyy on Dec. 11, in an apparent effort to smooth out relations with Russia.

2022: A Year of Firsts, More Than Just News. From Russia to the Uvalde, Texas War, to the United States High School Shooting

The world witnessed an unwieldy and unparalleled set of news events in 2022. It was a year that made people feel disbelief and despair. Yet some days offered joy and pride. From Russia’s war in Ukraine to the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, there are some amazing stories of the year. The world slowly started to come out of a long and drawn- out pandemic, as the year began. In February of this year a full-blown war broke out inUkraine as Russia invaded the country, ending and upending the lives of many civilians and children. The photo of the pregnant woman, holding her lower abdominals, being carried on a stretcher after a bomb exploded in a maternity hospital is one of the most vivid pictures of the war for the Associated Press. The unnamed woman and her baby died days later. This image has come to symbolize one of many Russian atrocities in the war in Ukraine. The attack on March 9, just 13 days after the war started, was one of the most brutal days of the conflict that continues to this day. In June the Uvalde, Texas school shooting was witnessed by the US. Photographer Pete Luna photographed a scene of young students running to safety while a male was still inside the school. And on September 8, Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, sending shockwaves around the world. The monarch had worked with a lot of British prime ministers. She died two days after she invited him to form a new government. Crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands came to pay their respects to the Queen who reigned for 70 years. This was also a year of firsts. The United States witnessed the confirmation of the country’s first Black woman Supreme Court justice. At the Winter Olympics, American Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win an individual medal in speedskating. And history was made with the first all-female refereeing crew at a men’s World Cup. Another notable moment this year was the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that guaranteed the federal constitutional right to an abortion in the United States. The court’s decision this year triggered protests by abortion-rights activists and celebrations in the streets by anti-abortion groups, further ideologically separating an already divided country. Americans went to the polls and produced election results that were better than expected. As all these moments unraveled, the Earth continued to warm up, melting and separating glacial ice ridges while much of the Northern Hemisphere dealt with a historic drought that scorched soil, dried up rivers and triggered mass crop failure. Far above the Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope captured magnificent images of space in great, crisp detail. On the other end of the news spectrum was the bizarre moment at this year’s Academy Awards when Will Smith brazenly slapped Chris Rock in the middle of the show, irked by what the comedian said about his wife. Millions were watching the moment on television. The sports fans who were in attendance cheered on as Judge broke Roger Maris’A League home run record in a single season. Interwoven with these big news events were snapshots of daily life reminding the world of the beautiful, quiet — and sometimes hilarious — moments in and out of people’s lives. Behind all the top photos is the hard work of photographers. Many of them continue to document wars and conflicts, away from the safety of their homes. They have been working hard to get the images to light and this helps us understand it through photography. CNN Digital has a show about the year in pictures.

Ukrainian forces have unleashed the biggest attack on the occupied Donetsk region since 2014, according to a Russia-installed official, in the wake of heavy fighting in the east of the country.

“Forty rockets from BM-21 ‘Grad’ MLRS were fired at civilians in our city,” he said Thursday, adding that a key intersection in Donetsk city center had come under fire.

They were able to hit Kherson with missiles and rockets. More than 80 people have died. Only a fifth of the city’s prewar population of 300,000 remains.

The member of the rapid response team that was one of the victims was a volunteer. During the shelling, they were on the street, they were fatally wounded by fragments of enemy shells,” he added.

The strikes in Kherson left the city “completely disconnected” from power supplies, according to the regional head of the Kherson military administration, Yanushevych.

Meanwhile, further west Kyiv received machinery and generators from the United States to help strengthen the Ukrainian capital’s power infrastructure amid the widespread energy deficits.

Four excavators and over 130 generators were delivered by the Energy Security Project. All equipment was free of charge.

The United States is not at war with Ukraine, but it is ready to defend itself,” said Russian defense minister Sergei Peskov in response to Zelensky’s proposal

As the war has entered its tenth month, the Russian government appears to have turned down the peace proposal of Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of the Republic of Yugoslavia.

“The Ukrainian side needs to take into account the realities that have developed over all this time,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday in response to Zelensky’s three-step proposal.

It requires a relatively large number of personnel to be trained, according to CNN’s Barbara Starr and Oren Liebermann, who were first to report the US is close to sending the system to Ukraine.

“Earlier, many experts, including those overseas, questioned the rationality of such a step which would lead to an escalation of the conflict and increase the risk of directly dragging the US army into combat,” Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow.

The Patriot system is expensive and complicated and requires intensive training for the multiple people it takes to operate it, but could help the country guard against Russian attacks that have left millions without power.

Asked Thursday about Russian warnings that the Patriot system would be “provocative,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said those comments would not influence US aid to Ukraine.

It is ironic and very telling that officials from a country that brutally attacked it neighbor in an illegal and unprovoked invasion chose to use words like provocative to describe defensive systems that are meant to save lives and protect civilians.

However, he added, “The US is not at war with Russia, and we do not seek conflict. Our focus is on providing Ukraine with the security assistance it needs to defend itself.”

In what may be a no less subtle message than calling the Patriot deployments provocative, Russia’s defense ministry shared video of the installation of a “Yars” intercontinental ballistic missile into a silo launcher in the Kaluga region for what Alexei Sokolov, commander of the Kozelsky missile formation, called “combat duty as planned.”

Appearing this week on Russian state TV, Commander Alexander Khodakovsky of the Russian militia in the Donetsk region suggested Russia could not defeat the NATO alliance in a conventional war.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine: The Battle of the Russian Invasion of Crimea and the Implications for the Future of the Cold War

Smaller air defense systems can only be operated by a few people, whereas the larger batteries need dozens of people to operate them. While the training process for the batteries is normally not that long, the United States will have to do it now because of the frequent aerial attacks from Russia.

In an interview with The Economist published Thursday, Zelensky also rejected the idea recently suggested by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Ukraine seek to reclaim only land seized by Russia since February 2022 and not areas like Donbas and Crimea, which have been under Russian control since 2014.

Valeriy Chaly, Ukraine’s former ambassador to the United States, said the region would be more stable if Ukraine wins the war and joins NATO. It is highly unlikely that Ukraine will join the alliance in the near term.

Old rifles. CNN’s Ellie Kaufman and Liebermann reported earlier this week on a US military official who says Russian forces have had to resort to 40-year-old artillery ammunition as their supplies of new ammo are “rapidly dwindling.”

“You load the ammunition and you cross your fingers and hope it’s gonna fire or when it lands that it’s gonna explode,” said the official, speaking to reporters.

Russia meanwhile continues to stockpile arms and ammunition in large quantities close to the troops they will supply and well within range of enemy weaponry. The standard military practice dictates that large depots be broken up and scattered, and that they’re located far behind enemy lines in Russian territory, even though the western powers have not allowed Ukrainian strikes there.

In the aftermath of the collapse of the Russian monarchy, Ukrainians were looking to exploit the chaos in Russia. But Vladimir Lenin and the Communists, the successors to the Russian monarchy, sent troops to Ukraine and defeated that short-lived independence.

The Russians demolished the suburb of Bucha in the first days of the war. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Viatrovych immediately sent his family to western Ukraine for their safety.

He went to parliament in order to make martial law happen. By 2 p.m. that day, he received a rifle so he could join the security forces defending the capital.

So, in recent years, Ukrainians have reached further into their history to argue that Ukrainian independence existed before the fall of the Soviet Union, or even the Russian Empire before it. “Independence Day,” marking the dissolution of the Soviet Union, has now been referred to as the restoration of independence. Events relating to Ukraine’s brief period of independence after World War I are now national holidays, as are days that celebrate a Ukrainian Cossack state that existed around the 17th century.

What’s changed since Russian missiles first began falling on February 24, 2022? The fear of being attacked by rockets and drones has been replaced by anger by the Ukrainians.

Ongoing fight to free it self-from-russia: Ukraine is going through a “disagreement stage” of independence (1919-1991)

The glass ceiling of the hall where independence was declared in 1918 was blown out by the blast. The windows are boarded up. The glass is still on the floor.

“There are, of course, parallels to a century ago,” said Steshuk Oleh, the director of the House of Teachers. The building was damaged in the fighting. And now it’s damaged again. But don’t worry. We will rebuild everything.”

“If you look at all the hardship that Ukraine has been through in the last century, and they’re vast, this is the time where all the wrongs of the last hundred years need to be made right,” he said.

The issue was finally resolved in December 1991, when the Ukrainians voted on independence. Ninety-two percent voted in favor of going their own way. The Soviet Union collapsed later that month.

“We have an opportunity to put an end to this.” He says that Ukrainians are more prepared to fight than in 1918.

He said that if he is losing a war, he doesn’t survive. “The outcome may signal the end, not just of Putin’s era, but the era of the empire. It’s the 21st century. It’s time for the empire to go.

When Kasparov entered politics in Russia 15 years ago, he 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

War is not going to make a resolution on the battlefield, nor is Russia going to keep up with science, nor does Russia have the potential to survive wartime

Many military analysts warn the war is unlikely to produce a clear resolution on the battlefield. They say it’s likely to require negotiations and compromises.

He doesn’t think that being a buffer zone or gray zone is good for the country. “If you are a gray zone between two security blocs, two military blocs, everybody wants to make a step. This has happened with other countries.

The southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia was hit by more than a dozen missile strikes, according to Oleksandr Starukh, chief of the regional military administration, but it was unclear what had been targeted.

The Engels air base, which is home to Russia’s long-range, nuclear-capable bombers, was targeted in a drone attack in early December, according to the Kremlin, slightly damaging two planes. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

An MiG-31K, a supersonic aircraft capable of carrying a Kinzal hypersonic missile, was also seen in the sky over Belarus during the air attacks on Friday in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. But it was not clear from their statement whether a Kinzal was used in the attacks.

“We know that their defense industrial base is being taxed,” Kirby said of Russia. They know they are having trouble keeping up. We know that he’s (Russian President Vladimir Putin’s) having trouble replenishing specifically precision guided munitions.”

He did not announce any new details, but said that another package would be coming and that the air defense capabilities should be expected.

Zelensky in the era of war: The phone call of Vladimir Putin to Vladimir Putin in Moscow, during the invasion of Ukraine, at the age of war

In Paris at the time, I witnessed how Zelensky pulled up to the Élysée Palace in a modest Renault, while Putin motored in with an ostentatious armored limousine. The host, French President, hugged Putin but did not shake hands with Zelensky.

In the lead up to Russia’s invasion, Zelensky’s popularity ratings fell to an all-time low, even after a great start to his administration.

An associate lecturer in Ukrainian at the school of Slavonic and East-European Studies, University College London, Dovzhyk is a special projects curator. She splits her time between Ukranian and London, where she is a “fixer” for foreign journalists.

“After the full-scale invasion, once he got into a position of being bullied by someone like Vladimir Putin he knew exactly what he needed to do because it was just his gut feeling,” Yevhen Hlibovytsky, former political journalist and founder of the Kyiv-based think tank and consultancy, pro.mova, told me.

This, after all, is the leader who when offered evacuation by the US as Russia launched its full-scale invasion, quipped: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

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? Trump tried to push Ukraine into launching an investigation against Biden even though he was afraid that Biden was weak and he was the most effective opponent.

Amid the fog of war, it all seems a long, long way since the heady campaign celebration in a repurposed Kyiv nightclub where a fresh-faced Zelensky thanked his supporters for a landslide victory. The man on the stage looked as if he’d lost his mind when he defeated Petro Poroshenko.

His ratings seem to have changed because of the war. The ratings of Zelensky were high after the invasion and remain so today. Even Americans early in the war rated Zelensky highly for his handling of international affairs – ahead of US President Joe Biden.

His bubble includes many people from his previous professional life as a TV comedian in the theatrical group Kvartal 95. In the midst of the war, a press conference was held on the platform of a metro station to emphasize a wartime setting.

As for his skills as comforter in chief, I remember well the solace his nightly televised addresses brought in the midst of air raid sirens and explosions in Lviv.

The Revival of Democracy: How Vladimir Zelensky and his wife Evaded the Tower of London to Lose Their Throat

Zelensky’s uniform of T-shirts and hoodies is projected into a modern way to a younger, global audience that recognizes it as such, said Kim Chrisman-Campbell, a fashion historian.

