After Biden offered more support for Zelensky, the Kremlin warned of a long war

What Vladimir Putin has done in his annexation of Crimea and the emergence of a Russian-Ukrainian Republic since the fall of the Soviet Union

The border dispute between Russian and Ukrainian President Vladimir Putin was never a thing of the past. It was clear from the beginning that preventing Russia from gaining control of its neighbor with its incipient democracy was important to Putin.

More than 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed by the bombardments of Russia in Luhansk and the surrounding area. It is hard to imagine such a blunt instrument achieving Putins goal of reaching the borders of Luhansk and Donetsk, since the Ukrainian government changed its front lines to make this possible.

Putin attempted to claim that the vote reflected the will of millions of people despite reports from the ground suggesting that some voting was done at gun point.

Like other Ukrainians who believe a government should serve and protect its people, rather than plunder them, I know how much we have achieved in rooting out the corrupt legacies of Soviet rule that have lingered so long in our system. I know how much blood was spilled in Kyiv’s Maidan Square during our Revolution of Dignity in 2014 by people who wanted to break from Russia’s toxic political grip.

The president of Russia believes that the annexation was intended to correct a mistake made after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Many statements made by Putin in recent years proved he wanted to reestablish the Russian empire. He said the warning was a warning that the war was going to happen.

Russia will now, despite the widespread international condemnation, forge ahead with its plans to fly its flag over some 100,000 square kilometers (38,600 square miles) of Ukrainian territory – the largest forcible annexation of land in Europe since 1945.

The leader of the Russian Federation spoke in St. George’s Hall of the Great Kremlin Palace, the same place he proclaimed in March thatUkraine was part of Russia.

Hundreds of Russian members of Parliament and regional governors sat in the audience for Mr. Putin’s speech, as well as many of his cabinet ministers and the four Russian-imposed leaders of the occupied Ukrainian regions.

But beyond these most recent missile attacks lies a laundry list of horrors Putin has launched that only seems to have driven his nation further from the pack of civilized powers that he once sought so desperately to join.

He reeled off a litany of Western military actions stretching over centuries — from the British Opium War in China in the 19th century to Allied firebombings of Germany and the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

The United States, he said, was the only country to have used nuclear weapons in war. “By the way, they created a precedent,” Mr. Putin added in an aside.

The stragglers that fell during the February 4 Ukrainian strike in Kherson have been suppressed, but Putin has not given up

The strikes in Kherson took place in the midst of a vicious winter season in eastern Ukraine which caused power shortages and resulted in a grinding war of attrition on the battlefield.

There is a celebration on Red Square on Friday. Official ratification of the decrees will happen next week, said Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman.

During a war in defiance of international law, referendums were held in occupied territory. Much of the provinces’ civilian populations has fled fighting since the war began in February, and people who did vote sometimes did so at gunpoint.

If Russia can cement its hold over the two eastern regions, it will allow them to claim a victory at a time when Russia is accused of not doing enough to prevent recent gains by Ukrainian forces.

A recent draft of hundreds of thousands of adults into military service that has caused opposition in Russia is one of the challenges Mr. Putin faces to regain control over the war.

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces on Sunday hunted Russian stragglers in the key city of Lyman, which was taken back from Russia after its demoralized troops, according to a major Russian newspaper, fled with “empty eyes,” and despite Moscow’s baseless claim it had annexed the region surrounding the city.

Two powerful Putin supporters called for harsher fighting methods on the same day that the Kremlin declared that the illegally annexed region would be Russian forever.

Russian forces in the last few days of their occupation were plagued with desertion, poor planning and the delayed arrival of reserves, according to an article published Sunday by Komsomolskaya Pravda.

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.

Vladimir Putin’s latest attack of brutality against Ukraine is a prospect of vengeance and fury: a far-right thinker’s perspective

But the soldiers interviewed on the Sunday broadcast said they had been forced to retreat because they were fighting not only with Ukrainians, but with NATO soldiers.

“These are no longer toys here. The deputy commandant of one Russian battalion told the war correspondent that they are part of a clear offensive by NATO and the army. The soldier said his unit was intercepting conversations by soldiers from other countries on their radios.

The broadcast seemed to be intended to convince Russians who have doubts about the war or are angry about being blamed for any hardship they may suffer, that the West is going to destroy Russia and that they should not worry about it.

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.

The fact that Russia’s previous cyberwar in the country served as a similar indicator indicates that the war in Ukraine was a different sort of indicator. It foreshadowed exactly how Russia would carry out its full-scale physical attacks on Ukraine, with a vastly greater human cost. In the war of 2022. Russia’s real tactic has been to bombard civilian infrastructure with no intention of doing anything other than to project power and cause pain far from the war’s front lines.

Mr. Dugin, like Mr. Putin, has accused Western countries of damaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which ruptured after underwater explosions last month in what both European and Russian leaders have called an act of sabotage.

He accused the West of accusing us of blowing up the gas line. The war with the west is taking on a scale and extent to which we don’t know. In other words, we must join this battle with a mortal enemy who does not hesitate to use any means, including exploding gas pipelines.”

The campaign may be working for now. Many Russians feel threatened by the West, said Aleksandr Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who is from Russia.

Vladimir Putin’s latest display of brutality and vengeance might be a fit of fury over his signature Crimean bridge being blown up. But his indiscriminate targeting of Ukrainian civilians also raises the prospect of a horrific new turn in a vicious war.

When Aleksandr was captured outside the eastern city of Lyman last week, he was dressed in both Russia and Ukranian colors, but without a flag denoting his loyalties. To keep him warm, the Ukrainian soldiers gave him a Russian parka they had lying around in their trench.

The Ukrainian soldiers who found Aleksandr recounted their success to a couple of reporters from The New York Times who were near the front line.

It is not certain what the scale of Russian losses will be. The institute described the advances as “impaling” ill-prepared units on well dug-in defensive positions of Ukraine’s battle-hardened troops. The Ukrainian military has inflated its numbers of Russian casualties but the increase in the reported numbers is likely to be related to a rising toll. The Ukrainian military said that there had been at least 800 Russian soldiers killed or wounded over the previous 24 hours.

Living Together: The David v. Goliath Battles in London, Ukraine, and in the World as a Demonstration

Editor’s Note: Editor’s note: Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis) 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 her own. You can give more opinion on CNN.

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

The spirit of the fight is the most important element in Ukrainians success to date. Like the women in Iran, they occupy the moral high ground. They are fighting for their lives, for their freedom. The other side is fighting for power and control over others.

These David v. Goliath battles show bravery that is almost unimaginable to the rest of us – and is inspiring equally courageous support in places like Afghanistan.

The War of February 16, 2016: Russian Invasion of Kyiv and the Crimes of U.S. Women’s Rights in Iran, and the Associated Crimes

The death of a young woman in Iran sparked interest in the country. She was found dead in the custody of morality police, who had arrested her for violating rules that required 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 about much more than the hijab; it is about cutting the shackles of oppression which is why men have joined them in large numbers.

Russia, which has a large military presence in Syria, is still helping the government maintain its hold on power. 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.

The first reason, and the one that prompted an immediate response from the West, is the moral and ethical obligation of the world’s democracies to help a nation whose freedom is threatened by an authoritarian power. The national self-determination principle has been used to guide American foreign policy. Many U.S. administrations honor it imperfectly, as evidenced by the many guiding principles. But it remains valuable in finding a way forward. In sending an armored column toward Kyiv and seeking to overthrow its government, Mr. Putin clearly violated that principle, and threatens to return Europe to the instability of previous eras, when nations frequently invaded each other and altered the continent’s borders by force.

After Russia invaded its neighbor in February this year, the Kremlin had waged a war in the east of the country which caused that eastern border region to be thrown into a state of turmoil. Many military and cyber experts warned that Russia’s hacking was a sign that it would be used outside of its own territory, and that cyberattacks that struck everything from American hospitals to the Winter Olympics were a sign of that.

There are groups and people added to a growing list of “foreign agents” and “non-desirable” organizations intended to damage the reputation of the Russian public.

Much of the weaponry for these attacks that are wreaking havoc on the lives of Ukrainians is coming from Iran, which has already supplied Russia with hundreds of deadly drones.

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.

Iran’s prisons are filled with regime critics and courageous journalists – including Niloofar Hamedi, first to report what happened to Mahsa Amini. In Russia as well, journalism is a deadly profession. Discussing Putin is the same thing. After trying and failing to kill opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Putin’s people manufactured charges to keep him in a penal colony indefinitely.

Many people in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen are interested in the fact that the Iranian regime could fall. It would change their countries and their lives, greatly influenced by Tehran. After all, Iran’s constitution calls for spreading its Islamist revolution.

Putin and Xi, the world’s leading autocrats, looked ascendant, unstoppable even. Meanwhile, Western democracies appeared unsettled, roiled by sometimes violent protests against Covid-19 restrictions. Putin was getting ready to triumph in Ukraine. Xi was hosting the Olympics, basking in attention, and preparing to solidify his control of China.

This area of the country was occupied by the Russians until early October. Cars are burning and littering the fields. The letter ‘Z’ – a symbol used by Russian forces – marks the walls.

“They dropped everything: personal care, helmets,” said the commander, who uses the code name Swat. I believe it was a special unit, but they were panicked. It was raining very hard, the road was bad and they drop everything and move.”

The Cost of Chaos: CNN’s Peter Bergen, the Ukranian Prime Minister, and the Russian Revolutionary War in 1917-1919

Editor’s Note: Peter Bergen is CNN’s national security analyst, a vice president at New America, and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. Bergen is the author of “The Cost of Chaos: The Trump Administration and the World.” The views expressed in this commentary are his own. There is more opinion on CNN.

With his allies expressing concern, and hundreds of thousands of citizens fleeing partial deployment, an increasingly isolated Putin has once again taken to making vague speeches and offering a distorted view of history.

His revisionist account explains the rationale for the war in Ukranian, even though he believes that Ukraine was once part of the soviet Union.

In a recently published book about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, it was mentioned that they had a plan to set up a puppet government and leave the country at a later date.

During the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, the US was initially reluctant to escalate its support for the Afghan resistance, fearing a wider conflict with the Soviet Union. The Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan three years after the CIA gave them the anti-aircraft Stinger missiles that ended their air superiority.

US officials want the influx of weaponry to Ukraine to help the country prevail on the battlefield and help put the country in a better position to negotiate an end to the war.

“These air defense systems are making a difference because many of the incoming missiles [this week] were actually shot down by the Ukrainian air defense systems provided by NATO Allies,” he said.

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.

Looking further back into the history books, he must also know that the Russian loss in the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 weakened the Romanov monarchy. The Russian Revolution began because Czar Nicholas II was feckless during the First World War. Subsequently, much of the Romanov family was killed by a Bolshevik firing squad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin cast the campaign as a “special military operation” – not a war – and told citizens that they could, essentially, forget about the conflict in Ukraine. He promised that draftees would not fight, and military operations would be left to the professionals. The talking points of the Russian state television were parroted by Putin’s Ministry of Defense.

In 1917 and 1991 the dissolution of the Russian empire was possible because of Putin, who gambled after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The head of the defense committee was interview by the Russian arch-paroledist, which demanded that officials stop lying to the Russians.

Kartapolov complained that the Ministry of Defense was evading the truth about incidents such as Ukrainian cross-border strikes in Russian regions neighboring Ukraine.

Valuyki is in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine. When it comes to hitting Russian targets in the border, Kyiv hasn’t been very clear about its 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. Many believe that the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, could have killed himself as an officer. The word officer is unknown to a lot of people.

But after Russia’s retreat from the strategic Ukrainian city of Lyman, Kadyrov has been a lot less shy about naming names when it comes to blaming Russian commanders.

Writing on Telegram, Kadyrov personally blamed Colonel-General Aleksandr Lapin, the commander of Russia’s Central Military District, for the debacle, accusing him of moving his headquarters away from his subordinates and failing to adequately provide for his troops.

The narratives preferred by the Kremlin and the Russian MoD that things are generally under control have been deviated from by the Russian information space.

Kadyrov – who recently announced that he had been promoted by Putin to the rank of colonel general – has been one of the most prominent voices arguing for the draconian methods of the past. He recently said in another Telegram post that, if he had his way, he would give the government extraordinary wartime powers in Russia.

Kadyrov said in a post that he would use any weapon to declare martial law because the NATO alliance was at war with him.

Instability of the Dnipro River: Human Rights Defenders in the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan Conflict

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 stated that a man was killed and another was wounded by shelling on Friday evening.

On the mountain-flanked steppes of southwestern Kyrgyzstan, the result in just one remote village has been devastating: homes reduced to rubble, a burned-out school and a gut-wrenching stench emanating from the rotting carcasses of 24,000 dead chickens.

All fell victim last month to the worst violence to hit the area since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union — a brief but bloody border conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, both members of a Russia-led military alliance dedicated to preserving peace but which did nothing to halt the mayhem.

Michael Bociurkiw is a global affairs analyst. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a contributor to CNN. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion at CNN.

Recent days have meanwhile shown that sites beyond the current theater of ground fighting are far from immune to attacks. It remains unclear exactly how the Kerch bridge bombing was carried out – and Kyiv has not claimed responsibility – but the fact that a target so deep in Russian-held territory could be successfully hit hinted at a serious Ukrainian threat towards key Russian assets.

The district of Vyshhorod was hit by a strike a month ago, making it an even more dangerous place to live. Several healthcare facilities in the country have been struck since the beginning of the conflict.

There were three missiles and five drones reported to be shot down, and the area around my office in Odesa was quiet in between air raid sirens. The restaurants nearby would be crowded with customers and people were talking about upcoming weddings and parties.

Monday’s attacks also came just a few hours after Zaporizhzhia, a southeastern city close to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, was hit by multiple strikes on apartment buildings, mostly while people slept. At least 17 people were killed and several dozens injured.

The root cause of this action was Putin’s inhumane carpet bombing of Ukrainian infrastructure. Putin was misguided in his effort to put the nation into submission, which involved a collection of rockets meant to damage critical civilian infrastructure as winter looms.

Some media outlets in the city moved their operations to underground bomb shelters after seeing scenes similar to those of the early days of the war. In one metro station serving as a shelter, large numbers of people took cover on platforms as a small group sang patriotic Ukrainian songs.

Millions of people in cities acrossUkraine will spend most of the day in bomb shelters at the request of officials, while businesses have been asked to shift work online as much as possible.

The attacks could cause another blow to business confidence, if many asylum seekers return to their home countries.

For Putin, the symbolism of the only bridge linking mainland Russia and Crimea cannot be overstated. It can be inferred that the attack on his 70th birthday was a blow to an old autocrat and his ability to endure shame and humiliation.

Hardwiring newly claimed territory with expensive, record-breaking infrastructure projects seems to be a penchant of dictators. Putin opened the bridge by driving a truck across it. The world’s longest sea crossing bridge was built during that year, when China reclaimed the territories of Macau and Hong Kong. The bridge has been delayed for about two years.

The Fate of a Cold Cold Russia: The Case for the West after the Nov. 24th Ukrainian Blast-Field Annihilation

The explosion lit up social media channels like a Christmas tree and caused a quick reaction among Ukrainians. Many shared their sense of jubilation via text messages.

The message was obvious for the world to see. Putin does not intend to be humiliated. He will not admit defeat. And he is quite prepared to inflict civilian carnage and indiscriminate terror in response to his string of battlefield reversals.

Facing increasing criticism at home, and also on state-controlled television, has placed Putin on thin ice.

The Kremlin appointed a new overall commander of Russia’s invasion. But there is little sign that Gen. Sergey Surovikin can lead his forces back onto the front foot before the end of the year, given the pace and cost of the Ukrainian counter-offensives.

What is crucially important now is for Washington and other allies to use urgent telephone diplomacy to urge China and India – which presumably still have some leverage over Putin – to resist the urge to use even more deadly weapons.

So, how does the West deal with a Russia that has experienced this colossal loss of face in Ukraine and is slowly withering economically because of sanctions? Is a weak Russia something to fear, or just weak? This is the known unknown the West must wrestle with. But it is no longer such a terrifying question.

It is important to be prepared during the war between Russia and Ukraine. Kateryna and Oleg have cupboards full of batteries, power banks and flashlights. If the Russian missile campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure continues, the scheduled power outage may be less predictable with more emergency cuts.

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.

The Ukrainian Air Attacks on Monday: It’s Changing: The U.S. and its Allies are Trying to Find New Targets

The attacks snatched away the semblance of normality that city dwellers, who spent months earlier in the war in subways turned into air raid shelters, have managed to restore to their lives and raised fears of new strikes.

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.

These two headline packages alone could impact the course of the war. Russia’s most potent threat now is the constant bombardment of energy infrastructure. It is making winter unbearably cold and the cities are sometimes going into darkness for 12 hours a day in an attempt to dull the spirit of Ukrainians.

The attacks on civilians, which killed at least 14 people, also drove new attention to what next steps the US and its allies must take to respond, after already sending billions of dollars of arms and kits to Ukraine in an effective proxy war with Moscow.

President Joe Biden Monday spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and offered advanced air systems that would help defend against Russian air attacks, but the White House did not specify exactly what might be sent.

John Kirby said that he was in touch with the Ukrainian government almost daily and that Washington was looking favorably on their requests. “We do the best we can in subsequent packages to meet those needs,” he told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

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 is probably something that they had been planning for a long time. Kirby said that it wasn’t to say that the bridge blast might have accelerated their planning.

The question of nuclear force lingers still, chiefly because Putin likes regularly to invoke it. Even here, Russia’s menace has been diminished. Firstly, NATO has been sending unequivocal signals of the conventional devastation its forces would mete out were any form of nuclear device used. Secondly, Russia’s fairweather allies, India and China, have quickly assessed its losing streak and publicly admonished Moscow’s nuclear rhetoric. Their private messaging may have been fiercer.

Western concerns about the potential for another pivot in the conflict were underscored by French PresidentEmmanuel Macron.

“He was telegraphing about where he is going to go as we get into the winter. He is going to try to force the Ukrainian population to compromise, to give up territory, by going after this infrastructure,” Vindman said on CNN’s “New Day.”

“So imagine if we had modern equipment, we probably could raise the number of those drones and missiles downed and not kill innocent civilians or wound and injure Ukrainians,” Zhovkva said.

Putin is not a monster, but a threat to the Russian people in the coming weeks: a glimpse from Minsk, Belarus, after Russia invades Ukraine

Putin is expected to launch a renewed offensive in Ukraine in the coming weeks, more than one year after he began Europe’s biggest land war since World War II with a failed assault on Kyiv and central Ukraine.

Above all, Putin still does not appear to have learned that revenge is not an appropriate way to act on or off the battlefield and in the final analysis is most likely to isolate and weaken Russia, perhaps irreversibly.

Olena Gnes, a mother of three who is documenting the war on YouTube, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper live from her basement in Ukraine on Monday that she was angry at the return of fear and violence to 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.

WARSAW — President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus announced on Monday that Russian troops would return to his country in large numbers, a replay of the military buildup there that preceded Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine.

“This won’t be just a thousand troops,” Mr. Lukashenko told senior military and security officials in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, after a meeting over the weekend with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in St. Petersburg.

The state news agency Belta reported on comments by Mr. Lukashenko, who said that work had begun on forming a “joint regional group of troops” to fight possible aggression by NATO and Ukraine.

The Belarusian strongman, who has so far resisted pressure from Moscow to send in his own troops, accused Ukraine, which shares a long border with Belarus, of planning attacks from the south, without citing evidence.

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.”

According to the media in St. Petersburg, Mr. Lukashenko said that he wanted to take measures if nuclear weapons were to be deployed in Poland.

Lukashenko was dependent on Moscow for everything from money to fuel to security in order to survive after 28 years in power.

On Monday, state television not only reported on the suffering, but also flaunted it. It showed smoke and carnage in central Kyiv, along with empty store shelves and a long-range forecast of cold weather.

An associate lecturer in Ukranian at the School of Slavonic and East- European Studies, University College London, he is a special projects Curator at the Ukrainian Institute London. She splits her time between London and Ukranian where she works as a translator and producer for foreign journalists.

On Monday, Russian missiles scorched a children’s playground in Kyiv that my family calls “our playground,” leaving behind a gaping crater. Later, people gathered to take photos of the rocket’s footprint in the upturned soil, where bits of twisted metal lay scattered just a few feet from the brightly-painted climbing frame and merry-go-round.

A sunny autumn morning. Moms in Ukraine – and I am one of them – rouse their children with words like “Wake up, dear! The bomb shelter needs to be quickly reached. Or “Hurry up honey, it’s the air raid sirens again!”

We have heard almost all of the previous missiles attacks on Kyiv but Monday’s strikes were the closest to us.

The playground is located in the center of the city and well known by everyone in the city. I took my first walk with my newborn son at the park that is close to my parents home. We’ve visited almost daily in the years since, continuing to do so to this day.

When Russian tanks stopped 25 kilometers away in late February and March, the Taras Shevchenko park became Askold’s main playground.