She said that he is more comfortable on camera as an actor than Putin is. Zelensky is doing a better job of balancing authority and accessibility, but I believe that both of them are interested in coming across as real people.

Journeying to where her husband can’t, Zelenska has shown herself to be an effective communicator in international fora – projecting empathy, style and smarts. Most recently, she met with King Charles during a visit to a refugee assistance center at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in London. (Curiously, TIME magazine did not include Zelenska on the cover montage and gave only a passing reference in the supporting text).

A senior State Department official said that Zelensky’s room has gotten a bit smaller as Russia’s atrocities have grown.

“We have everything for it. We have a great deal of motivation, friends and diplomacy. Zelensky said that you have come together for this. “If we all do our important homework, victory will be inevitable.”

The Rise and Fall of Russia in the 21st Century: The Case for a United States to Respond to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

An official announcement is expected on a European Union cap on natural gas prices, which is the latest measure to address an energy crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On Tuesday the British Prime Minister will make his first appearance before the Commons liaison committee, where he will discuss the Ukraine war and other global issues. On Monday Sunak met with members of a U.K.-led European military force.

Russian news reports stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin will have talks with his Chinese counterpart sometime this month.

Ukrainians and Russians are getting ready for their first Christmas since the Kremlin launched its invasion ofUkraine in February.

The IAEA said it agreed with the Ukrainian government to send safety and security experts to the country’s nuclear power plants.

An American was freed from Russian territory as part of a prisoner exchange. Suedi Murekezi told ABC News he spent weeks in a basement, where he was tortured, and months in a prison in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.

Just as with Biden’s decision to provide a Patriot missile defense system, it has often taken a dramatic escalation or shift in battlefield conditions for the US to do more.

More precision weapons are critical to ensure thatUkraine hits its targets and not any civilians remaining nearby. And it means Ukraine does not go through the hundreds or thousands of shells Russia appears to burn through as it blanket bombards areas it wants to capture.

Moscow is struggling to equip and rally its conventional forces and appears to be running out of new cards to play. The use of nuclear force is less likely now that China and India have joined the West in opposing it.

Yet for all the calculations and considerations, fundamental to the White House’s posture toward Ukraine is a pledge of clearly defined consequences Biden made directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a two-hour secure video teleconference on December 7, 2021, more than two months before the invasion.

The remnants of the Trumpist “America First” elements of the party have concerns about how much aid the US should give to the edges of eastern Europe.

Realistically, the bill for the slow defeat of Russia in this dark and lengthy conflict is relatively light for Washington, given its near trillion-dollar annual defense budget.

Her comments came after Zelensky delivered a historic speech from the US Capitol, expressing gratitude for American aid in fighting Russian aggression since the war began – and asking for more.

The speech connected the struggle of Ukrainian people to the revolution we are currently having, and also to the feeling that we want to be warm in our homes to celebrate Christmas, and to think about the families in Ukraine that will be trapped in the cold during this Christmas season.

Clinton, who previously met Russian President Vladimir Putin as US secretary of state, said the leader was “probably impossible to actually predict,” as the war turns in Ukraine’s favor and his popularity fades at home.

“I think around now, what [Putin] is considering is how to throw more bodies, and that’s what they will be – bodies of Russian conscripts – into the fight in Ukraine,” Clinton said.

Kyiv and its Western allies are “set for a long confrontation with Russia” following President Volodymyr Zelensky’s momentous visit to Washington, Moscow said as the war in Ukraine approaches 10 months.

Russia denounced what it called “monstrous crimes” in the regime in Kyiv, after the US President promised more military support to Ukranian troops at the White House.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that no matter how much military support the West provides to the Ukrainian government, “they will achieve nothing.”

In reference to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Zakharova says the tasks set in the framework of the special military operation will be fulfilled.

At Zelensky’s request, US officials have provided input on a 10-point peace plan Zelensky has been showcasing since November, National Security Council official John Kirby said last week.

The meeting showed the US is fighting against Russia to the last Ukrainian, Peskov said to journalists.

The Kremlin was quick to criticize Zelenskyy’s trip to Washington because he had secured billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

The Russian public is the majority buyer of the line, according to a Russian history professor.

The United States has been helping the country defend itself against Russian aggression, even though Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians have made clear that they want a just peace.

According to Moscow, the delivery of missiles to Ukraine would be a sign of “provocation” by the U.S.

“Patriots are a defensive weapons system that will help Ukraine defend itself as Russia sends missile after missile and drone after drone to try and destroy Ukrainian infrastructure and kill Ukrainian civilians,” she said. If Russia does not want their missiles shot down, they should stop sending them into Ukrainian territory.

He said that “it’s not us who refuse talks, it’s them” — something the Kremlin has repeatedly stated in recent months as its 10-month old invasion kept losing momentum.

The General Staff said there were also air strikes along other parts of the front lines in the Donetsk region, southwest of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk. That area has seen intense combat involving tanks and artillery in recent weeks as Russian forces have tried to break down Ukrainian defenses.

The think tank said that a Russian military posted recently acknowledged that Ukrainian forces have slowed the pace of their Russian advances around Bakhmut.

Russia’s renewed offensive and its consequences on the internet: a report by the Berislav official, in Kyiv, on Dec. 23

A total of 16 people have been killed, according to the official, including three emergency workers killed in the process of demining the Berislav district of the region. Yanushevich said that 64 more have been wounded.

Since some cruise missiles are launched from bombers that fly from the airfields hit in the attacks, the strikes could potentially destroy the missiles on the ground at the Russian airfields before they can be deployed.

Mr. Zagorodnyuk said that he had not spoken for the government but could not confirm the strikes. There is no reason to not try to do this.

Mr. Budanov said that the Kinzhal, a missile that can reach targets in less than half an hour and is impossible to shoot down, is in short supply.

CNN spoke with energy officials and experts, the human rights researchers and aid officials, and people living in Kyiv, as well as gathering data and analyzing reports in order to get an idea of the impact of Russia’s renewed offensive. One year into the war, the power situation seems to be stabilizing.

Menon notes, however, that every one of his comments could just as easily apply to Russia’s earlier waves of cyberattacks on the country’s internet—such as the NotPetya malware released by Russia’s GRU hackers, which five years earlier destroyed the digital networks of hundreds of government agencies, banks, airports, hospitals, and even its radioactivity monitoring facility in Chernobyl. “They’re different in the technicalities, but the goal is the same,” he says. “Demoralizing and punishing civilians.”

Russia’s onslaught on Thursday was aimed at the country’s electrical infrastructure, and knocked out power in several regions. Engineering crews were racing to restore services as the New Year’s holiday approaches this weekend.

Three people were injured in the explosions in the capital during the first day of World War II: Prime Minister Receipt of Russian Revolution and a “New Year”

Hryn said: “After the sirens gave the all clear, life in the capital went back to normal, as my neighbors were in hurry to get their child to the cinema for ‘Avatar’ on time.” Parents took their children to school and people went to work, while others continued with holiday plans in defiance.

Halyna Hladka made breakfast for her family so they would have something to eat, after stocking up on water, when the sirens went off in the capital. After nearly two hours, they heard the sounds of explosions. She told CNN that it appeared as though they were close to her area, but it was actually air defense. There will be no canceling the fact that we will celebrate the new year with the family.

At least three people, including a 14-year-old, were injured and two people pulled from a damaged home on Thursday, Klitschko said earlier. Homes, an industrial facility and a playground in the capital were damaged in attacks on Kyiv, according to the city military administration.

Putin claimed that his forces were embarking on a ” special military operation” and that they would be finished in a few weeks.

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.

War against Ukraine has Left Russia Isolated and Stuck with More Tumult Ahedral States: A New Look at the Status of the Human Rights Movement in Russia

Since February, there’s been a law prohibiting criticism of the military or leadership. Nearly 20,000 people have been detained for demonstrating against the war — 45% of them women — according to a leading independent monitoring group.

The rights group was forced to stop their activities due to violations of the foreign agents law.

Russia’s anti-LGBT laws have been vastly expanded by the state, as it argues the war in Ukraine reflects a wider attack on traditional values.

For now, repressions remain targeted. The new laws are not always enforced. But few doubt the measures are intended to crush wider dissent — should the moment arise.

New laws that criminalized “fake news” were the reason for leading independent media outlets and a handful of vibrant, online investigative startups being forced to relocate or shut down.

Restrictions extend to internet users as well. American social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook were banned in March. Roskomnadzor, the Kremlin’s internet regulator, has blocked more than 100,000 websites since the start of the conflict.

Technical workarounds such as Telegram still allow Russians access to independent sources of information. Older Russians like to listen to state media propaganda and are more likely to hear angry TV talk shows spreading rumors.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/31/1145981036/war-against-ukraine-has-left-russia-isolated-and-struggling-with-more-tumult-ahe

The End of the Cold Cold War: Implications of the Russo-Russian War for the Economic Development and the Industrialization of the West

Many political activists, civil society workers and journalists were left in the early days of the war due to fears of persecution.

Some countries that have absorbed Russian emigration think their economies will grow, despite the fact that Russians are still a sensitive issue for former Soviet republics.

The swift intervention of Russia’s central bank, which jacked up interest rates to 20% after the invasion and implemented currency controls to buttress the ruble, was also a stabilizing force. So was the need for factories to increase production of military goods and replace items that had been imported from the West.

Yet cracks are starting to show and they will widen over the next 12 months. The European Union — which spent more than $100 billion on Russian fossil fuels in 2021 — has made huge strides in phasing out purchases. The bloc, which dramatically reduced its dependence on Russian natural gas last year, officially banned most imports of Russian crude oil by sea in December. It enacted a similar block on refined oil products this month.

Russia’s Military Campaign: Why Putin and the Russian Army can’t, nor should Russia be worried about a Russian-Prussian War?

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. He’s assuring 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 lost their lives is a highly taboo subject in the US. Western estimates place those figures much higher.

The Feb. 24, 2022, invasion has touched off a refugee crisis, as Ukrainians flee the conflict in their homeland and many Russian men seek to avoid conscription. Meanwhile, it has spurred a process toward expanding NATO, with Finland and Sweden pursuing membership after decades of official neutrality.

It would have been unthinkable in the Soviet times for some of Central Asia’s longtime allies to criticize Russia’s actions out of concern for their own sovereignty. India and China have happily purchased discounted Russian oil, but have not fully supported Russia’s military campaign.

A state of the nation address, originally scheduled for April, was repeatedly delayed and won’t happen until next year. Putin’s annual “direct line” — a media event in which Putin fields questions from ordinary Russians — was canceled outright.

The annual December big press conference that allows the Russian leader to handle questions from mostly pro-Kremlin media was also tabled.

The US military thought it would take until May for the Russian military to replenish its power for a sustained offensive, but Russian leaders wanted to take action sooner. The US now sees it as likely that Russian forces are moving before they are ready due to political pressure from the Kremlin, the senior US military official told CNN.

The Top Ten Stories of 2022: News from the World Streamed, Listen and Followed by Comscore, News from Around the World (and Some News from Ukraine)

When news breaks, the world comes to CNN, as it has for more than 40 years on television and more than 25 years on digital platforms. On average, more than 165 million of you came to CNN Digital from around the globe every month in 2022, according to Comscore.

The other stories among our top 10 most read, watched or listened to were the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, our election night streaming of CNN’s TV coverage of the midterms and our digital pages of up-to-the-second results from hundreds of races.

In the middle of the conflict, I wrote an analysis about the limits of what the US and its allies would and wouldn’t do in Ukraine. Those limits have been contentious from the start and are only growing more so today as Russia accuses the West of going too far.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade and its impact on women’s lives and US politics were a recurring top story, as were the numerous mass shootings and natural disasters.

The Covid-19Ponzi waned in interest and fear, but the last weeks of the year brought new concerns to China. History has taught us that pandemic developments know no borders.

CNN brought in a lot of people who were interested in entertainment news. The sad death of Stephen “tWitch” Boss, a DJ for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” was our top entertainment story. There were bright moments too: like the Good Samaritans that made a difference in the lives of strangers.

Every piece of the Top 100 Stories list received more than three million visits this year, according to our internal data.