Askold used a wooden sword to hit the usually empty playground in front of the National Guard, much to their bemusement. He could choose any slide, see-saw, or merry-go-round that he wanted, but the abundance of choice was dampened by the lack of playmates, most of them having left Kyiv with their parents.

Apart from the National Guard and our family, on some days the only “human” in the park was the imposing yet welcoming monument of Taras Shevchenko (not then protected by a concrete enclosure – that would come later).

The statue is within 75 meters of Askold’s playground, and is also located near the entrance of the university named after her.

Askold was holding his wooden sword in Shevchenko Park with grandparents Roman and Halyna, and his mother. A statue of Taras Shevchenko can be seen in the background.

The resistance of Ukrainians and other subjugated peoples against the Russian empire is one of the core themes in Shevchenko’s poems. The Russians launched missiles at Kyiv and did they want to destroy the monument? The missiles that hit the city center of the capital made it a hot topic on Ukrainian social media.

Is it possible that Russia uses old maps? Is this because it wants to destroy the monuments of Ukrainian history? Or just because it can?

Why is Russia so kind? Askold and his father, askold, remember the horrors of the war in Ukraine, in the days of the Euromaidan

It was difficult to remember all the struggles, joys and sorrows of the pre-war period just a few weeks into the invasion. I was upset about my boyfriend, but I couldn’t relate. On February 24, my life was taken from me.

Askold was 7 months old at the time of the Euromaidan. A few months later, Russia annexed Crimea and started a war in the east of Ukraine. We were always aware that war was going to come to our house in Kyiv.

Why does Russia do that? He looked at the pictures and videos of the crater where his favorite swing used to be.

I told him that the Russians do not want us to exist. I was prepared to tell my son that he should not see the mass graves we saw in Hostomel or Irpin, because he shouldn’t know what they are. I knew we had to do it.

He has to understand why he is going to a bomb shelter instead of class, and why Russia intends to destroy the country. And why the weapons in the hands of the National Guard in the park are not wooden – but utterly real.

The Stakes of the War in Ukraine: What Have Ukrainians Learned and How Have They Blocked the State of Vysokopillya?

Not for the first time, the war is teetering towards an unpredictable new phase. Keir Giles is a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House and he said the war is the third and fourth they have been observing.

People around the world have felt the impact of the conflict on their pocketbooks because of the escalating inflation and energy prices. It raises the possibility of another invasion by a different global power.

It means that, as winter approaches, the stakes of the war have been raised once more. Giles said that there was no doubt that Russia wanted to keep it up. The success of the Ukrainians in recent weeks has sent a message to the Kremlin. “They are able to do things that take us by surprise, so let’s get used to it,” Giles said.

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

It is not clear whether the Russian troops left Kherson or not. Serhiy Khlan, a member of Ukraine’s Kherson regional council, said the city was “almost under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” but cautioned that some Russian troops might have remained behind in civilian clothing.

The counter-offensives have shifted the war’s pace and showed that Ukrainians were able to seize ground, contrary to the belief that it could not.

Russia will just wait it out if things don’t get done by this time. Now, after being pushed back in Ukraine’s Fall offensive, “they have a smaller front” to defend.

“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.”

It’s easier for Russia to replenish troops and regain its strength when they move to the east bank. Any attempt by Ukrainian forces to cross the Dnipro would be costly to the point of prohibitive, as Russian forces are well dug in along a stretch of the river. trenches appeared on satellite imagery, and civilians were removed from homes close to the river, as guardhouses have become a common sight.

It is a foregone conclusion thatUkraine will improve on its gains and the impact of soaring energy prices on Europe will be felt.

“There are so many reasons why there is an incentive for Ukraine to get things done quickly,” Giles said. “The winter energy crisis in Europe, and energy infrastructure and power being destroyed in Ukraine itself, is always going to be a test of resilience for Ukraine and its Western backers.”

And there seems to be little suggestion that the West will be letting up on its support for Ukraine. Both the US and increasingly Europe, which recently committed to raising its funding by $2 billion in 2023, appear determined to see Ukraine through this winter and beyond.

The power company in Ukraine, Ukrenergo, says it has restored the power supply in the capital and central regions after Russian missiles disrupted it on Monday and Tuesday. But Ukrainian Prime Minister has warned that “there is a lot of work to do” to fix damaged equipment, and asked Ukrainians to reduce their energy usage during peak hours.

The experts think that Russia won’t form a recurrent pattern of bombardment and that Moscow doesn’t have the ability to keep it up.

Matters for the Russians have not improved since then. On Monday, the British Defense Ministry, which provides some of the most up-to-date and accurate intelligence on the Russian military in Ukraine, reported that, “Both Russian defensive and offensive capability continues to be hampered by severe shortages of munitions and skilled personnel.”

“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 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. The air defenses of Ukraine destroyed 16 missiles.

“The barrage of missile strikes is going to be an occasional feature reserved for shows of extreme outrage, because the Russians don’t have the stocks of precision munitions to maintain that kind of high-tempo missile assault into the future,” Puri said.

The impact of such an intervention in terms of pure manpower would be limited; Belarus has around 45,000 active duty troops, which would not significantly bolster Russia’s reserves. But it would threaten another assault on Ukraine’s northern flank below the Belarusian border.

“The reopening of a northern front would be another new challenge for Ukraine,” Giles said. He said that it should give Russia a new route into the Kharkiv area, which has been reclaimed by Ukrainians.

Zelensky hopes to drive home the gains with more supplies in the short-term. The leader has sought to highlight Ukraine’s success in intercepting Russian missiles, saying more than half of the missiles and drones launched at Ukraine in a second wave of strikes on Tuesday were brought down.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that Ukraine needed “more” systems to better halt missile attacks, ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

The IRIS-T, a modern system arrived from Germany and the NASAMS from the United States. , Bronk said.

Explosions on Crimea, Ukraine, and a Regional Grouping of Forces: State of Ukraine (Varsanov News)

That’s not to say mobilized forces will be of no use. If used in support roles, like drivers or refuelers, they might ease the burden on the remaining parts of Russia’s exhausted professional army. They could also fill out depleted units along the line of contact, cordon some areas and man checkpoints in the rear. They are, however, unlikely to become a capable fighting force. Discipline problems are already visible among soldiers in Russian garrisons.

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 blasts, which Russia attributed to Ukrainian shelling, came a day after another sign of disarray in Russia’s once-vaunted military machine: Two men opened fire on fellow Russian soldiers at a training camp in the Belgorod region, killing 11 and wounding 15 before being killed themselves.

Nuclear deterrence exercises will be held by NATO. NATO has warned Russia not to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine but says the “Steadfast Noon” drills are a routine, annual training activity.

Russian agents detained eight people on Oct. 12 suspected of carrying out a large explosion on a bridge to Crimea, including Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian citizens.

Russia’s move to annex parts of Ukraine was denounced by the UN General Assembly. In the Oct. 13 session, four countries voted alongside Russia, but 143 voted in favor of Ukraine’s resolution, while 35 abstained.

The first convoys of almost 9,000 Russian troops arrived in the country Oct. 15 as part of a “regional grouping of forces” that was supposed to protect the country from threats from the West.

The past recaps can be found here. Here, you can find more in-depth stories from NPR. NPR has State ofUkraine for updates throughout the day and you can listen to it.

Moscow’s First Day of War: Military Intervention in the Kremlin as a Threat to the Security of the Russian Army and its Majesty

MOSCOW — Friday afternoons at the Chop-Chop Barbershop in central Moscow used to be busy, but at the beginning of a recent weekend, only one of the four chairs was occupied.

Many men have been staying off the streets out of fear of being handed a draft notice. Olya arrived at her job last Friday and saw authorities at the exits of the metro station checking documents.

“Every day is hard,” acknowledged Olya, who like other women interviewed did not want her last name used, fearing retribution. “It is hard for me to know what to do. We always planned as a couple.”

Some regional officials — including the mayor of Moscow, Sergey Sobyanin — appeared to be taking pains to offer reassurances. “At present, no measures are being introduced to limit the normal rhythm of the city’s life,” Mr. Sobyanin wrote on his Telegram channel.

The governors of the four regions said no restrictions would be imposed despite the new power bestowed on them by Mr. Putin.

Analysts say that many Russians will notice a warning in the martial law imposed inUkraine, the first time since World War II that Moscow has declared martial law.

“People are worried that they will soon close the borders, and the siloviki” — the strong men close to Mr. Putin in the Kremlin — “will do what they want,” Ms. Stanovaya said.

On Tuesday, the new commander of the Russian invasion acknowledged that his army’s location in Kherson was “quite difficult” and that a tactical retreat might be necessary. In a recent interview, General said he was ready to make difficult decisions about military deployment, but did not state what those might be.

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. Standard military practices dictate that big depots be broken up and scattered and that they be far behind enemy lines, even in Russian territory that the western powers have not allowed Ukrainian strikes on.

Events in Kherson and Kharkiv have shown that the Ukrainians possess tactical agility that seems alien to the Russian way of war, as well as far superior battlefield intelligence.

Many police officers have come back to their towns and villages to re-establish a Ukrainian administration, but they have been overwhelmed by many complaints of theft and property damage, as well as accounts of torture and missing relatives.

The scale of abuse of the population in eastern Ukraine under Russian occupation is most likely greater than that seen in the spring in Bucha and other areas around the capital, Kyiv, given the breadth of the territory and the length of the occupation, police officials said.

Serhii Bolvinov, the police chief of Kharkiv Province, said that the police had received over a thousand cases of people being held in police stations. The real figure is probably two or three times that, he said.

Torture was routine, according to witnesses. The police chief said that the signs of abuse were already apparent in some of the 534 bodies recovered. “There are bodies that were tortured to death,” he said. There are people who have been tied hands, shot, strangled, and cut with a knife.

A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Might Still Happen During World War II. Julie Belardi

ROME — The retired women took their shopping carts to the fresh pasta counter at the outdoor market in Rome this week and commiserated about how many things had gone through the roof.

Simonetta Belardi, 69, a self-proclaimed leftist who argued that inflation has shaved away her savings and left her with no alternative but to support the Ukrainians in the war, said prices have gone up on everything. She was not a fan of Russia, but the time had passed for a shift to peace negotiations and an end to military support for Ukraine. She said more and more people she knew, in need of economic relief, were losing their patience, too.

It is a sentiment that can reach beyond the shoppers in Rome’s piazzas and can be found in weekly protests in Germany or in the French strikers. It makes leaders nervous.

David A. Andelman, a CNN contributor and author of A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Might Still Happen is a member of the French Legion of Honor. He was a correspondent for CBS News and The New York Times. The views he expresses in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinion.

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.

PUTIN PROLEVELES EUROPE AWTER THE COSMIC GAUGE: A FRIENDLY ELECTROWEAK COPY AGAIN

The ability to keep going is dependent on a number 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.

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.

These include an emergency cap on the benchmark European gas trading hub – the Dutch Title Transfer Facility – and permission for EU gas companies to create a cartel to buy gas on the international market.

While French President Emmanuel Macron waxed euphoric leaving 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. Germany is worried that caps could encourage higher consumption, which would be worse for restricted supplies.

These divisions are all part of Putin’s fondest dream. Europe could prove to be the heart of achieving success from the Kremlin’s viewpoint, due to the lack of agreement on essentials.

Germany and France are already at loggerheads on many of these issues. Though in an effort to reach some accommodation, Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have scheduled a conference call for Wednesday.

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

Italy’s First Woman Prime Minister: The Case for Ending the War in the Balkans, in Washington, and in the Congressional Caucus

And now a new government has taken power in Italy. Giorgia Meloni was sworn in Saturday as Italy’s first woman prime minister and has attempted to brush aside the post-fascist aura of her party. One of her far-right coalition partners meanwhile, has expressed deep appreciation for Putin.

Berlusconi, in a secretly recorded audio tape, said he’d returned Putin’s gesture with bottles of Lambrusco wine, adding that “I knew him as a peaceful and sensible person,” in the LaPresse audio clip.

The other leading member of the ruling Italian coalition, Matteo Salvini, named Saturday as deputy prime minister, said during the campaign, “I would not want the sanctions [on Russia] to harm those who impose them more than those who are hit by them.”

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. Poland dislikes Hungary’s populist leader, Viktor Orban, because he supports Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In Washington, Kevin McCarthy, poised to become Speaker if Republicans take control after the next month’s elections, told an interviewer that people were going to be in a recession and they would not write a blank check. They just won’t do it.”

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

Hours later, caucus chair Mia Jacob, facing a firestorm of criticism, emailed reporters with a statement “clarifying” their remarks in support of Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba to renew America’s support.

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.”

The war, which appeared to be winding down when Biden was in Warsaw last year, now appears likely to last at least another year, unlike the last time he was in Warsaw. There are no serious attempts to negotiate an end to the fighting.

All these actions point to an increasing desperation by Russia to access vitally-needed components for production of high-tech weaponry stalled by western sanctions and embargos that have begun to strangle the Kremlin’s military-industrial complex.

Russian production of hypersonic missiles has stopped because there are no necessary semi-conductors, according to the report. Aircraft are being cannibalized for spare parts, plants producing anti-aircraft systems have shut down, and “Russia has reverted to Soviet-era defense stocks” for replenishment. The era of the soviets ended more than 30 years ago.

Putin has also tried, though he has been stymied at most turns, to establish black market networks abroad to source what he needs to fuel his war machine – much as Kim Jong-un has done in North Korea. The United States has already uncovered and recently sanctioned vast networks of such shadow companies and individuals centered in hubs from Taiwan to Armenia, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, and Luxembourg to source high-tech goods for Russia’s collapsing military-industrial complex.

The Justice Department said it had charged people and companies with violating sanctions by trying to smuggle high-tech equipment into Russia.

The War Between Israel and the Middle East in the Seventh Century: How Russia Becomes the Threat to the Security Council of the Second World War

Still, there remain hardliners like Pavel Gubarev, Russia’s puppet leader in Donetsk, who voiced his real intention toward Ukrainians: “We aren’t coming to kill you, but to convince you. But if you don’t like the idea of us killing you, then we’ll do it for you. We will kill you as many as we need to: 1 million, 5 million, or all of you.

Weiss said Ukraine is now “mobilizing all of its citizens to make good on the things that people 100 years ago could only aspire to. The country will have an identity that is largely founded in opposition to Russia, and in a narrative of survival and overcoming.

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.

Much of what happens today far from the battlefields still has repercussions there. When oil producing nations, including Saudi Arabia, decided to cut production the US accused them of helping Russia fund the war with increased oil revenues. (An accusation the Saudis deny).

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. New communication systems, but no missile shields, will be provided by the Gantz Group, but they have offered to help the Ukrainians.

There was an agreement that allowed the reopening of Ukraine’s maritime corridors, but this weekMoscow halted that agreement due to the Russian Navy ship strikes in the port of Sevastopol. The announcement by Putin set off a surge in wheat prices on global commodity markets. How much bread can be bought in Africa and the world is influenced by those prices.

Everyone, everywhere, is being affected by the war in Ukraine. Fuel prices have risen as a result of the conflict.

Higher prices not only affect family budgets and individual lives. They have a political punch when they have powerful momentum. Political leaders are on the defensive in many countries due to inflation worsened by the war.

Russian soldiers raped Kateryna and Oleg in the Kherson village of Novovoznesens’ke, Ukraine

And it’s not all 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 Progressive Democrats put out a letter that called for negotiations. Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official, said they are bringing a big smile to Putin.

The scars of war run deep here. Russia used sexual violence as a weapon of war in its conquest of Ukraine, UN investigators have said. They have even relayed allegations of Russian soldiers carrying Viagra.

The team from Kyiv documented a number of sexual assaults in the Kherson region. The real number is almost certainly much higher, they say.

“They walked around those rooms,” she says. “One stayed there, and the other one, who raped me, came in here. He came in, walked a bit around the room and then started touching me.

She says that he pinned her against the wardrobe and ripped her clothes. “I was crying, begging him to stop, but with no success,” she says. The only thought I had was to live.

She recalls that he warned her not to reveal what was going on. She says that she didn’t tell her husband right away. I told my husband and cousin. You should have told him the truth, but you didn’t.

She felt too ashamed to step outside and spent three days at home. She says she confronted the Russian soldier’s commander in an exceptional act of bravery.

The man stayed at a position and was scared of the others. We received an order to run forward. But the man hid under a tree and refused. This was reported to the command and that was it. He was taken 50 meters away from the base. He was digging his own grave and then was shot.”

As the sun sets at the end of a long day, the two-man team arrives in Novovoznesens’ke, a village where they’ve uncovered two more cases of rape, allegedly by Russian soldiers. The next day, they return to Kyiv, to submit their findings.

Like many people from Kyiv, Kateryna and Oleg moved away from the capital to a safer area in western Ukraine when the invasion began last February. But they never wanted to leave the country. And soon they felt the draw of home pulling them back to the city.

A man in the crowd says he was held and killed by Russian soldiers. It’s hard to hear, tales of torture like this are common here, but that’s not the subject of their work today.

A mother and her daughter are on their way to Tverdomedove, which is scarred by shelling, and they say they have not heard of any sex crimes in the hamlet.

Months later, after the Ukrainian military liberated her village in a lightning counteroffensive, she returned. Shelling had reduced her roof to its rafters.

The Russian War on Crime: State of the Art and Prospects for a Return to Rapid Warfare in Ukrainian Occupy Korea

She does not know how to place it so that the ceiling doesn’t fall on her head. “If it would fall and kill me that would be better, so I won’t suffer. But I want to see my son again.”

Of course, many of these allegations will be impossible to prove; many do not even have a suspect. For now, the team files its reports, and its investigators continue their work, hoping to be able to file charges in the future.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia is funneling newly drafted conscripts to the front line in Ukraine’s east, but so far, according to a Ukrainian general and Western analysts, Russia’s newly intensified attacks have proven ineffective, and high Russian casualties are expected.

Reports in Russian news media about soldiers being told of high casualty rates due to poorly prepared positions have supported those assertions, as have videos filmed by Ukrainian drones. The videos have not been independently verified and their exact location on the front line could not be determined.

In a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app, the commander of the Ukrainian military said Russian forces had tripled their intensity on parts of the front. He did not say when the attacks were occurring or where they were coming from.

The situation was discussed at the front. He said he had told the U.S. colleague about the strength of the Ukrainian forces.

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.

“A return to rapid warfare with tanks ruins this new strategy that Russia has just set its sights on,” Baunov wrote. New people may be needed to hold the front, and this is risky.

In the south, where Ukrainian troops are marching toward the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, the Ukrainian military said that it had fired more than 160 times at Russian positions over the course of a day, but it also reported Russian return fire.

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

Artyom’s middle name is not used to protect his wife in Kherson — a 26-year-old Ukrainian man’s home away from home

“I still can’t believe I didn’t stay there,” said Viktor, as he pulled a suitcase from his car, which was 25 miles from occupied territory. “It’s the madness.”

Outside of Kherson is his home. He and his wife raised their daughters there. A neighbor said that the Russians broke into the house just hours after they left.

At a Zaporizhzhia shelter, a volunteer who asks that he be called by his middle name, Artyom, helps care for Kherson evacuees as if they were his own family. Artyom asked that we not use his full name to protect his relatives in Kherson.

His wife generally stays home as much as she can. But to earn money, she sells potatoes and vegetables she grows in her own garden at a local street market.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1134465380/kherson-ukraine-russia-battle-looms

Artyom and his wife worry the Russians aren’t listening to them: “It’s hard to survive in a city like Kherson,” he says

Artyom says it’s not good. He counts his fingers as he lists off his various fears: He worries that the Russians will stop his wife. She’ll get sick, that’s why he worried. She is four months pregnant. He worries about the baby.

Holovnya, who is living in Kyiv, calls some of them collaborators. And he says some are people who just can’t leave. Many are older. Others do not have many resources. He says their lives are very busy.

Since the war began, the city has largely been restricted to the local street markets. Most of the stores in Kherson are either closed or have empty shelves, so local farmers and bakers have been selling and trading items at the street markets.

“You can buy most things, starting with medicine and finishing with meat, it’s just how you make them,” says Natalyia Schevchenko, who fled Kherson this summer. “But it’s terrible to observe. On one car, they sell medicine on the hood and on the side they cut meat.”

Schevchenko, who is volunteering at an Odesa nonprofit called Side-by-Side to evacuate residents from Kherson and other occupied territories, remains in contact with those in the city. She says her grandmother gives her regular updates.

Artyom and his wife talk whenever they can get a decent connection. They keep their conversations light, but they worry Russians are listening in.

The Russian withdrawal across the Dnipro River is a blow for the Ukrainian war effort in Ukraine, and the destruction of critical infrastructure in Nova Kakhovka

Everyone we’ve talked to is aware of the consequences of the Russians crossing the river and hitting them here. It is also unclear whether all Russian troops have left Kherson and the wider region. Behind this euphoria, there’s still that uncertainty.

Once the scene of large protests against Russian plans to transform the region into a breakaway pro-Russian republic, the streets of Kherson are now filled with jubilant residents wrapped in Ukrainian flags, or with painted faces, singing and shouting.