Zelensky’s Nightly Address to the Kremlin and Russian citizens in Ukraine: The UAV-attacks on civilian infrastructure

Thanks for being with us as we weathered it all. We will be with you in 2023 for every breaking news story and every piece of joy, triumph, and delight.

Zelensky switched to speaking Russian in his nightly address on Saturday to send a message to the Kremlin and Russian citizens, as Moscow launched a series of deadly strikes that swept several regions of Ukraine ahead of New Year.

Three people died and three more were wounded in the Donetsk region, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram.

One person was wounded in the Zaporizhzhia region. Two people were dead and one was wounded in the region. One person died and two others were wounded in the Kherson region.

“26 of the enemy’s air strikes were on civilian infrastructure. In particular, the occupants used 10 Shahed-136 UAVs, but all of them were shot down. civilian settlements were also hit by 80 attacks from multiple rocket launchers, according to the General Staff’s latest operational update.

“The municipal ‘life support system’ of the capital is operating normally. Currently, 30% of consumers are without electricity. On Telegram, he said that due to emergency shutdowns.

The open section of the red metro line in the city had restrictions put on it for the presence of missile debris.

During the Second World War Ukraine – President Zelensky reflects on his triumphs and triumphs in his New Years Eve Address

I want to have more bright impressions and new emotions from then on, so I want to win. I miss it a lot. I also want to go somewhere. I think about personal and professional growth because one shouldn’t stay still. I have to develop and work for the benefit of the country,” said Alyona Bogulska, a 29-year-old financier.

“This year, it’s a symbol, not that it’s a small victory, but a symbol that we survived the year,” said Tatiana Tkachuk, a 43-year-old pharmacy employee.

I want to thank everyone who helps Ukraine. A lot of people have come to know us. We had to go through awful things in order to understand what a lot of good things are. But so many people are doing real miracles for Ukraine.”

In his New Years Eve address on Saturday, President Zelensky spoke of a year that began with fear over Russia but ended with hope for victory.

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’ve cried out all the tears. All the prayers have been said. There were 311 days. We have something to say about every minute.”

The Crimes of the Crime: How Ukrainians Reacted to the Russian War and the Cold War: How the U.S. Government Learned about the Crime

By March, my initial shock and fear of the war turned into a desire to act through sports. Athletes could fight against Russian propaganda in the best way. We just had to tell the truth about the war and Ukrainians – how strong, kind and brave we are. We have worked together to defend our country.

Mr Zelensky said that the world rallied around Ukraine because it was located in a part of the world with a lot of foreign tourists.

America has done this before. The Soviet Union caved in to the West when it came to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Had Americans been encouraged to think red, America might well have agreed to a compromise that weakened its security and credibility.

Russian officials said that four Ukrainian rockets hit the school where the forces were housed, next to an arms depot. (Another two HIMARS rockets were shot down by Russian air defenses).

The Russian defense ministry said that 63 Russian servicemen died in the attack and it was one of the single deadliest episodes in the war.

Russian senator Grigory Karasin said that the people responsible for the killing of Russian servicemen should be found, according to the news agency.

Video of the attack on a school building in Kiev: A warning to the Ukrainian military and to ensure that the equipment is protected from the detonation of ammunition stores

There is video from the scene of the attack that was spread on Telegram and an official Ukrainian military channel. It shows a pile of smoking rubble, in which almost no part of the building appears to be standing.

The Chief Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Ukraine’s strategic communications division sent greetings to the people who were brought to occupied Makiivka and crammed into a school building. Santa brought the corpses of 400 Russian soldiers in bags.

On Telegram, a former official in the Russia-backed Donetsk administration said that the high command was unaware of the weapon’s capabilities.

Bezsonov hoped that those who made the decision to use this facility would be reprimanded. There are several abandoned facilities where the personnel can be quartered.

A Russian propagandist who blogs about the war effort on Telegram, Igor Girkin, claimed that the building was almost completely destroyed by the secondary detonation of ammunition stores.

The military equipment that stood close to the building without a sign of camouflage was destroyed. There are still no final casualty figures as many people are still missing.

“As you can see, despite several months of war, some conclusions are not made, hence the unnecessary losses, which, if the elementary precautions relating to the dispersal and concealment of personnel were taken, might have not happened.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/02/europe/ukraine-makiivka-strike-intl/index.html

The Bakhmut attack by U.S. shelling and Russian anti-government forces since Moscow’s Feb. 24 attack: a new setback for Russia

Russian forces “lost 760 people killed just yesterday, (and) continue to attempt offensive actions on Bakhmut,” the military’s general staff said Sunday.

The strike, using a U.S.-supplied precision weapon that has proven critical in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, delivered a new setback for Russia which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The military of the Ukranian republic seemed to acknowledge the attack that the Russian authorities had reported.

Moscow’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 has gone awry, putting pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin as his ground forces struggle to hold ground and advance. He said in his New Year’s address that the year was going to be difficult and necessary.

The governor of the south Kherson region in Ukranian said that five people were wounded in shelling on Monday.

Ukrainian authorities said at least four civilians were killed and dozens were wounded by a New Year’s Eve assault. The fourth victim, a 46-year-old male from the Kyiv area died in a hospital on Monday.

The leader of the group that failed to capture the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut attempted to explain what happened.

During a New Year’s visit with fighters on the front line, Yevgeny Prigozhin said that there was “a fortress in every house” in Bakhmut, and that “only clowns that sit around and try to predict these things.”

He said, “They say that the combined forces have advanced into Artyomovsk and broken the defense.” The name was changed back to Bakhmut.

Breaking the defense of the next house: how the US and Germany are going to send out artyomovsk and Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

“Then they say: ‘What does it mean to “break through the defense?”’ ‘Breaking through the defense’ means breaking through the defense of one house this morning, then you have to go break the defense of the next house, right?” he said.

Who is going to take Artyomovsk? Which combinations of forces? He said it will be the combined forces of the two armies. “And who else? Who else is there compared to the other ones?

Just this week, the Biden administration announced the US was considering dispatching Bradley armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron also announced he would be sending light tanks, though Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was urging the dispatch of heavier battle tanks. All of which puts German Chancellor Olaf Scholz under increasing pressure to add its powerful Leopard 2 tanks to the mix.

The Bradley fighting vehicle, which moves on tracks, can hold around 10 troops and is used to transport personnel into battle. The White House said the US and Germany were going to give training to the Ukrainian forces.

On the Makiivka Trial and the Use of Cell Phones in the Armed Forces: Comment on a Russian War Blogger

Zelensky wanted those systems to be able to target missiles that were flying higher up in the air than they were previously able to target.

The Russian Defense Ministry said “the main cause” of the Makiivka strike was the widespread use of cell phones by Russian soldiers, “contrary to the ban,” which allowed Ukraine to “track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers’ locations.”

The Orthodox Christmas holiday is when President Putin called for a temporary ceasefire after the deadliest known attack on Russian servicemen. The move was rightly dismissed by Ukraine and the US as a cynical attempt to seek breathing space amid a very bad start to the year for Russian forces.

Chris Dougherty, a senior fellow for the Defense Program and co-head of the Gaming Lab at the Center for New American Security in Washington, has told me that Russia’s failure to break up or move large arms depots is largely a function of the reality that their forces cannot communicate adequately.

It is a view shared by others. In an e-mail exchange, James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said that bad security communications are a norm in the Russian Army.

He’s not the only Russian war blogger casting doubt. “As expected, the blame for what happened in Makiivka began to be placed on the soldiers themselves,” said a post on the Telegram channel known as “Grey Zone,” linked to longtime Kremlin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group of mercenaries. “In this case, it is to 99% a lie and an attempt to throw off the blame.”

The most recent arrivals to the war are inmates from Russian prisons who have been freed and moved to the Ukrainian side. One can only imagine how appealing the use of cell phones would be to prisoners accustomed to years of isolation with little or no contact with the outside world.

SemYON Pegov, an awardee of theOrder of Courage by President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin two weeks ago, was not a fan of the Ministry of Defense, accusing them of a “shameless” attempt to pin the blame for cell phone use on the troops.

He questioned how the Ministry of Defense could be “so sure” that the location of soldiers lodging in a school building could not have been determined using drone surveillance or a local informant.

The deputy defense minister for overseeing logistics was appointed as a replacement for four-star Gen. Dmitri V. Bulgakov. The arms depot is located close to the Makiivka recruits.

The defense minister is Sergei Shoigu, who told his troops in a celebratory video: “Our victory like the New Year is inevitable.”

Investigating the Russian attack on the Kramatorsk college dormitories: media reports say no troops were hurt in the attack and the United Kingdom is using the Challenger 2

The Ukrainian officials on Sunday dismissed the Russian claims that a large number of soldiers from the Ukrainian army died in the attack last week.

The CNN team is on the ground and there is no evidence of any massive casualties in the area. The team reported that there was no unusual activity in and around Kramatorsk.

A reporter in Kramtorsk reported that there was no evidence of a Russian strike on the college dormitories that Russia said had been housing hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers.

A rare public blame game broke out between the Russian government and some pro-Kremlin leaders and military experts in the aftermath of the strike, after Moscow appeared to blame its own soldiers’ use of cell phones.

The leader of the self-proclaimed DPR in eastern Ukraine had contradicted the account of a Russian military spokesman, pointing to a conflict between the Russian command and Moscow.

Ukrainian troops will begin training in the United Kingdom to use the country’s Challenger 2, following the British government’s pledge to send a squadron of the tanks to Ukraine.

The World Economic Outlook from the International Monetary Fund will be released Tuesday morning in Singapore. The IMF has stressed that the Russia-Ukraine war is a big factor causing economic slowdown and recession in some countries.

A group of European Commission leaders is expected to visit Ukraine on Thursday and European Union leaders plan to hold a summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the following day.

Moscow and Ukraine in the defining months: Russian-Ukranian wars in Ukraine and the Ukranian military-Israeli aggression in Soledar

Germany will add four more Leopard 2 tanks to its original commitment of 18. The Prime Minister of Sweden pledged to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

The military of the Ukranian army acknowledged the takeover of Soledar by the Russians. Russian forces continued their offensive around eastern Ukranian areas.

A new US ambassador arrived in Moscow at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the United States. Tracy was heckled by protesters when she entered the Russian Foreign Ministry to present her credentials.

Russia’s ambassadors to two Baltic states were ordered to leave by the Kremlin, which said it had downgraded relations with the region overRussophobia.

Moscow’s attack in Kramatorsk came after a top Kyiv official said Russia is gearing up for a “maximum escalation” of the nearly years-long war in Ukraine.

The Secretary of Ukrainian’s National Security and Defense Council said to Sky News that this will be the defining months of the war.

“We are on the edge of a very active phase of hostilities, February and March will be very active,” Andriy Yusov, representative of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, said on national television.

Military representatives from the two countries will rehearse using troops based on their previous experience of conflict, the ministry said in a statement.

The attack on the city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on Thursday night triggered by a fresh barrage of missiles: civilians and emergency workers in the evacuation zone

A fresh barrage of missiles ripped through the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine Thursday, sending flames and thick plumes into the air as screaming civilians scrambled to find shelter.

Paramedics rushed to the scene to treat at least one wounded civilian. Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko also confirmed that there had been a strike on the city, and urged residents to stay in bomb shelters.

Rescue workers worked through the night to find survivors after Wednesday’s attack, which damaged eight apartment buildings. Authorities also evacuated people to a local school for shelter.

A country that is bordering evil. It’s important that a country can overcome it to reduce the chance of tragedies happening again. We will find, punish and chastise the wrongdoers. They do not deserve mercy.”

Observations from Seredyna-Buda, the Russian border region in the latest offensive on the Donetsk People’s Republic

In the area of Seredyna-Buda, which is right near the Russian border, the troops continued to shell the border with mortars, according to the Operational Command North. No casualties were reported.

The Russian army had reached a highway to the northwest of the city, and fighting was continuing there, according to an unofficial Telegram account of troops in the 46th brigade.

The scenes are chaotic: Russian tanks veering wildly before exploding or driving straight into minefields, men running in every direction, some on fire, the bodies of soldiers caught in tank tracks.