The retreat represents a major blow for Putin’s war effort in Ukraine. Kherson was the only Ukrainian regional capital that Russian forces had captured since February’s invasion. Their withdrawal east across the Dnipro cedes large swathes of land that Russia has occupied since the early days of the war, and that Putin had formally declared as Russian territory just five weeks ago.

The withdrawal is the most significant military moment of the war since the fall of the Russian column in the north-west of the country.

Surovikin said that the withdrawal would protect the lives of civilians and troops – who have faced a punishing Ukrainian counteroffensive that targeted Russian ammunition depots and command posts, hampering their supply lines.

President Zelensky said that Friday was a historic day for Ukraine. Zelensky said that they are returning to the south of the country.

The speech was just one of the hundreds Mr. Zelensky has given this year in a relentless campaign not only to steel his country to fight Russia’s army but to galvanize support for Ukraine abroad.

Success in Kherson may also allow exhausted Ukrainian units some respite, as well as allow redirected focus on Donbas, where fierce fighting continues in both Luhansk and Donetsk.

Russian forces destroyed critical infrastructure and left a large number of mines in Kherson, where the Ukranian authorities have a huge task of reconstructing.

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

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. The two sides accuse each other of planning to destroy the dam, which could lead to flooding and deprive the power plant of water to cool its reactor.

As the crew filmed live in Kherson’s central square, some in the crowd of locals sang the national anthem while others shouted “Slava Ukrayini!” – glory to Ukraine, a patriotic greeting.

Locals have also been climbing onto the tops of the buildings, including the cinema, in the square to erect Ukrainian flags. Soldiers driving through are greeted with cheers and asked to sign autographs on flags.

We were terrified by the Russian army and were afraid of soldiers that could come at any time in our home and steal, kidnap, and torture us.

“Everyone here is out celebrating in the square here. People are wearing the Ukrainian flag, they’re hugging the soldiers, they’ve come out to see what it’s like to have freedom,” Robertson said.

After eight months under Russian rule, Katerina called the liberation the best day of her life. She told CNN that her street is free.

“It was a really hard time for everyone. Every Ukrainian family waited for our soldiers, for our army,” a Kherson resident told CNN on Saturday, recalling Russia’s months-long occupation.

The next steps for the Ukrainian army will be a major urban operation, according to CNN military analyst CedricLeighton. This will be a methodical operation to clear buildings of potential booby traps and mines.

On Friday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video on his website of a crowd in the city waving flags and chanting ZSU, the Ukrainian acronym for the armed forces.

The southern operational command in the Ukrainian military said that Russian forces had been loading into boats that were likely suitable for crossing and trying to escape.

The team of CNN journalists was forced to travel through diversions and fields, as well as littered with anti-tank mines, on their journey through smaller towns and settlements.

The residents of this city don’t have water, internet or power. But as a CNN crew entered the city center on Saturday, the mood was euphoric.

The military presence is still limited, but huge cheers erupt from crowds on the street every time a truck full of soldiers drives past, with Ukrainian soldiers being offered soup, bread, flowers, hugs and kisses by elated passersby.

As CNN’s crew stopped to regroup, we observed an old man and an old woman hugging a young soldier, with hands on the soldier’s shoulder, exchanging excited “thank yous.”

With the occupiers gone, everyone wants you to understand what they’ve been through, how euphoric they feel right now, and how much they’re grateful to the countries who have helped them.

The First Day of World War II: Vladimir Bespalaya and his family, Ilya, as a guardian in Mariupol, Ukraine

When the Russians invaded their country in February they worried about their long-held dreams of starting a family through adoption.

“I remember that morning of February 24, very clearly,” said Vladimir Bespalov, a 27-year-old railroad worker, of the first day of the war. “We thought we were too late. We realized we were already in a state of war, and we thought we could no longer adopt.”

The couple was pushed to try to do it sooner because of the situation. We were waiting for a better car, a better house, and more money so that we could give our children first priority. But when the war started, we thought why not adopt a child now and accomplish these things together as a family.”

That message would get to a volunteer helping those fleeing Mariupol, a city that became an example of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ruthless campaign to take Ukrainian land.

Russian troops bombarded the city with artillery, forcing the residents to underground for weeks. It is now a virtual wasteland, with nearly every building damaged or destroyed, and an unknown number of dead beneath the rubble.

His mother was struck down by Russian artillery after she left home to find food for her family, Bespalov and Bespalaya were later to learn from police.

The men were drinking alcohol and the children of the neighbors were tormenting them. He was cold and starving, Bespalaya said. She is careful not to bring up Ilya’s traumatizing experience in front of him unprompted, but he has told the woman he now calls “mama” everything about his three terrifying weeks in the basement, she says.

Bespalov and Bespalaya have now been appointed as the legal guardians. They have been a family for six months and plan to formally adopt him soon. Martial law has halted all adoption processes in the country.

It is similar to any parents that the young couple try to shield their son from war and give him a sense of security.

Spending time with your child is what you try to forget about the fighting. We try to create memories of a normal childhood. Bespalov, who has not been called up for service in the military, said work takes time, but that they spend every free moment together.

But there is nothing normal about war. After they posted their appeal on Instagram, the couple set up two spare rooms for the possible arrival of a child – one a nursery with a white crib and blue bedding, the other equipped with a bunk bed and lots of toys.

“I just totally stopped being afraid of adoption. I was confident that we would have a child, and I was confident that I could care for anyone and deal with their character,” she told CNN.

The eldest son of a Russian soldier in Kyiv: A long journey across the Dnipro river and back again after the defeat of Kherson

But that plan, too, was shattered by war. The pair were forced to leave their home in Slovyansk, a city in the frontline area of the Donetsk region, for Kyiv.

In April, they finally received the call they had been hoping for, from a volunteer in Mariupol: there was a little boy with no parents, could the couple care for him?

The following morning, they started out on the two-day car journey to Dnipro, where Ilya was sheltering, to meet the boy who would become part of their family.

“Now we have that love, that love that makes you a family. We did not have a baby, but we love each other very much, Bespalaya said with her and Bespalov on a playground bench.

But little Ilya is learning to cope. He looked up as he played with the couple in the dark, and said he was not afraid of the dark anymore. I know the light will turn back on.”

After Russia withdrew from the southern city of Kherson, Ukrainian and Russian forces battled across the wide expanse of the Dnipro River that divides them.

The Dnipro has become the new front line in southern Ukraine and officials warned of continued danger from fighting in regions that have already suffered months of Russian occupation.

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. In the distance, incoming rounds went off with loud booms. It was not immediately possible to assess what had been hit.

Violation of the Fourth Amendment in Kherson: Russian Forces and Occupants Are Coming to Help Them Retain Their Country

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, Mr. Yanushevich said. Six workers were injured while trying to restore service after lines were damaged. And there were at least four more children reportedly injured by mines across the region, Ukrainian officials said in statements.

Even as Mr Zelensky made a surprise visit to Kherson, there were still threats on the ground.

“We are, step by step, coming to all of our country,” Mr. Zelensky said in a short appearance in the city’s main square on Monday, as hundreds of jubilant residents celebrated.

Russian forces continued to fire from across the river on towns and villages newly recaptured by Ukrainian forces, according to the Ukrainian military’s southern command. Two Russian missiles struck the town of Beryslav, which is just north of a critical dam, the military said. It was not immediately known if there were any casualties.

“Occupants rob local people and exchange stuff for samogon,” or homemade vodka, said one resident, Tatiana, who communicated via a secure messaging app from Oleshky, a town across the river from Kherson City. “Then they get drunk and even more aggressive. We are so scared here.” Her name needs to be kept out of her mouth for security.

U.S. President Barack Obama Meets Xi in Bali: The Ideal Moment to Address the Disagreement between the Two Superpowers

With democracy suddenly looking like it’s on firmer ground and key autocracies facing serious problems, it was an ideal moment for Biden to speak frankly to Xi about areas of disagreement between the two superpowers while trying to build safeguards to prevent the rivalry from careening into conflict as the relationship has deteriorated to its most tense state in decades.

It’s disappointing to the autocrats that a well- functioning democratic process in the US is less than it should be and they want to prove that democracy is not as good as they think. The midterms brought the American President to the table with a stronger hand to play.

That’s not the only reason, however, why this was the perfect moment — from the standpoint of the United States and for democracy — for this meeting to occur: There’s much more to this geopolitical moment than who controls the US House of Representatives and Senate.

Biden rallied allies in a muscular push to support Ukraine as the Ukrainians defended their country with unexpected tenacity.

By the time they met again in September, China had done nothing to assist Russia, while Putin admitted that he had concerns about the state of Ukraine. After Russian President threatened to use nuclear weapons, Xi rebuked him.

Tellingly, Putin chose not to attend the G20 summit in Bali, avoiding confrontations with world leaders as he increasingly becomes a pariah on the global stage.

The Russian missile in Poland is not the first missile to land in Poland since the swine-flavoured invasion of April 19

Biden is not the only leader with a strong hand. Xi has just secured an unprecedented third term as China’s leader, and he can now effectively rule for as long as he wants. He doesn’t have to worry about the elections, the press or the party. He is essentially the absolute ruler of a mighty country for many years to come.

And yet Xi faces a mountain of daunting problems. The economy has slowed down so much that China is reluctant to reveal economic data. China’s Covid-19 vaccine, once a tool of global diplomacy, is a disappointment. China is imposing a lot of restrictions as the world slowly returns to normal after the swine flue.

The ability to prove that democracy works and that unprovoked wars of aggression, aimed at suppressing democracy and conquering territory, will not succeed is vital in the competition between the two systems.

The first missile to have landed in Poland – a NATO member – on Tuesday may well have been a Ukrainian anti-aircraft rocket intercepting an incoming Russian missile a short distance from one of Ukraine’s largest cities, Lviv, as suspected by Polish and NATO leaders. (President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, has insisted the missile was not Ukrainian)

Whatever the exact circumstances of the missile, one thing is clear. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia was to blame for its illegal war against Ukraine.

The return of Russia after the G20 campaign: a critical assessment of the Russian military intelligence mission and the mission of the Future Combat Air System

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.

Above all, many of the best and brightest in virtually every field have now fled Russia. This includes writers, artists and journalists as well as some of the most creative technologists, scientists and engineers.

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. “We have understood and learnt our lesson that it was an unhealthy and unsustainable dependency, and we want reliable and forward-looking connections,” Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission told the G20 on Tuesday.

Moreover, Putin’s dream that this conflict, along with the enormous burden it has proven to be on Western countries, would only drive further wedges into the Western alliance are proving unfulfilled. The long-stalled Joint French-German project for a next-generation jet fighter at the heart of the Future Combat Air System began to move forward on Monday, after news began circulating in theAerospace circles.

Russian hopes of seizing control over eastern and southern Ukraine in nine months have been dashed, the army largely on the defensive across more than 600 miles of battle lines.

He said that Russia would be willing to talk about possible solutions, just like the Russian President said he wanted to end the war. Putin’s claim that he is open to negotiating was roundly dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a ruse.

“And because Russia is the most disadvantaged now, it will benefit Russia the most and then renew the war. So all a truce buys you is a continuation of war. It would not resolve the underlying issues of the war.

Already, Russia is beginning to rearm, experts say. “Ammunition availability” was one of the “most determinative aspects of this war,” said Kofman. “If you burn through 9 million rounds, you cannot make them in a month. He said that the issue was about the ammunition production rate and how to mobilize it.

Kofman cited a report that stated that the manufacture of bombs has gone from two to three shifts a day in some Russian factories. He said it would suggest they wouldn’t be going to double and triple shifts unless they had the component parts.

War, Peace and Remnants in the U.S. and its Allies: How Ukrainians Understand a War of Convergence

“When there’s an opportunity to negotiate, when peace can be achieved, seize it. Seize the moment,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chief of Staff said recently.

“Please imagine how Ukrainians understand negotiations,” former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko told the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday. “You are sitting in your own house, the killer comes to your house and kills your wife, rapes your daughter, takes the second floor, then opens the door to the second floor and says, ‘OK come here. Let’s have a negotiation.’ What would be your reaction?”

General Mick Ryan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told me in an email that it would relieve the pressure on the Russians’ forces and give them time to regroup. It has been nine months since they have been at it. Their forces are exhausted.

That’s “basically any big command post or ammo dump they pulled back beyond the 80-kilometer range,” he explained. In many cases it is inside Russian territory, which Ukraine has assured Washington would not target with US-supplied rocket systems.

An international team investigating the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 found evidence that suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the go-ahead to supply anti-aircraft weaponry to the rebels in Ukranian.

History has shown truces with Putin off the back of negotiations are meaningless. “From my personal experience speaking with Putin: point one, please don’t trust Putin.” If he does not succeed in seizing control of Ukraine, then he should not adhere to any agreement at all.

He added that at some point, they will also get tired of this war. The Russian mindset may change into being that we may not have everything we wanted. We will have a big chunk of the Donbas and annex it into Russia and we will hold onto the peninsula. And I think that’s kind of their bet right now.”

But were the war to resume months or years from now, there’s a real question as to whether the US and its allies would be prepared to return to a conflict that many are beginning to wish was already over.

A week-long recap and look-ahead at Russias war-dec-12: The latest on Ukraineraine a week ago and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Ukraine

Ukrainian authorities have been stepping up raids on churches accused of links with Moscow, and many are watching to see if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron hosts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store for a working dinner Monday in Paris.

Also in France, on Tuesday, the country is set to co-host a conference with Ukraine in support of Ukrainians through the winter, with a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

After a long time of negotiations, a US basketball star was freed by Russian authorities on December 8. Her release came in return for the US handing over a convicted Russian arms dealer. Griner is back in the U.S. and reunited with her wife. Bout is back in Russia and is reported to have joined an ultranationalist party.

The new measures aim to target Russian oil revenue. They include a price cap and a European Union embargo on most Russian oil imports and a Russian oil price cap.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/12/1141827823/latest-on-ukraine-a-weekly-recap-and-look-ahead-at-russias-war-dec-12

The Russia-Israel War in Melitopol, Ukraine: A diplomatic communication with the president of the Russian Embassy in the eastern Donbas region

There are reports that a Russian military base is being used as a target by the Ukrainians in the city of Melitopol. Officials said Ukrainian forces used long-range artillery to reach targets in the city in southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

Russian forces turned the city of Bakhmut into burned ruins, Zelenskyy said. Russia is attempting to get into the city in the eastern Donbas region.

President Zelenskyy had a phone call with President Biden on Dec. 11, as well as the leaders of France and Turkey, in an apparent stepping up of diplomacy over the 9 1/2-month-long Russian invasion.

A Year in Life: From Russia’s War in Ukraine to the Texas School Shooting, and Queen Elizabeth II’s Death in Balmoral Castle, South Carolina

It was an enormous set of news events that happened in the year. It was a year that captured historic and surprising moments, triggering disbelief and despair. Yet some days offered joy and pride. From Russia’s war in Ukraine to the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, these are some of the remarkable stories of the year. The year started, calmly, as the world slowly began to come out of a long, drawn-out pandemic hibernation. However, consistent with the brittleness of these modern times, a full-blown war erupted in Ukraine in February as Russia invaded the country, ending and upending the lives of many, including civilians and children. A picture of a pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher moments after a bomb exploded at a maternity hospital in Mariupol was the most vivid picture captured by a photographer for the Associated Press. The woman and her baby died soon after. 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 United States once again witnessed a school shooting, this time in Uvalde, Texas. Photographer Pete Luna of the Uvalde Leader-News photographed the chaotic scene outside the school as young elementary students ran for safety while the gunman was still inside. The death of Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland sent shock waves around the world. The 96-year-old monarch had worked with 15 British prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss. She died two days after inviting Truss to form a new government. tens of thousands lined the streets to pay their last respects to a monarch who reigned for 70 years. This was also a year of firsts. The United States was able to see the confirmation of the country’s first black woman Supreme Court justice. The first black person to win a gold medal in a speedskating event was AmericanErin Jackson. There was an all-female refereeing crew that worked at the 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 alienating already divided country. In November, Americans went to the polls and produced election results that were not in line with expectations. As all these moments crumbled, the Earth continued to warmth, melting and separating glacier ice ridges, while much of the Northern Hemisphere was in the midst of a historic drought that caused widespread crop failure and scorched soil. Stunning images of space in great, crisp detail was captured far above the Earth by the James Webb Space Telescope. At this year’s Academy Awards, Will Smith angrily slapped Chris Rock in the middle of the show after the comedian referred to his wife as a “slut”. The moment was witnessed live on television by millions around the globe. This summer, many sports fans rooted for Aaron Judge as he broke fellow Yankee Roger Maris’ American League home run record in a single season, a remarkable feat. 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. And behind all the top photos this year is the hard work of photojournalists. Many of them continue to document wars and conflicts, away from the safety of their homes. It is thanks to their perseverance and dedication that these images come to light, offering a window to the world and helping us understand it through photography. This is CNN Digital’s “2022: The year in pictures.

Long nights with the promise of a miracle: December is the month of fairy tales, when we peer into the darkness only to be reassured of the “happily ever after.”

“We used to joke that our life was like a dark fairy tale inclined towards a happy ending. And now it’s over,” says Ievheniia, a displaced Ukrainian woman in Poland who this December is nursing her two-month-old son – and raw grief for the child’s father.

Denys, Ievheniia’s husband, was killed in action against Russian aggression. The 47-year-old died at the site of some of the war’s heaviest fighting, near the city of Bakhmut in the east of the country. Ukrainian forces have been holding the line there for months; soldiers waist-deep in mud amid trenches, bomb craters and charred trees.

In this dark Ukrainian fairy tale, pivotal moments – from marriage ceremony to funeral – take place via video link. This is what love looks like in a time of war, shifted to the digital space and disrupted mid-plot.

Since my organization, the Center for Civil Liberties, was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize last year, I’ve met a lot of people around the world. They sometimes ask what keeps me going during this terrible conflict. How do I manage to get up every day, eat breakfast, have coffee and then turn to my daily work as a human rights lawyer: documenting the now thousands of hideous atrocities that have been committed — and are being still committed — by the Russian Federation’s armed forces against the people of Ukraine.

In the streets of Warsaw, her temporary home, the festive season is well underway. “Christmas is coming. People don’t want to be reminded that someone somewhere is suffering,” Ievheniia said. “And yet, they must be aware that this fight is unfolding right next to them.”

Ievheniia finally arrived at the enlistment office after driving down the country under Russian bombardment. She had to return the following Monday to sign a contract after being interviewed on a Friday.

She decided to take a pregnancy test on the weekend just in case. “With war and evacuation, the ground was slipping under one’s feet,” she said with a laugh. It was found out that I was pregnant.

A pregnant woman who was going to defend her homeland joined the refugees looking for safety in Poland because of that plot twist.

Ieveniia and Denys, two Russian men from the warsaw region, married via video call: How the Bulgarian army killed a young man

The state cared about the partnership between Ievheniia and Denys. The everyday creativity of the country at war is what made it possible to allow Ukrainian servicemen to marry via video call. “Instead of (by) boring civil servants, we got married remotely by a handsome man in a uniform. I had nothing to complain about,” Ievheniia said.

During the next few months, Denys ordered flower deliveries and professional photos for Ievheniia from the trenches on the Internet.

When one morning she did not pick up the phone, Denys raised the alarm all over Warsaw and a rescue squad found Ievheniia unconscious in her rented flat. The delay could have resulted in death. The Caesarean section followed. The father was able to see his son because the baby was two months early.

Ukrainian men of fighting age are not able to leave the country under martial law. Yet as is appropriate for a fairy tale, Denys got permission, crossed the border, and spent five days with his family.

There was a time when it was a magical time to shop, register with a doctor and laugh. He left. It was his birthday on November 17 and we sent him greetings,” Ievheniia remembered. He was killed the next day.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/opinions/ukraine-christmas-fairy-tales-death-dovzhyk/index.html

The Ukrainian forces launched the largest attack on the occupied region of the country since the turn of the century. The “Consolatory Fables” of Italo Calvino

Italo Calvino, the celebrated Italian journalist and editor of folktales, among other works, called them “consolatory fables” because it is that a rare fairy tale ends badly. It means the time to be consoled has not yet arrived. It’s time to act.

And we must not be deluded by the narrative logic of a fairy tale. The wily kid will not defeat the monster with the aid of magic. Ukrainians need military aid to bring victory over Russia, not just prolonging the fight with huge sacrifice. The outcome of the Ukrainian victory depends on the collective effort of the people.

“As a teenager, I was reading a lot of fantasy books and wondering how I would act in a fight against absolute evil. I could turn away and continue with my daily life. I was told by Ievheniia. All of us have a chance to find out.

The official said that Ukrainian forces launched the largest attack on the occupied region since the turn of the century.

A key in the city had come under fire, he said, adding that forty rockets from BM-21 were fired at civilians in the city.

The city was hit 86 times with “artillery, MLRS, tanks, mortars and UAVs,” in the past 24 hours, according to the regional head of the Kherson military administration.