At least two dozen Russian tanks and infantry vehicles have been disabled or destroyed in a matter of days, according to the videos, which were released by the Ukrainian military and analyzed by CNN and military experts. Satellite images show intensive patterns of impacts along tree lines where Russian tanks tried to advance.

The Russian Defense Ministry insists that the assault on the beach is going according to plan. In remarks recorded for a Sunday television show, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the “marine infantry is working as it should. Right now. Fighting heroically.

But the leader of the self-declared, Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, acknowledged Friday that the area was “hot” and said “the enemy continues to transfer reserves in large quantities, and this slowed down the liberation of this settlement.”

Vuhledar was built for the nearby coal mine (the name translates as “gift of coal”) and sits above surrounding plains. Its high-rise buildings give it’s defenders. Mechanized – a significant advantage, as well as hardened underground cover.

The town has become a lynchpin in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Russian forces have been trying to take it for three months. It would be hard for the Ukrainians to close down the nearby railroad if Moscow won here because it could allow the Russians to begin their spring offensive.

The military high command is accused of handling the latest offensive worse than before with one military blogger calling it a “shameful debacle.”

But attacks launched in the last week of January were fatally flawed, he said. Cooper wrote that they were able to move through a relatively narrow route, and faced about 500 meters of empty terrain on the eastern side of the town.

The best tanks from T-72B3/T-80BMV, as well as the best soldiers, were destroyed.

In another post on Telegram, Strelkov wrote: “Only morons attack head-on in the same place, heavily fortified and extremely inconvenient for the attackers for many months in a row.”

Russia has hundreds of thousands of subscribers to their Telegram channels. The episodes of the campaign that they have been critical of.

Moscow Calling asserted that older T-72 tanks deployed in Vuhledar lack upgrades that would improve the driver’s breadth of vision. That may help explain several instances in which Russian tanks seemed to get entangled or reverse blindly.

“How are blind, deaf tanks, armored personnel carriers, with equally blind, deaf infantry supposed to fight without columns? And then how to coordinate any actions if there is no communication and situational awareness?” He wrote something.

Russian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Are Russian Forces Prepared for a Proximal War with the United States?

Several Russian commentators have called for the dismissal of Lieutenant General Rustam Muradov, the commander of the Eastern Grouping of Forces. Muradov was in charge in November when men of the 155th protested that his tactics had caused disastrous losses.

One of the Russian blogs with 500,000 followers said that the people killed a lot of equipment and personnel. In November, did not bear any responsibility. After which, with the same mediocrity, they began to storm Ugledar [Vuhledar]. Impunity always leads to permissiveness.

At the end of the day, these aren’t tactics or practices that foster the development of well- trained, disciplined, capable, cohesive units with trust in their leaders and soldiers on their left and right.

Ukrainian military officials say there is a random mix of Russian forces in the Vuhledar area, including professional units, the recently mobilized, militia of the DPR and infantry of a private military company called Patriot, which is said to be close to the Russian defense ministry.

The commander of the Ukrainian forces said on Saturday that effective fire damage is the key to success.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise Europe tour, meeting leaders in London, Paris and Brussels, and reiterating his call for allies to send fighter jets to Ukraine.

Biden’s address follows his surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv Monday — a move seen in Moscow as both provocative and proof that, in Ukraine, Russia is fundamentally fighting a proxy war with the United States.

Senior British official told CNN that it is unlikely that Russian forces would be better organized and more successful than they are now.

Then on Thursday, Russia’s Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of “preparing an armed provocation” against Moldova’s pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria “in the near future,” state-media TASS reported.

“They amassed enough manpower to take one or two small cities in Donbas, but that’s it,” a senior Ukrainian diplomat told CNN. It was overwhelming compared to the sense of panic they were trying to build.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday in Brussels that the US is not seeing Russia “massing its aircraft” ahead of an aerial operation against Ukraine.

Is this the first open-source war? The war in Ukraine is being fought in part on social media by Zelensky; commercial overhead satellites capture Russian battle groups moving around in real-time, and the social media accounts of Russian mercenaries in the Wagner Group document what they are doing.

Petraeus, who criticized the Biden administration’s withdrawal of Afghanistan, strikes a different tone on Ukraine. He says the President’s team has done a very impressive job of leading NATO and the West to counter the Russian invasion, though there have been times he would have liked to have seen decisions to provide certain weapons systems (such as western tanks and longer-range precision munitions) made sooner than they were.

So, the situation is essentially a stalemate at present, albeit with Russia making costly attacks in several areas, and with both sides building up forces for offensive operations expected in the late winter (likely the Russians) and spring/summer (the Ukrainians).

The person who is Petraeus. There will be new features this year on the Ukrainian side, most notably the Western tanks and infantry fighting vehicles and longer-range and larger precision bombs provided by the US.

The war that we see is for the first time in a context that includes the ubiquity of smart phones, internet connections, and social media.

Russia is not afraid of being seen by the world, but when it becomes a nation: the role of Russian forces in the development of the Cold War

And there would incomparably greater numbers of vastly more capable unmanned systems (some remotely piloted, others operating according to algorithms) in every domain – not just in the air, but also at sea, sub-sea, on the ground, in outer space, and in cyberspace, and operating in swarms, not just individually!

I recall an adage back in the Cold War days that stated, “If it can be seen, it can be hit; if it can be hit, it can be killed.” We didn’t have the capabilities needed to operate that adage in those days. The future will see every platform, base and headquarters vulnerable to be hit and destroyed unless there are substantial defenses and hardening of those assets.

“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.”

Thanks to Putin, the description of NATO as suffering from “brain death” by French President Macron in late 2019 has turned out to be more than a bit premature.

All of the above is what Petraeus said. There is a long list, including poor campaign design, inadequate training, and a culture that condones war crimes and abuse.

Petraeus: Not at all. Russia has enormous military capacity, is a nuclear power, and is a country with lots of energy and mineral wealth. It also has a population (about 145 million) that is nearly double that of the next largest European countries (Germany and Turkey, each just more than 80 million).

The Ukraine Campaign: What do we have (not) yet (not (don’t) know about the Ukrain-Russian War?

It’s led by a dictator who embraces grievances and revanchist views that damage his decision-making.

It is often attributed to Stalin to say that quantification has a quality of its own. Russia has a far bigger population than Ukraine: Will that make a critical difference to the Ukraine war over the long term?

Nonetheless, it is estimated that as many as 300,000 new recruits and mobilized reservists are being sent to the frontlines, with up to 100,000-150,000 more on the way. And that is not trivial – because quantity does, indeed, matter.

Thus, Ukrainians know what they are fighting for, while it is not clear that the same is true of many of the Russian soldiers, a disproportionate number of whom are from ethnic and sectarian minorities in the Russian Federation.

And the Ukrainians also have demonstrated a very impressive ability to learn how to employ new weapons systems and vehicles much more rapidly than anyone anticipated, as they want to master new capabilities as quickly as is possible and get back to the fight.

To be sure, there have been times when I have felt that we should have decided to provide various capabilities (e.g., HIMARS, longer-range precision munitions, tanks, etc.) It was sooner than we have.

Ukraine is going to have to transition from eastern bloc aircraft to western ones eventually. There just aren’t any more MiGs to provide to them, and they reportedly have more pilots than aircraft at this point.

It will take a number of months to train pilots and maintenance personnel, so it’s important that we begin the transition. I think that the Administration has done a very good job and proved to be the indispensable nation in this particular circumstance, with important ramifications for other situations around the world.

How the Chinese can invade the Taiwanese Sea, and what happens when the Moskva sinks: a response from the quasi-private Wagner Group

Bergen: The quasi-private Wagner Group is the force that Putin sends into the meat grinder of the toughest battles. Any thoughts on using mercenaries, many of whom are convicts, as a tactic?

Petraeus: What Russia has done with what are, in essence, mercenaries, as you note, is somewhat innovative – but also essentially inhumane, as it entails throwing soldiers (many of them former convicts) into battle as cannon fodder, and with little, if any, concern for their survival.

Should the Chinese stage a invasion of Taiwan which wouldn’t be over a land border, but over 100 miles of water, or should they do it over a body of water? Does the sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea navy, reshape how the Chinese might think about this question?

And especially if the target of such an operation has a population willing to fight fiercely for its survival and be supported by major powers – not just militarily but with substantial economic, financial, and personal sanctions and export controls.

Petraeus: Yes, I believe it is. This is the first war in which social media has been so widely used. Through so-called “open sources,” unprecedented transparency and an extraordinary amount of information can be found.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/14/opinions/petraeus-how-ukraine-war-ends-bergen-ctpr/index.html

When Does the War End? CNN’s Peter Bergen & David Petraeus Commentary on Moldova’s Response to Moldavian Warfare

At the beginning of the Iraq War, you famously asked if it would end. How does the war come to an end?

And in an opinion article by CNN’s Peter Bergen, retired US General and former CIA Chief David Petraeus said the conflict would end in a “negotiated resolution” when Putin realizes the war is unsustainable on the battlefield and on the home front.

WhenUkraine reaches the limit of being able to resist missiles and drones, getting aMarshall-type plan (developed by the US and G7) to help rebuild the country, and gaining an ironclad security guarantee is possible from a US-led NATO.

Cristian Gherasim is an analyst, consultant and journalist focused on Eastern and Central European affairs. Follow him on Twitter @Crstn_Gherasim. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinion.

After Russian forces advanced toward the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, experts inMoldova sounded the alarm. Capturing Odesa would give Putin’s army a land corridor from Russia-occupied Ukraine to Moldova, in particular to a pro-Russian separatist region in the Moldova’s east. Fortunately Odesa was spared and the Russian advance is now bogged down in Eastern Ukraine. The question is for how long.

Since the power cuts and energy shortages that hit Moldova, Ana has had more trips to the small country from the capital city of Bucuresti.

Last month, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said border police had found missile debris near the village of Larga in Moldova’s north. There have been other incidents, such as the one in December in which missile debris was located, and it left many wondering what will happen if there is more luck next time.

For this scenario not to happen, Moldova needs outside help and constant military support to keep it from being perceived by Russia as an easy target. The country, which is one of the worst in Europe, has outdated military equipment according to the defense minister.

If Russia launched a Spring offensive in southern Ukraine, it couldseek to link up with Transnistria and create a land bridge that would make it much closer to NATO territory.

When Transnistria became independent, Russia sent troops in to help pro-Moscow rebels.

During his visit to Chisinau earlier this Spring, the UN Secretary General noted thatMoldova was the country with the most refugees as part of its own population. He mentioned that the country is on the front line of preservation, peace and stability. But what does that mean, exactly?

Firstly, Moldova took substantial pressure off Europe’s shoulders in dealing with refugees. Out of more than 8 million Ukrainian refugees spread out throughout Europe and beyond, 108,000 may not seem like much, but the burden is substantial for a small country, and it alleviates pressure on others in the region.

Moldova’s woes have to do with internal factors as well. The country’s corruption and oligarchic system are decades-long issues that the current pro-EU government has struggled to curb. Moldova’s judicial shortcomings have been also highlighted in a recent Council of Europe report, with its judiciary system coming again under scrutiny following a disputed contest for the top job of chief prosecutor.

It is losing people as well. According to World Bank statistics, Moldova has lost more than 12% of its population since 1991, as it has been hit hard by the demographic decline seen throughout many parts of post-communist Europe.

All pales in comparison with Moldova’s current energy problem. The country has had a dependency on both Russia and Ukraine for energy since it became independent from the Soviet Union.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu, plain spoken and charismatic, is leading a charm offensive; Sandu has met with Western leaders and gave an inspiring commencement speech at Harvard, helping to bring attention to Moldova’s plight. She knows that there would be nothing worse for Moldova than to be forgotten and ignored on the world stage.

NATO Strategy: A War for the Weak Arms and Branes in the Light of the Robertson-Walker-Russian Invasion

Ahead of next week’s anniversary of the Russian invasion, US and Western leaders are gearing up for a show of unity and strength designed to establish once and for all that NATO is in the conflict for the long haul and until Moscow’s defeat.

“Russia has lost – they’ve lost strategically, operationally, and tactically,” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said on Tuesday. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Wednesday that “Putin must realize that he cannot win” as he explained the rationale for rushing arms and ammunition to Ukrainian forces. And Julianne Smith, the US ambassador to NATO, told CNN’s Becky Anderson that Washington was doing all it could to “continue to apply pressure on Moscow to affect (Putin’s) strategic calculus.”

The Western rhetorical and diplomatic offensive will ratchet up further as Vice President Kamala Harris heads to the Munich Security Conference this week. President Joe Biden will meanwhile visit Poland and a frontline NATO and ex-Warsaw pact state next week, bolstering his legacy of offering the most effective leadership of the Western alliance since the end of the Cold War.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/politics/ukraine-strategy-putin-west/index.html

The U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz vs. Vladimir Putin in the House of Representatives: Does the Cold War last a year?

Some members of the new Republican majority in the US House are hesitant. Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz last week demanded an end to aid to Ukraine and for the US to demand all combatants “reach a peace agreement immediately.” A bipartisan majority for saving Ukraine still exists in the House and the Senate. Biden may not be able to guarantee massive aid packages for Ukrainians for the rest of their lives. And US aid might be in serious doubt if ex-President Donald Trump or another Republican wins the 2024 election.

Putin is not considering an exit from the war because he does not have a diplomatic framework in place to negotiate a cease-fire.

Fiona Hill, a leading expert on Russia and Putin, who worked in Trump’s White House, said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday that there were few signs Putin’s determination is waning.

Even as the US-China relationship took a hit due to the Chinese spy balloon flight, the likelihood of China leaning on Putin for an end to the war was remote.

“You’re going to end up with an albatross around your neck,” Sherman said at an event at the Brookings Institution, though admitted the US was concerned about tightening ties between China and Russia at a time when it is locked in simultaneous showdowns with each power.

February 23, 2022, is the night. The leader of a news site relaxes with a bath. A woman gets ready to celebrate her husband’s birthday in the morning by going to bed. In Moscow, a journalist happens to postpone his travel plans to Kyiv.

Within hours, their lives are dramatically and radically transformed. The next day, Russian President Vladimir Putin launches his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In the space of a year, the war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions more. It has tested the resolve of western alliances, unleashed atrocities, decimated cities, and caused a global food and energy crisis.

The Russian invasion of Zaporizhzhia, February 23, 2022. A sad story of two Ukrainians that have left the Czech Republic

Zaporizhzhia, February 23, 2022. I went to bed thinking that I would celebrate my husband’s birthday the next day. Our life was getting 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 had time to work. I was happy.

We are trying to live in the here and now. But the truth is, we are heartbroken. While physically we are in Prague, our hearts have remained in Ukraine.

Thanks to the opportunities for Ukrainians provided by the Czech Republic, my husband got a job. Special needs classes are what I found for my son. He has a learning support assistant and attends an adaptation group for Ukrainian children. My daughter goes to a Czech school while studying in her Ukrainian school remotely.

That morning we woke up to learn that the invasion started. I wrote an open letter denouncing the war, which was co-signed by 12 Russian writers, directors and cultural figures. Thousands of Russian citizens added their signatures after it was published.

We left Russia on the third day. I felt that it was some kind of moral obligation. I was no longer able to stay in the territory of the state that has become fascist.

We moved to Berlin. My husband went to work as a volunteer at the refugee camp next to the main railway station, where thousands of Ukrainians had been arriving every day. And I started writing a new book. It starts like this:

As I write, Russia has just fired dozens of Kalibr missiles towards several cities in Ukraine, including my adopted city of Odesa. Air raid sirens blare as we bolt for shelter into enclosed hallways. My landlady brings me a pot of borscht to help create a sense of normalcy.

If anything, the war of history has been repeating itself, from the forced deportation of over 2 million Ukrainians, including many children, to the stealing of Ukrainian grain, to the destruction of museums, libraries, churches.

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. Millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in Stalin’s famine of 1932-33.

In 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.

I expected our former classmates from Zaporizhzhia to give up on their addictions, but they have done so. I thought my hairdresser would be a sweet summer child, but that’s not what happened when she fled on foot from the Russian town of Bucha with her mom, grandma and five dogs.

Ivanenko lives near the Antonov airfield in Hostomel, on the outskirts of the capital, where Russian paratroopers landed on February 24, and she spent the first weeks of the war living under occupation. She said that the power outages are nothing compared to what she experienced. It may be a problem for someone when there’s no power. But not to me. I’ve seen worse. I compare it with what I’ve been through. I think, ‘Can I survive this?’ Yes, I can.’ Then it’s alright.”

Andrei Kolesnikov is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is an author of a number of books, including ” Five Five- Year Liberal Reforms” Origins of Russian Modernization and Egor Gaidar’s Legacy.”

Since February of 2022, we have experienced several eras. When Putin suddenly received more than 80% of the population’s approval, it was the first example of euphoria.

By aborting the past, he canceled the future. It’s easier to live this way when your superiors decide on everything for you, and you take for granted everything you are told by propaganda.

I and my family had to live in a situation which was impossible to adapt to. As an active commentator on the events, I was labeled by the authorities as a “foreign agent,” which increased personal risk and reinforced the impression of living in an Orwellian anti-utopia.

I took a bath, washed my dog, and lit candles on the night of February 23. I have a cozy, one-bedroom apartment in a northern district of Kyiv. I liked taking care of it. I loved the time I spent with you. All of it – the small routines and the struggles. That night was the last time my life mattered.

I remember talking to colleagues, trying to assemble and coordinate a small army of volunteers to strengthen the newsroom. My parents should organize buying supplies.

The life I knew started falling apart soon after, starting with the small things. It no longer mattered what cup I used to drink my morning tea, or how I dressed, or whether or not I took a shower. Life is not important anymore, only the battle is.

It was easy to forget the struggles, sorrows and joyful moments of the pre-war era just a few weeks into the full-scale invasion. I was upset with my boyfriend but I could no longer relate to it. February 24 is when my life was stolen from me.

I was not interested in my personal ambitions. The only thing that mattered was to raise our flag and show we’re fighting in these circumstances.

I couldn’t enjoy my victories on the track. They were possible due to the many defenders who had died. I received messages from soldiers. It was my primary motivation to continue my career because they were so happy to follow our achievements.

“We will see what the Russians tell us about the Ukrainian war,” Gen. Mark Milley, the CM of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told NPR

“I do think this is a critical moment,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told NPR. The battlefield is difficult as it is bloody and will be one of the main factors in whether or not President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Putin decide to go.

“This is something that leads me to the question – for whom do we document all these crimes?” The head of the center for civil liberties told us. “Because I’m not a historian, I’m a human rights lawyer, and we document human pain in order sooner or later to have all these Russians … brought to justice.”

Taiwan is learning from the war in the Ukraine and keeping an eye on China, the Foreign Minister of Taiwan said in an interview.

They have expansionist motivation. They want to continue to expand their sphere of influence. They want to continue to expand their power. They will continue to march on if they are not stopped.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/18/1157820509/ukraine-russia-war-anniversary

The First Day of the Ukrainian War: The Story of a Soldier and a Marine, the First Battle and the Mistakes of the Russian Army

Natalia believes the family car was shelled by Russians in the first days of the war. Her husband was killed as well as her nephew. Vova was hospitalized for months after the attack with several bullets in his body.

The audio for this story was produced by Danny Hajek; edited by Barrie Hardymon and Natalie Winston. Additional editing and production is done by several people. They provided translation help and reporting.

The result was stunning losses for the Russian army, which were laid bare by the outdated tactics, broken leadership and brittle spirit of a force more impressive on parade than in battle.

Ukrainian soldiers fought to keep Russian paratroopers off the Antonivka Bridge, which crosses the Dnipro River into the city of Kherson. On the first day of the invasion, Ukrainian authorities did not blow up the bridge.

This action underscored Zelensky’s determination (“I need ammunition, not a ride,” he said as he rejected an offer from the United States of evacuation from Kyiv), as did the defiance of a small detachment on Snake Island with their vernacular retort to a Russian warship, a gesture that became a national meme within hours.

Air defense systems have blunted Russian missile and drone barrages and discouraged its air force from conducting missions directly over Ukrainian airspace.

“This has become a grinding war of attrition and therefore it’s also a battle of logistics,” Stoltenberg said. The war in Ukraine is consuming enormous amounts of military equipment and supplies. We currently have a higher rate of production than the one that Ukraine has.

One lesson the Russians have learned is to place logistics hubs beyond the reach of strikes, so the timing of GLSDB deliveries and of longer-range systems promised by the UK to Ukraine is all-important – to defeat mass with precision.

The Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies expects “the first GLSDBs won’t arrive until this fall, likely missing widely expected Russian and Ukrainian offensives that will determine the war’s future trajectory.”

Ukrainian officials are annoyed by the never category, which currently includes F-16 fighter jets and USATACMS missiles, with a range of over 200 miles.

Some Western officials expect the Russian air force – largely missing in action so far – to become a more important component of the Russian battle plan. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says that Russia has lots of capability left and a large number of aircraft.

“It’s likely more aspirational than realistic,” said a senior US military official last week, with Russian forces moving before they are ready, due to political pressure from the Kremlin.

The only playbook that has worked for the Russians in this conflict is to lay waste to what’s in front of them, so there is nothing left to defend. We have seen it in several places, above all Mariupol.

A successful counter-attack by Ukrainian forces, especially with a thrust southwards through Zaporizhzhia towards Melitopol, would raise the stakes for the Kremlin still higher.

The Russian lines are deeper and denser than a few months ago, and Ukraine will need time to install tanks, fighting vehicles and other hardware.

It is possible, perhaps even likely, that after a burst of fury this spring the conflict will settle into a violent stasis, with little ground changing hands amid relentless attrition and high casualties.

Security conference of the Kremlin for a joint operation between Putin and the Ukraine military and the NATO defense ministers – Opening remarks via video link

Biden had reached the city before Putin according to the Telegram account managed by Russian army and naval servicemembers. “Almost a year after the beginning of the Special military operation, we are waiting in the Russian city of [Kyiv] for the president of the Russian Federation, but not for the [President of the] United States,” it said.

Dmitry said in a statement that Biden got security guarantees in advance and went to Kyiv. “And of course, there were mutual incantations about the victory that would come with new weapons and a courageous people. It’s important to note that the West gives weapons and money to Kyiv a lot. The NATO countries earned money and stole weapons from terrorists all over the world.

Russian army veteran and former Federal Security Service (FsB) officer has suggested that Biden could have visited the frontlines in easternUkraine and escaped unharmed.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if the grandfather (he is not good for anything but simple provocations anyway) is brought to Bakhmut as well… AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO HIM,” Girkin said.

Girkin is among a number of hardline military bloggers – some of whom have hundreds of thousands of followers and provide analysis of the conflict for large swaths of the Russian population – who have repeatedly criticized what they consider a “soft” approach on the battlefield by Putin’s generals.

In an apparent bid to shore up his nationalist credentials, Medvedev, currently serves as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, is known for making belligerent pronouncements.

Participants of what Russia refers to as its “special military operation” will be in attendance but foreign guests or representatives will not be invited, the Kremlin’s spokesperson told reporters Monday.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president ofUkraine, gave the opening address of the security conference via a video link. The vice president accused Russia of committing 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.

What did U.S. President Andrei Ketov tell us about his visit to Ukraine in April 2003? Embryos of Ukraine

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.

“It’s just something unbelievable that at a time like this the President of the United States is coming to Kyiv,” Andrei Ketov, a 48-year-old Ukrainian service member, told CNN.

The day after his visit to Kyiv, Biden will give a major speech, rallying the world to Ukraine’s side, and vowing to continue helping Ukraine defend its independence and its democracy, because Ukraine today is the front line in the global contest between democracy and autocracy.

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 old and not moving very fast. He has a lot of courage but also competence. Biden sounded the air raid sirens in Kyiv during his visit.

Zelensky said that the visit will have repercussions on the battlefield and that it brings us closer to victory.

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. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called the trip “incredibly insulting,” a sign of an “America Last” policy. The congressman said that Biden would not do the same for the United States as he would for Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin meets the United States in Kiev: a case for a better understanding of the nuclear environment and the impact on Russia’s economy

Putin called on those present to stand for a moment of silence in honor of the Russians who died in the war. The Russian leader promised support for the families of the fallen.