One of the victims was a member of the rapid response team of the international organization. During the shelling, they were on the street, they were fatally wounded by fragments of enemy shells,” he added.

The Russian invasion of Avdiivka in Ukraine has become Europe’s “Forgotten War” – and the U.S. response

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

“The enemy hit a critical infrastructure facility. Shell fragments damaged residential buildings and the place where the medical aid and humanitarian aid distribution point is located,” Yanushevych later said in a Telegram video on Thursday.

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.

The Energy Security Project delivered four excavators, as well as more than 130 generators. Everything was free of charge.

The realities that have developed over time need to be taken into account by the Ukrainian side.

“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.

The war in Ukraine didn’t start this year but has been going on for two years. The conflict had become known as Europe’s “forgotten war,” until Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February.

Elena Dyachkova and Aleksander Dokalenko and their German shepherd, Lord, used to live in one of Avdiivka’s neighborhoods close to the front line. They were reluctant to abandon their house, even after it had been hit several times. They had maintained it as best they could — with a plastic covering instead of a roof, pieces of chipboard where they used to have a ceiling, and closed doors to rooms that didn’t exist anymore.

Currently, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Avdiivka doesn’t exist anymore. The town was quickly turned into an active battlefield by the Russians after the beginning of the invasion. Many people have had to flee for their lives in the city.

Olga and Nikolay Grinik not only stayed in Avdiivka throughout the first phase of the war but brought their two children into the world since the conflict began. In 2014 we were sat without power for three months because of fighting. Our daughter was born nine months later. In 2016, we had no light for a month, and nine months later, we got our son, Kirill. Now we pray there is no electricity outage again.”

Visiting the Griniks every summer, we were introduced to their large extended family, all of whom lived nearby. They took us fishing, picnicking and mushroom-picking at their favorite spots. The beautiful forests and lakes surrounding Avdiivka had been covered in land mines, but the family had familiarized themselves with safe routes.

“In mid-March, several shells landed in our garden but didn’t explode. I went to a grocery store the next day to get bread, after we were at home and needed it. A Russian fighter jet flew very low and then was shot down a distance away as I was about to leave. I panicked and began running, but a Ukrainian soldier stopped me and asked whether I’d seen a parachutist. A parachutist? I was afraid that I would not see the meter ahead of me. ‘ Well,’ the soldier said, ‘if you see him, hit him with a spade.’ As soon as I got home, I packed up the kids and we took an evacuation bus.”

Rodion and Elena Lebedev are from Opytne, a suburban village that used to be home to about 1,500 people and sits between Avdiivka and Donetsk. After 2014, it ended up in the gray zone — a space between front lines which no side controls but both use as a battlefield — effectively cut off from the rest of the world. Residents were without access to food, utilities, heat, or access to health care for eight years. The only way to get in and out was by a mud road through the minefield.

Rodion and Elena remained in Opytne until this summer — even as the fighting in the area intensified — until Elena was hit by shrapnel in the couple’s backyard. A fraction of an inch was taken from her spine by the explosion, but the couple managed to escape serious injury and go to the hospital in time to save her life.

Lord was a sweetheart and Aleksander told us the dog had even saved his life once. As Aleksander was asleep, shelling came dangerously close to their home. Lord woke up and followed the dog as he was pulling Aleksander out of bed. The next moment, a shell struck and collapsed the wall.

After the full-scale invasion began in February, whatever fragile stability the family had managed to maintain was shattered. Elena and her daughter and grandson went to Poland. Aleksander stayed behind to look after Lord and the house, living in a basement and helping to distribute water for the residents under never-ending bombing, until his heart began to fail from the constant stress.

The Ukrainian House of Teachers: a building that was destroyed by a blast in 1918 to free the Soviet Union. Volodymyr Viatrovych’s legacy

“I lived only 500 meters [0.3 miles] from work but it took me forever to get there every morning,” he recalls. “You begin walking, then hear a whistle in the air and run for cover into the nearest building. You stand there and wait to hear the explosion and you have landed somewhere else. So you continue walking — but only until the next whistle.”

“The Russian empire started to expand with Ukraine. Many Russians think that their empire cannot exist without the country of Ukraine. Volodymyr Viatrovych, who is a member of Ukraine’s parliament and a prominent historian, said that they keep coming back because of that.

He lives near the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which the Russians pulverized in the first days of the war. After the Russians invaded Ukraine, Viatrovych sent his family to western Ukraine for their safety.

martial law was declared by parliament in an emergency session. He got a rifle so he could defend the capital.

The offices for the Ukraine House of Teachers are located in an elegant whitewashed building that dates back to 1918 when Ukraine declared independence from Russia.

The windows were shattered when the blast blew out the glass ceiling in the hall where independence was declared in 1918. There are boarded up windows. There are shards of glass on the floor.

Steshuk Oleh, the director of the House of Teachers, said that there were parallels to a century ago. This building was damaged during the fighting. It has been damaged again. But don’t worry. Everything will be rebuilt.

He said that the Ukrainian people need to remedy the wrongs that happened in the last hundred years as a result of all the hardship they experienced in the 20th century.

In December of 1991 Ukrainians held a referendum on independence. Ninety-two percent of the people said they would go their own way. The Soviet Union ceased to exist that month.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/16/1142176312/ukraine-ongoing-fight-to-free-itself-from-russia

“Why is the world so big?” Vladimir Putin tells us about the future of the war and how to fight in the 21st century

He said if he’s losing a war, especially his own making, he doesn’t survive. The end of the era of the empire will be signaled by the outcome. It is the 21st century. The time has come for the empires to go.

Kasparov was still living in Russia 15 years ago when he entered politics and challenged Putin’s hold on power. When it became clear his safety was at risk, he left Russia, and now lives in New York.

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.

“Being a buffer zone or gray zone is not good from a geopolitical point of view,” he said. Everybody wants to make a step in the gray zone between the two security blocs. This has happened with Ukraine.”

“I believe our generation has an opportunity to put an end to this. “Ukrainians are more prepared to fight than in 1918.” he said.

Moscow has begun a new campaign to encourage Russians to enlist in the armed forces and fight in Ukraine, despite the Kremlin having denied needing more recruits.

When Vladimir Zelensky awoke to his motherland: What he could have done instead of partying with his friends and telling him to leave

A young man who is on a military contract decides to fight instead of partying with his male friends and then buys himself a car with the money he made from fighting on a military contract in one of the videos posted on December 14.

In the video that was posted on December 15, the former girlfriend of the soldier begged him to get back with her, because she was now impressed with his courage. An example shows a middle-aged man who left his factory job and didn’t get enough money to join the military.

Another of the videos shows a group of 30-something, well-off Russian men loading a car as they are asked by elderly women where are they going. One of the men replies: “To Georgia. Stay forever. When one woman spills a bag of groceries, men just get into the car and leave, instead of helping, while young men rush to pick up the groceries. The elderly women says that the men and boys have left.

Many of the videos depict the war as a way for men to escape from drinking and poverty. Meanwhile, reports and complaints of shortages of provisions and equipment in the Russian military continue to emerge.

During a meeting with mothers of the mobilized in November, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it was better to be killed fighting for the motherland than to drink oneself to death on vodka.

Earlier this month, addressing a news conference after a summit of Eurasian countries in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Putin attempted to reassure the public that there were no plans for additional mobilization.

Putin said that he was working with the Russian defense ministry to resolve the military equipment shortages on the front lines.

“He is probably more comfortable than Putin on camera, too, both as an actor and as a digital native,” she added. Zelensky is trying to balance authority with accessibility in order to come across as not being completely detached, but not too different from everyone else.

I saw how Zelensky pulled up to the lysée Palace in a small car, while Putin traveled in a limousine. (The host, French President Emmanuel Macron, hugged Putin but chose only to shake hands with Zelensky).

Fast forward to 2022 and Zelensky is the instantly recognizable wartime president in trademark olive green; as adept at rallying his citizens and stirring the imaginations of folks worldwide, as naming and shaming allies dragging their feet in arming his military.

Zelensky was raised in the rough and tumble of the Kryvyi Rih neighborhoods, where he learned how to fight back against people who wouldn’t listen.

“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.”

Zelensky was a bigodad in Lviv: A powerful communicator during a pivotal moment in geopolitics

It all seems like a long time since Zelensky celebrated winning the election at his campaign rally in a Ukrainian nightclub, where he bragged about his victory. Standing on stage among the fluttering confetti, he looked in a state of disbelief at having defeated incumbent veteran politician Petro Poroshenko.

The war appears to have turned his ratings around. The ratings approval of Zelensky soared to 85% in the days after the invasion, and remain high today. Americans early in the war rated Zelensky highly for his handling of international affairs, even 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 April of this year, a press conference held on the platform of a metro station was focused on a wartime setting with perfect lighting and camera angles.

He was so good as comforter in chief I remember how he soothed the people of Lviv during the air raid sirens and explosions.

“By wearing T-shirts and hoodies, the youthful, egalitarian uniform of Silicon Valley, rather than suits, Zelensky is projecting confidence and competence in a modern way, to a younger, global audience that recognizes it as such,” Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, a fashion historian and author of “Red, White, and Blue on the Runway: The 1968 White House Fashion Show and the Politics of American Style,” told NPR.

Zelenska has shown herself to be a good example of an effective communicator, as she traveled to where her husband could not. 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. Zelenska was not included on the cover of TIME, only a reference was given to her in the supporting text.

Despite the strong tailwinds at Zelensky’s back, there are subtle signs that his international influence could be dwindling. For example, last week, in what analysts called a pivotal moment in geopolitics, the G7 imposed a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude – despite pleas from Zelensky that it should have been set at $30 in order to inflict more pain on the Kremlin.

The Zelensky administration’s path can be complicated if liberation of the peninsula from Russia is a part of the definition of victory for most Ukrainians. The tough guy from Rih shows no indication that he’s going to back down.

“Paradoxically, Zelensky achieved the thing that Putin most wanted to achieve but failed … to rally support domestically with a patriotic war in order to deflect and distract from his abject failures at home. In Putin’s mind, to be shown up by a mere ‘decadent’ comedian must be excruciatingly painful for him,” New York-based geopolitical and business analyst Michael Popow told me.

As Zelensky said in a recent nightly video address: “No matter what the aggressor intends to do, when the world is truly united, it is then the world, not the aggressor, determines how events develop.”

The Russia-Russia War Between the Arms: The Case For a New Patriot System, and the Future Will be an Important Part of the Cold War

Kyiv has repeatedly asked for the US Army’s Patriot – an acronym for Phased Array Tracking Radar for intercept on Target – system, as it is considered one of the most capable long-range air defense systems on the market.