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 also said that he was suspending Russia’s participation in a critical arms control treaty, New START, with the U.S., though he stressed that Russia is not withdrawing from the treaty.

Signed in 2010, New Start came into force in 2011, and was extended till 2026. The US and Russia are able to deploy strategic nuclear warheads. Most of the deployable warheads are in the two countries.

Regular inspections under the agreement, to make sure neither side is cheating, were put on hold in March 2020 during the pandemic. Russia postponed talks to restart those inspections, as relations between Moscow and Washington continued to deteriorate over Ukraine.

Should the U.S. carry new tests first, Putin instructed his military and atomic energy agency to be prepared to test more nuclear weapons.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken described Russia’s decision as “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible.” The US accused Russia of violating the last remaining nuclear arms treaty.

The Russian leader likened the Ukrainian government to the Nazis and said Russia was just as committed to defending its own territory as the Soviets were.

In his speech, Putin stated that the Russian system of government was much stronger than the west thought.

Russia’s economic output duly contracted by 2.1% last year, according to a preliminary estimate from the government. The hit was smaller than expected. Some economists predicted a contraction of 10% or 15% when sanctions were first imposed.

“The era of windfall profits from the oil and gas market for Russia is over,” Janis Kluge, an expert on Russia’s economy at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told CNN.

Meanwhile, the ruble has slumped to its weakest level against the US dollar since last April. The currency’s weakness has contributed to high inflation. According to a recent survey by a Russian think tank, most businesses can not grow because of high levels of economic uncertainty.

The push toward self-sufficiency was one of the reasons for Russia’s sudden U-turn. The government boosted domestic food production through a policy referred to as “Fortress Russia.” policymakers forced banks to build up their reserves That created a degree of “durability,” said Ash at Chatham House.

Russia was able to send barrels to Europe that would have gone to countries like China and India. The EU imported an average of 3.3 million barrels of Russian crude and oil products per day in 2021, which was still 2.3 million barrels per day according to the IEA.

“It’s a question of natural resources,” Sergey Aleksashenko, Russia’s former deputy minister of finance, said at an event last month hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank. That meant the economy experienced a decline, but “not a collapse,” he added.

In January, the average price of a barrel of Russia’s main blend of crude fell to around 50 percent of its average for the previous year. By comparison, the global benchmark stood around $82. That indicates that India and China have a smaller pool ofinterested buyers and are negotiating larger discounts. Russia’s 2023 budget is based on a Urals price of more than $70 per barrel.

Finding new buyers for processed oil products, which are also subject to new embargoes and price caps, won’t be easy either. China and India have their own network of refineries and prefer to buy crude, noted Ben McWilliams, an energy consultant at Bruegel.

The Russian Economy in Ukraine: Implications of the Second World War on the Automotive Industry and Russia’s Emerging Middle East Economies

The Russia Institute at King’s College London believes that energy resources will be used for military needs.

The International Monetary Fund still expects Russia’s economy to expand by 0.3% this year and 2.1% the next. Yet any outlook is contingent on what happens in Ukraine.

The war will determine if the economy shrinks or expands in the next few years, according to a note to clients on Tuesday. She noted the risk of shortages of workers tied to military enlistment and emigration.

Sectors that rely on imports have been particularly vulnerable. Domestic car makers such as Avtovaz, which manufactures the iconic Ladas, have struggled with shortages of key components and materials.

Russia’s auto industry was already weakened after companies such as Volkswagen

            (VLKAF), Renault

            (RNLSY), Ford

            (F) and Nissan

            (NSANF) halted production and began to sell their local assets last year. The presence of Chinese companies has increased, part of a broader trend. Even so, sales of new cars dropped 63% year-over-year in January, according to the Association of European Businesses.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/22/business/russia-economy-ukraine-anniversary/index.html

The Security Effort of Ukraine since Crimea Assangered by the NATO-Russian War on Crimea: State Department Analysis of the Embassy of Ukraine in Kiev

“In normal times, we might have said that the population would protest against that,” Sharafutdinova said. “But of course, these are not normal times.”

Back in Washington, the attacks were a game-changer. President Joe Biden was so outraged by the threat to civilians that he directed the Pentagon to find a way to get Ukraine America’s most advanced missile defense system, the Patriot – a move his administration had previously dismissed.

The process has gotten more organized, but there is still need for Biden to approve a security package.

Not only would the US follow through on sweeping sanctions, Biden also detailed his intent to provide more security assistance than any provided on a consistent basis to Ukraine since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Biden made the pledge “crystal clear,” a senior administration official recalled.

In addition to lower-level military contacts, National security adviser Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley all speak directly with their counterparts multiple times a week.

The Pentagon conducts a detailed analysis of the requests, including how quickly the Ukrainians can train and integrate the new weapons, as well as the impact on US military readiness.

One senior State Department official said they had “never seen this bureaucracy work as fast as it’s working,” but added, “We all need to do more, faster.”

“The president was obviously outraged about this, as we all were, and really pushed our teams, particularly at the Pentagon, to look at what we could do on our side to help them defend against this problem,” a senior administration official said.

Russia’s targeted campaign on civilian infrastructure, as well as Biden’s concerns about the spread of Ukrainian air defense, forced Kyiv to make an impossible choice: deploy its limited air defense assets to protect its frontline troops, or its cities.

At the White House, where Sullivan hosts a daily meeting of key National Security Council officials to coordinate the government-wide effort to support Ukraine, that launched an effort to get US allies to also get Ukraine more air defense capabilities.

“We really went around the world and found for them, not only additional systems that other countries had and persuade them to transfer them, but parts,” the official said, allowing Ukraine to get non-operational S-300 systems back online.

The decision to provide howitzers in April, as well as the rocket launchers in June and the tanks last month, is one of the key points of inflection.

“At every stage of conflict, we have adapted to make sure the Ukrainians had what they needed to be successful – and they have,” a senior administration official said. “We have adapted, they have adapted.”

“The main issue is not actually the will to support the Ukrainians on the Western side. He said that it was the capacity to do so. “The rate at which the Ukrainians are expending munitions exceeds the production capacity of even the collective West.”

“A lot of the ammunition stocks have been depleted in Europe,” Estonian Ministry of Defense Permanent Secretary Kusti Salm told CNN, and Europe’s current industrial capacities are limited in terms of how fast the ammo can be manufactured.

If the West can fulfill the needs ofUkraine, then NATO and Europe need to be increased in production capacity, according to the secretary general.

According to US officials, it’s time forUkraine to use a maneuver warfare style of fighting that uses rapid, unforeseen movements and a combination of different combat arms rather than relying too heavily on artillery.

The plan calls for the restoration of the state borders with Russia, as well as the withdrawal of Russian troops and a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes.

“I think strategically the allies are getting to the realization that this is going to be a longer war,” said Salm, the Estonian defense secretary. “It’s going to be an extremely costly war and in order to manage this strategy, you need to have an end goal.”

The senior State Department official said the US understood the position. The end goal of a democratically elected leader in the country should be something that they can sell to the public. “But I think he’s committed to get there.”

A 21st century war in Europe — led by a nuclear power — is pushing the world toward realignment. It has made NATO uneasy and the European Union uneasy, forcing them to take sides in ways that have led to diplomatic shifts. Turkey, despite being a NATO member, has increased trade with Russia since the start of the war and has objected to allowing Sweden and Finland into the alliance.

The Last Battle of the Polish-Ukraine War: How Families and Commuters Survive the Battle. Is War the Last Battle?

NPR’s Will Chase, Alex Leff, Pam Webster, Desiree F. Hicks and Nishant Dahiya contributed to this report. The text and graphics build on previous work by Alina Selyukh, Connie Hanzhang Jin and Nick Underwood.

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 quit her job in Boston to travel to Ukraine with suitcases full of medical supplies. The wife of the border guard would make a three hour journey from Lviv to the Polish border every day to drop off fleeing women and children.

It’s sad that after surviving Covid, human beings are back to their old ways of killing one another. Communities need more help to adapt to rising oceans and drying rivers, so it’s silly to spend tens of billions of dollars on missiles, tanks and other aid. Farmers in a breadbasket of the world hide in bomb shelters because they go hungry. It’s madness that Vladimir Putin declared Ukrainians to be part of his own people — right before he sent his army into the country, where Russian soldiers have been accused of raping and murdering civilians.

Governments gussy up war. They talk of victory because it gives hope and the will to fight on. But in the end, war is death in a muddy foxhole. It’s not about strategic value but about an eternal fight over a frozen field. 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 produce a single metal sheet. The seaside city was filled by bombs and sieges.

Crime against civilians: the Lysenkos and the Kremlin targeted by cynical weaponization of winter in Ukraine

The sound of an engine was what woke the Lysenkos up in the early morning, and the four-year-old daughter was in her bedroom down the hall.

From their perch on the 23rd floor of an apartment block in central Kyiv, they could see a drone swooping across the pink dawn sky, like a kite. Then, they heard an explosion and saw a black cloud left hanging in the air. Yana said she felt paralyzed, rooted to the spot.

The weapon, later identified by authorities as an Iranian Shahed-136, known as a “kamikaze” or “suicide” drone for the way it explodes on impact, was soon followed by several more. The couple watched in horror as the menacing triangular munitions darted past, careening and dive-bombing towards a thermal power plant just over a mile from their home, which provides electricity and heat for the capital.

Russia’s attacks violate international humanitarian law, which prohibits the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, according to the UN. According to Human Rights Watch, Moscow’s tactic appeared to be mostly designed to spread terror among the civilian population in violation of the additional protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.

The Kremlin devised a cynical tactic in order to win the war after not being able to win it for months, according to HRW. “I don’t think that this cynical weaponization of winter was something that we encountered earlier. It was not about using the cold weather season to attack civilians, but about a lack of care for them, and indiscriminate strikes. That is new.”

Temperatures in Ukraine during the winter months typically range between 23 and 36 degrees Fahrenheit (-4.8 C and 2 C), and regularly plunge to -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-21.6 C). Though this winter has been milder than most, life has been brutal for those in towns and villages pummelled in the country’s east, parts of which haven’t had electricity for months.

Humanitarian organizations and energy experts tell us that the people can still heat their homes with wood fires or gas, and still get water from wells in some rural towns. In cities, where most people have centralized heating and water systems, it is almost a bigger challenge to deal with power failures. 3 million people were without access when previous strikes left the city’s entire population, including Brown, with jugs of water. “From my point of view, it’s much more difficult in the urban areas, the impact is greater, it’s harsher,” Brown said.

“Nobody expected or could have thought that Russia would resort to such barbarism … to turn winter against us and bring us back to some sort of stone age. Serhii said that it could have worked. “But we were able to survive.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/02/europe/putin-ukraine-energy-infrastructure-attack/index.html

Emergency Synchronization of Ukraine’s Energy System and the Impact of Russian Forces on the International Humanitarian Response in Ukraine During the Cold War

Russia requested that the test be pushed back to February 24. “Very, very few people know about this,” Mariia Tsaturian, a spokesperson for Ukrenergo, told CNN. We kept thinking that it could be when they’ll invade, because Ukraine would seem like a weak place.

“It made our system stronger. It made us more resilient to Russia’s attacks,” Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Industry Research Center (EIRC), a research and consulting company in Kyiv, and former adviser to Ukraine’s energy minister, told CNN. He pointed out that the successful emergency synchronization also allowed Ukraine to start trading power with the EU in June, bringing in much-needed revenue while also providing affordable electricity to Europe during a time when prices were sky high.

The scale of destruction is hard to assess due to the restriction on information by the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy.

There is a big question mark about how to recover this deficit. If Zaporizhzhia came back online, it would be able to balance the overall need, but there is no sign of that happening anytime soon. The costs for electricity from the EU would be much higher than for the domestic market, so Kyiv is looking into it.

“No one on the planet has experienced such a challenge … a country of this size being at war and their energy sector being weaponized in the way that Russia is doing to Ukraine,” Lorkowski said. ”But they’ve proved that they can keep the system running despite all these atrocities and shellings. And this is for me the source of hope that it will continue until the end of this winter.”

When Denise Brown, the UN’s resident coordinator in Ukraine, took up her position overseeing the international humanitarian response in the country last summer, she had one priority: preparing for winter.

The winterization plan was the first thing I did when I arrived in August, because of the fear I had of the cold and the reports of people dying in the middle of winter.

The Russian forces captured Soledar in January and the UN convoy recently traveled to Siversk, which is about 12 miles from the town. Only about 1,000 residents remain, without any electricity or running water. Those who have stayed behind are usually the most vulnerable — older people, people with disabilities and chronic conditions, who either can’t leave their homes or don’t want to.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/02/europe/putin-ukraine-energy-infrastructure-attack/index.html

Living without electricity: Lysenko’s home is an “invincibility point” for her office and for a job she’s working in

In December, she said she got the hang of living without power for a while. She was teaching Italian from home when she started taking Liza back to kindergarten.

I have thought about moving but only for a moment since we have been waiting to achieve our goal for so long. Our home is this apartment, said Lysenko.

Yulia Ivanenko commutes every day from her apartment in the Kyiv suburb of Hostomel to the nearby town of Irpin, where she runs an accounting company. Instead of going to her office, she works from a local library, which has become an “invincibility point,” providing electricity and internet powered by a generator.

I can’t afford a generator for the office so for now, this is our way out. But hopefully it will get better,” she said, adding that her employees, who still work in the office, often only have four hours of electricity before they need to go and work remotely elsewhere.

Her 67-year-old father, who also lives in Hostomel, uses a car battery as a temporary power source for his small home. “You know where he got that battery? She said it was taken from the Russian soldiers’ car. He is fearless.

Eduard Yevtushenko, a 55-year-old film producer, had just gotten home from the hospital, where he was in rehab for a stroke, when Russian forces launched their attack on Kyiv.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/02/europe/putin-ukraine-energy-infrastructure-attack/index.html

Bringing back the peace: From Kiev to Kyiv, where energy infrastructure crises hit Russia, a female journalist recounted living in a refugee camp

For the first days of the war, he and his wife slept in their small bathroom — her in the tub and him sitting on a stool beside her. They used the safest place in the house as a personal power supply, food for their dog, and water jugs to charge their phones and laptops.

“This is very illustrative of what you see across Ukraine. It’s about cafes and restaurants sharing their generators, it’s about the special kind of places where people can charge their phones being created at shopping centers, at gas stations, you name it,” said Lokshina, the associate director at the human rights watchdog, HRW. “It’s about helping others, not only taking care of your own, and that’s how people are surviving.”

The couple has stayed in the left bank of the city since the war began. The stress of air raid sirens, strikes and power cuts have slowed his progress and he would have joined the armed forces if it weren’t for the stroke.

“It’s difficult every time, because you never know when and where it’s gonna hit,” Yevtushenko said of the attacks. He and his spouse open the windows when there is an air raid alarm going off to keep themselves out of harm’s way. “We feel anxious. One might think that we should have been used to it. But we still feel nervous.”

In most high-rise apartment buildings in Kyiv, residents leave vital supplies — some food, water and diapers — in elevators in case of cuts. Most people CNN spoke with though couldn’t remember the last time they had used the lift, worried about being trapped inside.

The most recent head of HRW’s Moscow bureau, Lokshina has been working in exile from Tbilisi, Georgia, since Russia’s Ministry of Justice revoked the organization’s registration in April, along with other foreign rights groups. In November, at the height of Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure, she was carrying out research in the Kharkiv region. In towns and villages she visited that were recently de-occupied, people had been living with no electricity for months. They were most devastated by a lack of connectivity, she said, unable to get in touch with friends and relatives, to find out how they were and what was happening in the outside world.

Lokshina was struck by the way life continued when she returned to Kyiv. She was unable to get her nails done in time for the meeting, as every salon she tried was booked until the curfew. “Despite the continuing attacks, despite the blackouts, which happen time and time again, despite the unpredictability of it. There are risk factors. She said that people make a point out of trying to live a normal life.

You don’t need too much for happiness. A warm house with lights and water is what a peaceful sky above our heads looks like. That is the end, that is the end, that is it,Yana said. Our values have changed a lot. We have changed.

The Ukrainian War on Crime and Security: How the U.S. Will Support Ukraine, and What Putin’s Intentions Will Tell Us

The town hall was held Thursday, and Sullivan and Power took questions from Americans and Ukrainians on topics ranging from how the US will keep helping Ukraine to an assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions.

Sullivan argued that one year into the conflict, Ukraine had stopped Russia from taking over the capital of Kyiv.

Sullivan said that there were no movements in Russia’s nuclear forces that led them to believe that something had changed.

The $2 billion package includes new funding for contracts including HIMARS rockets, 155-millimeter artillery ammunition, drones, counter-drone equipment, mine-clearing equipment and secure communications equipment.

Sullivan was asked by a Ukrainian soldier named Yegor, currently serving on the front lines, whether the US would be able to increase production of ammunition and other weapons to Ukraine, such as 155-millimeter artillery shells and HIMARS.

“One of the things that we are working hard at – at President Biden’s direction – is to increase the production of all of these types of ammunition,” Sullivan said. We are putting a lot of effort and resources into this, even though it’s not something that can be done with a single finger.

But he also acknowledged that the Ukrainians have often asked for more than the US is willing to give – though in many cases the Biden administration has eventually transferred weapons it had initially resisted sending.

The short-term fight shouldn’t focus on F-16s. F-16s are a question for the long-term defense of Ukraine and that’s a conversation that President Biden and President Zelensky had,” Sullivan said.

Zakaria asked Sullivan for his first reaction Thursday evening to a 12-point plan Beijing released calling for the end of hostilities in Ukraine and pitching itself as a mediator between Moscow and Kyiv.

The same week Beijing released its 12-point plan, US officials have warned that China could be preparing to provide lethal military aid to Russia. Sullivan said that a move has not been ruled out yet.

Still, Sullivan argued that the idea that the two countries are becoming “unbreakable allies” is disproven because China has taken a careful stance toward Russia’s war, noting they abstained instead of voting with Moscow on a recent United Nations resolution.

Both Sullivan and Power brushed aside criticism from some of Biden’s Republican critics that the billions of dollars the US is spending in Ukraine would be better spent at home.

“I would say to those senators, yes, let’s do these things at home. But are you saying that American is incapable of also helping to serve as a powerful force of good in the world?” Sullivan said something.

There is a pessimism about this argument that these senators are making. President Biden has an optimistic view, which is that we can do it, and we should do it, and we are doing it.”

The flow of support that has been sustained over the course of this last year is reflected in how much commonality Americans do feel with Ukrainians. “It is the bipartisanship in a town that isn’t famous for it anymore, but Ukraine has been not only a galvanizing issue, but a uniting issue for our own country.”

Lera, a 14-year-old Ukrainian girl, asked Power whether she could rely on American to feel safe in her country. Power responded that the US was committed to making Ukrainians feel as safe as possible despite the war.

Power said they have your backs and that they are trying to help you feel safer when one man has tried to take that away.

The magic day of November 11: How Ukrainian railway workers first arrived in Mariupol, Ukraine during the first few days of the Russian-Bulgarian war

Power said the road to rebuild the country after the war is long. Some estimates have totaled the damage to date at $130 billion, she noted.

But she added that major projects are still ahead, and that the Biden administration and other allies are focused on making sure the money that’s dedicated to reconstruction is well spent.

Power said that most of the big-ticket items will only happen when there is a negotiated peace.

We have to make sure that things are spent well. “When you have those huge investments, which go well beyond what is being provided right now, that’s when of course you want to make sure that you have the safeguards in place so that all outside investors and donors can know and say to their citizens that this is money that’s going to be well spent.”

Two days after Russian troops retreated from Kherson on November 11, Ukraine Railways CEO Alexander Kamyshin arrived in the city accompanied by Ukrainian special forces and a small team of railway workers. They reached the central train station even before the regular army arrived to secure the city, and got to work. The first train arrived in liberated Kherson six days later.

Kamyshin says that it was a magic day. The people waving their hands saw the train and were crying. Trust me, it was unforgettable. It is one day that is one of the days to remember.

Kamyshin and Ukrainian rail workers have had to make hundreds of consequential decisions that were not included in the pre-invasion script. They stopped selling tickets so anyone who needed to travel could do so immediately. They slowed the trains to make sure no one gets hurt in an accident. They changed the rules on pets so that evacuees could bring them as they fled—Ukraine Railways estimates 120,000 animals have traveled over the past 12 months.

During the first few weeks of the war in southern and central Ukranian, the main focus of the railway was on moving humanitarian aid into the towns and cities that were being bombed. passenger trains went towards thePolish border with refugees then returned to the front filled with supplies

In Mariupol, a port city close to the Russian border, rail workers were able to get trains in and out of the port several times before the tracks were destroyed. The stranded crews were able to evacuate by road, but two trains are still stuck there.

Ukrainian President and Security Council Leader Zelensky at the International Solidarity Forum on Kyiv War-anniversaries in Intl-Cmd

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 there will be victory.”

On Friday, the former Russian President and the current chair of Russia’s Security Council said that Russia would push the borders of threats to the country even if they were located in Poland.

Zelensky used the war’s anniversary to call for international help for his country. He handed out awards to soldiers and visited wounded service members before holding the rare press conference.

The Ukrainian leader spoke to members of the military in the morning. 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.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the international community not to let Putin’s crimes “become our new normal,” at the United Nations Security Council.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that he intends to present the idea of new sanctions against Russia during a 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 bitterly cold morning in Kyiv, but Pahitsky said she felt it was her duty as the student president of her school to represent her classmates and pay her respects to the fallen heroes.

There are photographs on the main street. It is a great honor. They died as heroes. It is very important to 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

When Catherine the Great Able to Leave Ukraine – Her Mother Ann Announced the Day Before the Winter Solitons: A Memories of Horobstova

The sailor said that it was very difficult to describe his feelings on Friday.

He told CNN, “I am not scared, but I feel confident in my abilities, so I would prefer to describe that.” “One year ago … I felt fear, I was stressed, psychologically it unsettled me. There is no fear right now.

It was not believed that Russians would attack this city that was founded by Catherine the Great.

On Feb. 24, 2022, despite warnings from the West that Russia was about to invade Ukraine, Horobstova remembers waking to a beautiful morning and watching the sunrise from her balcony. It turned the sky into a colorful kaleidoscope of colors as the winter harvest began.

“I’m leaving Kherson, I’m going to cross the Dnipro River,” she tells a city council member

I heard the explosions. She says she saw the explosions. “One near the airport, then a second. The third time at a gas station.

“She said, ‘What are you doing? Maybe the Russians will come back? Pohomii recalled. “As soon as she realized we would make sure Kherson remained in Ukraine, she was willing to let down her guard.” She left to go to Russia. Many others equally like her left.

Serhiy says he heard about Kherson’s liberation while fighting in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine. The brigade helped free part of that region in September. But he says his commanders told him they couldn’t help with the liberation of their hometown.

Many civilians wanted to help the Ukrainian military. Oksana Pohomii was an accountant and city council member when she warned about the Kremlin not being trusted, and she says first President Zelenskyy didn’t take the threat seriously.

“They ask me, ‘Oksana, are you going to leave Kherson?’ and I always tell them ‘No, no, no. No way! ” she says. “I tell them that as soon as we free them, I’m going to bake bread for 24 hours straight, load the loaves onto a motorboat with the Ukrainian flag, cross the Dnipro River and bring it to them personally.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/25/1157422023/ukraine-russia-war-kherson-spies

The clone of Cyndi Lauper, the voice of the king, and the actions of Ukraine’s war-kherson-spies

Pohomii, with her red hair and braided rattail, looked like a clone of Cyndi Lauper. Just before the invasion, she applied to train as a soldier with the territorial defense, but the recruiting office turned her down, saying they were flooded with applicants.

“I remember this boy with an amputated leg in the central market,” she says. The man played the guitar and sung the Ukrainian national anthem. It was really brave. We would sing quietly around him.

Pohomii took photos and video of suspected collaborators and eavesdropped on their conversations and passed it on to Ukraine’s security services.

Some of her fellow city council members, as well as a doctor who helped the city survive, were among the suspects.

“I told them everything I saw about Russian troops — where they live, where they put their vehicles,” Chupikova recalls, adding that she followed them wherever she could.

Sometimes I would pretend I was at a grocery store or waiting for the bus, and try to change my clothes as often as possible,” she says. I am not saying that I am an agent 007. I just did whatever made sense to me.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/25/1157422023/ukraine-russia-war-kherson-spies

Ukrainian patriot Olha Chupikova in Ukraine’s military: “I hate you, and I don’t look like a threat”

Chupikova was hard to track, in part, because “I do not look like a threat,” she says. With her pixie cut and bright blue eyes, she looks like a Minnesota soccer mom about to offer you a freshly baked apple pie.

“They wanted us to look average, unremarkable, not easy to remember so we could work undetected, as if we were moving between drops of rain.”

She recruited her husband, Valerii Chupikov, to work with her. They used Google Maps to find coordinates of Russian convoys and sent them via Signal to a contact of Olha’s in Ukraine’s military.

When cellphone service was weak, she used to climb to the roof of her house and throw her phone in the air, hoping for a signal to send her messages.

Russian troops seemed to be watching everyone closely. Olha Chupikova says residents were getting arrested for simply giving Russian soldiers dirty looks.

There were men with machine guns and pistols, wearing military fatigues and with their faces covered. They went upstairs to her room, then right to our apartment. She did not deny anything. She said, ‘Yes, I’m a Ukrainian patriot, and I hate you.’ They took her away.

Iryna’s phone, laptop, and memory stick were taken away by the armed men, who she says were only interested in her physics classes.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/25/1157422023/ukraine-russia-war-kherson-spies

Espionage in Ukraine: a tale of three torture sessions for a Russian adolescent in a country with a national flag

She says she kept telling herself that it was a breeding ground. “I said, ‘This is the flag of our country, where I live and where my daughter lives. You also have a country, and you have your own flag.’ He kept yelling.

The apartment manager had been working for the Ukrainian security services for a long time. He thinks the Russians may have found a way to listen to their friends’ conversations. He claims that Russians obtained information about cells by torturing captured partisans.

The torture began almost immediately. His hands shook when he recalled three brutal torture sessions. They electrocuted him and beat him with clubs, metal pipes and their boots. They asked him about a man in his espionage cell.

The screams of tortured partisans filled the jail. While imprisoned a woman remembers hearing Russian soldiers rape a man.

But the Russians eventually took Diaov for medical care. There were two surgeries that he had. Over the next several weeks, he recuperated with Russian soldiers stationed outside his door.

“I thought they were taking me not to the doctor, but to the forest” to be executed, he says. He had heard in prison that others there had died that way.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/25/1157422023/ukraine-russia-war-kherson-spies

Oksana Pohomii, a city councilwoman and partisan on the lookout for collaborators during the Ukrainian War of Kherson

Oksana Pohomii, the city councilwoman and partisan on the lookout for suspected collaborators, saw a list of locals who helped organize the referendum and recognized many names, including the son of her former classmate. She says that classmate drove the residents to the polls herself.

Pohomii laughs when she recalls the referendum results, which showed nearly everyone who voted wanted to join Russia. She says even the Russians knew it was a sham and that it made Russian President Vladimir Putin look desperate.

Politicians installed by the Russians were assassinated. When Ukraine got sophisticated missiles from the U.S., military officials say the partisans helped Ukrainian troops target sites like the Antonivka Bridge, which cut off Russian supply routes.

On Oct. 24, when a doctor helped Oleksandr Diakov escape from the hospital, Russian forces were already looting the city and starting to evacuate. The remains of Grigory Potemkin, the Russian commander in the 1700s, were removed from St. Catherine’s Cathedral.

“I realized our guys were entering the city after they were playing Ukrainian music,” he says. “Every day we were waiting for this. When I was tortured, I kept imagining the day the Ukrainian soldiers would come home and our work would mean something.

The next night it was clear that Ukrainian troops had taken over Kherson. Residents poured into the streets and cheered. There was a man in the bed who cheered from his bed.

Serhiy is a soldier from the local brigade. He runs missions to the left side of the Dnipro and is in touch with partisans there who tell him where traitors are hiding.

“I guess they were nervous and afraid that we would seek vengeance on traitors and collaborators,” he says. “I felt bad not to be there. But I understand why I wasn’t.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/25/1157422023/ukraine-russia-war-kherson-spies

Ukrainian War K”ahlein-Spies: Bread in a Crater with a Missile and a Bread Bunch

A friend of Olha Chupikova who used to spy on the Russian military near the bridge now runs a bakery with her. Just outside the bakery, a missile strike has left a huge crater.

They are dusted in flour as they stack warm loaves that they call “Kherson Undefeated Bread.” The bread is free of charge. It is delivered to stressed residents by Pohomii.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/25/1157422023/ukraine-russia-war-kherson-spies

Iryna’s mother, Tetiana Horobstova, is cold in Russian-occupied Crimea and doesn’t wear underwear

She says they do not try to force anyone to stay. I know some people who stay in their homes. I know people who could handle the shelling at first Something broke in the house after the shelling killed people. They stopped eating and drinking. I said it was time to leave. “

She’s still in touch with the Ukrainian soldier she worked with during her spy days. The battle of the war is taking place in Bakhmut. She says she worries about him and looks back on the work they did together with pride – and bewilderment.

Many partisans are missing, and are presumed to be in Russian custody. Iryna is the daughter of Tetiana Horobstova. Horobstova hasn’t spoken to her daughter and isn’t sure where she’s being held, though there’s evidence she’s imprisoned in Russian-occupied Crimea.

“I worry that she is cold, because when they took her away, she was only wearing a summer top,” Horobstova says. She does not have a change of underwear, nor does she have any hygiene pads.

Russia and Ukraine in the second year of the Second World War: Key Trends from the Pentagon to the Continuum and the Middle East

The way these armies behaved in the early days of the war are not the way they look today. Both took a lot of losses. Both have lost a lot of their best people and best equipment,” said Kofman, an expert on the Russian military at the Center for Naval Analyses.

But analyst Dmitri Alperovitch says a key reason the Russians failed is that they didn’t send enough troops to capture and hold large parts of Ukraine.

If they started off without enough troops but had plenty of equipment, it was a reversal of course. Now they have more troops and equipment, but maybe they don’t have enough to execute a successful campaign.

The amount of territory that Russia had to defend dramatically reduced because of their retreat from a good amount of Ukrainian territory last fall. “That means that as a military, they have far more force density. They have top tier lines. They have some reserve funds.

“I think it’s going to be very difficult for the Ukrainians to make quick progress,” he said. “Unless the Russian line just collapses, I think it’s going to be difficult to see the type of lightning offensives that we saw last year.”

Both sides have shown a great deal of ability at combined arms. If you’re going to take these fortified positions, you have to have air superiority on both sides.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/25/1159274649/key-trends-russia-ukraine-war-second-year

Moldova’s Cold War and the Cold War: How Russian Forces Are Interacting with Moldova, and What Romania’s Democratic Leaders Think

“I do think at some point, Western support will start to be questioned, especially in the U.S. House,” Ioffe said, referring to a group of Republicans who question U.S. aid.

“You are seeing these reassertions of an isolationist kind of ‘America First’ sentiment of, ‘Why are we in this fight? Why are we sending a blank check to Ukraine? She added, “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

The President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, accused Russia of using people dressed as civilians to encourage unrest in the country, like the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.

There is no sign that he has accepted the invitation to visit, but the White House did say he remained supportive ofMoldova.

Zelensky warned that a Russian plan to cause political chaos in Moldova was caught by the Ukrainian intelligence.

Sandu claimed that the so-called opposition in Chisinau would attempt to force a change of power by violent actions. CNN can’t independently verify claims.

Groza said they have seen constant activities of Russia trying to exploit the information space in Moldova using propaganda.

“I do see lots of fingerprints of Russian forces, Russian services in Moldova,” Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told CBS last Sunday. “This is a very weak country, and we all need to help them.”

War with Moldovan forces ensued, and the conflict ended in deadlock in 1992. Russian forces did not recognize Transnistria as a state, but they did leave it a state of defacto independence. Chisinau has no control over the territory, which is home to an estimated 500,000 people.

What can Ukraine do to save us? CNN’s Fareed Zakaria discusses the economic and political status of the Ukrainian war in Ukraine

Editor’s Note: Fareed Zakaria hosts Fareed Zakaria GPS, airing Sundays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on CNN. His views are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

Russia has had a poor performance in the war, but is doing better in holding territory. Russia has also been able to stabilize its economy, which the IMF projects will do better this year than the UK’s or Germany’s. Russia is free to trade with many countries, including China, India, Turkey and Iran. It lost capital and goods from the Western boycott, but has access to all of them outside of advanced technology. Russia can swim in the world’s waters if it chooses, as there is a huge economy that excludes the West. The long-term costs of the war and the effects of the sanctions are real but slow. If you look at the policies of North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, you will see that they do not change their policies due to isolation and pain.

Is there a way to stop the fighting? Yes, on paper. It’s possible to imagine a cease-fire that returns all lands captured since February 2022 to Ukraine. Those taken earlier, like Crimea in 2014, would be subject to international arbitration, including local referendums that would be conducted by international groups, not the Russian government. In addition, Ukraine would get security guarantees from NATO, though they would not apply to those disputed territories. That tradeoff – to put it simply, Crimea and parts of the Donbas for de facto NATO and EU membership – is one that could be sold to Ukrainians because they would achieve their long-cherished goal of becoming part of the West. It could be accepted by Russia because it could claim to have protected some parts of Ukraine.

More than 13 million people are displaced, about 8 million of them abroad. The war is taking place on Ukrainian soil, with its cities being bombarded to rubble, its factories razed, its people turned destitute. It will be worth asking if we are letting the war grind on for years, so that Ukraine can be saved.

There are hearings on the war in the Senate and House on Tuesday.

What do you want to know after a year of Russian-Ukraine conflict? A brief reflection on a moment of stability after the anniversary of the invasion

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.

The position paper was published on the anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine invasion and called for a cease-fire. Earlier in the week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s top diplomat met in Moscow and pledged to strengthen ties.

We took some time last week to pause and reflect on all that’s transpired in our live blog. We asked you what you want to know after a year of unpredictable events.

Who knows? At least another year is what most people think. Both armies have suffered staggering losses and neither has anything that looks like a knockout blow in them.

Ukrainians who have been homeless tend to find work faster than other refugees. Most displaced Ukrainians have at least finished secondary education and have a college or graduate degree.

When Will Ukraine War End? When Will We End the U.S.–Russia War? A Thought from Albul and Palamarenko

“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. The Kremlin has “flipped the script,” and instead of being aggressive, has been submissive to the victim.

Even though both Soviet republics ostensibly managed their own foreign policies, Russia was represented at the United Nations as the USSR, and all issues directed at Russia went through the USSR. Conversely, Soviet Ukraine had its own U.N. ambassador while also being represented by — and therefore rubber stamping — decisions made by the Soviet Union’s delegation.

The fall of the Soviet Union has been dubbed “Independence Day” in Russia but it is actually a reformation of the same state with its roots in the Russian Empire.

The global oil economy is really complicated. It is the only thing more complex than sanctions enforcement, and the question touches on both.

It is possible for the U.S. to sanction countries that have economic ties with Russia. The best precedent for this is perhaps the Helms–Burton Act, which extended the U.S. sanctions against Cuba to foreign companies doing business in the U.S. When President Bill Clinton signed that law in 1996, several countries accused the U.S. of violating their sovereignty, passing their own laws to make the U.S. regulation effectively unenforceable.

That said, there wasn’t much of a political will for third countries to sanction Cuba at the time. 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.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159645125/when-will-ukraine-russia-war-end

The Future of Air Warfare in the G7: A Conversation with U.S. and Russian High-Energy Foreign Ministers

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.

We’re seeing air battles daily but pilots aren’t involved. This will increasingly be the future of air warfare.

It was quite unlikely. Neither side cared about it. 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.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, visits the White House Friday for talks with President Biden, following her trip to Canada.

In a brief walk and talk with the Group of 20 nations’ foreign ministers in India, the US and Russian government’s top diplomats met for the first time since the invasion began.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, one of Europe’s staunchest supporters of Ukraine, is set to remain in her post after her center-right party overwhelmingly won Sunday’s election.