The use of more precision weapons is important, they ensure that the Ukrainians hit their targets and not any civilians remain 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.

The new deal likely will include the supply of guidance kits, or Joint Direct Attack Missiles, which Ukraine can use to make unguided missiles or bombs. This will increase their accuracy and the rate in which Kyiv’s forces burn through ammunition. A lot of the $1.8 billion is expected to fund munitions replacements and stocks.

Western analysts have noted Russia has grumbled consistently about these deliveries, but been relatively muted in its practical response to the crossing of what, as recently as January, might have been considered “red lines.”

From the Warsaw castle, Biden intends to recommit to supporting Ukraine, even as the costs mount and public support appears to wane. Russian President Putin will make a major speech to the Federal Assembly in Moscow in which he will discuss his opinions on the war that US and European officials think has reached an important juncture.

The remnants of the Trumpist “America First” elements of that party have echoed doubts about how much aid the US should really be sending to the edges of eastern Europe.

Washington has a trillion-dollar annual defense budget, so the bill for the long war with Russia is not a big deal.

Vladimir Putin, the American Revolution, and the Crime against Humanity: A View from Vladimir Putin during the First Day of the US-Second War in Ukraine

He is an inspiring rhetorician, and – as a former reality TV star turned unexpected president – the embodiment of how Putin’s war of choice has turned ordinary Ukrainians into wartime heroes.

The speech “connected the struggle of Ukrainian people to our own revolution, to our own feelings that we want to be warm in our homes to celebrate Christmas and to get us to think about all the families in Ukraine that will be huddled in the cold and to know that they are on the front lines of freedom right now,” Clinton said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” Wednesday.

Zelensky had just delivered a historic speech from the US Capitol in which he expressed gratitude for American aid in fighting Russian aggression.

Clinton said 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 join their fight. They’re fighting it themselves. They’re asking us and our allies for the means to not only defend themselves but to actually win.”

She is hoping that they will send more than one. She said US and NATO have been reluctant in the past to give advanced equipment, but that they have seen how effective the Ukrainian military is.

Clinton, who previously met Russian President Vladimir Putin as US secretary of state, said it was difficult to predict his leader as the war in Ukraine began to favor the Ukrainians.

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.

Washington and Moscow will not have a normal relationship after last week’s accusation that Russia has committed crimes against humanity.

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

“As the leadership of our country has stated, the tasks set within the framework of the special military operation will be fulfilled, taking into account the situation on the ground and the actual realities,” Zakharova added, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Peskov added that “there were no real calls for peace.” But during his address to the US Congress on Wednesday, Zelensky did stress that “we need peace,” reiterating the 10-point plan devised by Ukraine.

The meeting showed that the US is trying to cause a proxy war in order to hurt Russia, Peskov told journalists.

Putin’s critics say that using the word “war” to describe the Ukraine conflict has effectively been illegal in Russia since March, when the Russian leader signed a censorship law that makes it a crime to disseminate “fake” information about the invasion, with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison for anyone convicted.

“Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of military conflict, but, on the contrary, to end this war,” Putin told reporters in Moscow, after attending a State Council meeting on youth policy. “We have been and will continue to strive for this.”

Nikita Yuferev, a municipal lawmaker from St. Petersburg who fled Russia due to his antiwar stance, on Thursday said he had asked Russian authorities to prosecute Putin for “spreading fake information about the army.”

There wasn’t a decree to end the special military operation, Yuferev said. “Several thousand people have already been condemned for such words about the war.”

A US official told CNN they believed that Putin did not mean to say it and probably did a slip of the tongue. However, officials will be watching closely to see what figures inside the Kremlin say about it in the coming days.

“All conflicts, armed conflicts too, end one way or another with some kind of negotiations,” Putin said as he accused Zelensky of refusing to negotiate.

The normal life of Kyiv during the first year of the Russian Revolution: Changing the atmosphere, changing the weapons program, and ending the war

Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday declared the Kremlin would make a substantial investment in many areas of the military. The initiatives include increasing the size of the armed forces, accelerating weapons programs and deploying a new generation of hypersonic missiles to prepare Russia for what Putin called “inevitable clashes” with its adversaries.

During the summer months, at first glance, outward signs of the war were less apparent. “Normal” then meant bustling restaurants and bars — at least until curfew — and the mood throughout the city was jovial, as people celebrated Russian withdrawals and Ukrainian victories.

The birds and musicians of the summer gave way to Generators in the fall. The winter normal of the city nowadays is electricity, water, and communication disruptions, which are correlated with the attacks on the city by Russia.

As Ukraine nears the one-year anniversary of the invasion, Kyiv’s newest normal may be darker and colder, but life goes on: Volunteers sew camouflage netting and build power banks, soldiers go to church, and people visit Christmas markets, wearing headlamps to navigate darkened streets.

She said that the Putin regime forced out all viable alternatives that were of the more democratic style and then they had to fear going out into the streets if there was no clear path forward.

She said she stopped attending demonstrations when the war broke out because she was more worried about her safety. She doesn’t see a scenario under which the regime in Russia could be overthrown any time soon, she said, pointing out that all of the opposition leaders “are in jail or have been killed.”

CNN is not publishing the woman’s name and is using a pseudonym at her request because of the risks to her personal safety. She is at risk of arrest and possibly lengthy prison time if she speaks to foreign journalists about her involvement in the demonstrations.

The suppression of dissent has been brutal. A new law making it impossible to spread fake information about the war in Russia led to 19,400 prisoners being held for protesting against it.

A court in Moscow used the law earlier this month when it sentenced Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin to more than eight years in prison for speaking up about the alleged killing of civilians by Russian troops in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, outside Kyiv. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the mass killings, while reiterating baseless claims that the images of civilians bodies were fake.

Access to independent sources of information can still be found through a technical workaround. Older Russians like state media propaganda, which spreads on TV talk shows.

The US Border Patrol recorded 36,271 encounters with Russian citizens between October 2021 and September 2022. The number includes people who were apprehended or expelled by the border force and is significantly higher than the 13,240 and 5,946 recorded in the two previous fiscal years.

According to a non-profit helping Russian citizens fleeing persecution, those leaving are more educated than the general Russian public.

“If you take the Moscow liberal intelligentsia, and of course, I’m talking only about the people I know and I know of, I would say that maybe 70% left. It’s journalists, it’s people from universities, sometimes schools, artists, people who have clubs and [foundations] in Moscow that got closed down,” Soldatov said.

Maria said she remains determined to stay in Russia, even though all of her friends and her son have left. Her elderly mother can’t – and doesn’t want to – travel abroad, and Maria is not willing to leave her. It would be easier to leave if my mother needed my help and the borders weren’t closed. She told CNN she was scared that something else could happen at a moment’s notice.

She believes that her work is important and that she is struggling to see hope in the future. Like Olga, she described her own life as a perpetual cycle of panic, horror, shame and self-doubt.

“You’re constantly torn apart: Are you to blame? Did you do enough? Can you do something else or not, how should you act now? she said. There aren’t any prospects. I’m an adult, and I didn’t exactly have all my life figured out, but all in all I understood what would happen next. Now nobody understands anything. People don’t realize what will happen tomorrow.

“I’ve begun to question my own identity,” he said. “The things we held dear, like the memory of the Second World War, for instance, became completely compromised,” he said, referring to Putin’s baseless claim that Russian forces are “denazifying” Ukraine.

“It’s part of the Russian national identity that the Russian army helped to win the war (against Hitler’s Germany) and now it feels absolutely wrong because this message was used by Putin. You start questioning the history,” he said, adding that the favorable reaction by some parts of the Russian society to the invasion prompted him to research pre-war rhetoric in Germany.

This is a confession in the book. I am guilty for not reading the signs much earlier. I am liable for Russia’s war against Ukraine. My predecessors and our forebears are as well. Russian culture is to blame for some of the horrible things that have happened.

Maria says she is a liberal who is opposed to Putin and has spent years taking part in anti-government protests. I knew that a person from the KGB wouldn’t be good for our country. It is too deeply rooted with horrors, deaths and all that,” she said.

The expectation of theWest that there will be an immediate wave of protests on the streets and calls for government change that actually has an effect does not reflect the reality of life in Russia.

“Almost all opposition leaders and opinion leaders are now either in prison or abroad. People have a huge potential for political action, but there is no leader and no power base,” she said, adding that civilians will not come out against the armed police, the National Guard, and other security forces.

“It is probably difficult for people from democratic countries to understand the realities of life in a powerful autocracy,” she said. It is a terrifying feeling of oneself being insignificant and powerless in front of a big machine of death and madness.

“It’s like the central nervous system of the human body: If you mess with it, you put all sorts of systems out of whack,” says Rajan Menon, a director of the Defense Priorities think tank who recently returned from a trip to the Ukrainian capital, speaking about Russia’s power grid attacks. “It’s not only an inconvenience but an enormous economic cost. It’s an effort to create pain for the civilian population, to show that the government can’t protect them adequately.”

Menon notes that every one of his comments can apply to the cyberattacks on thecountry’s internet, as was the case with Russia’s NotPetya malicious software five years ago. “They’re different in the technicalities, but the goal is the same,” he says. “Demoralizing and punishing civilians.”

The electrical infrastructure of Russia was attacked on Thursday, and several regions lost power. As the holiday approaches, engineering crews are racing to restore services.

Russian Revolution: The Implications of the War in Ukraine for Human Rights, Democracy, and the Internet and Social Media Efforts

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

“On New Year’s Eve, I tried to take a nap,” she told CNN from her house in the Kyiv suburbs. “But I woke to the sound of explosions, and they went on through the night. She said that the sirens weren’t off until 4:30 a.m.

Authorities in Odesa, in southern Ukraine, said that emergency power outages had been rolled out amid the missile attacks. “They are introduced due to the threat of missile attacks to avoid significant damage if the enemy manages to hit energy facilities,” DTEK, a utility company, said in a statement.

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

Putin said his military was embarking on a “special military operation” and that it would be complete in a matter of 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.

Even Russia’s most revered human rights group, 2022’s Nobel Prize co-recipient Memorial, was forced to stop its activities over alleged violations of the foreign agents law.

The state has also vastly expanded Russia’s already restrictive anti-LGBT laws, arguing the war in Ukraine reflects a wider attack on “traditional values.”

For now, repressions remain targeted. Some of the laws aren’t enforced. The measures are meant to crush the dissent of others, should the moment arise.

New “fake news” laws that criminalized the contrary of the official government line forced a number of respected independent media outlets to shut down and relocate abroad.

Internet users are subject to restrictions 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.

The Russian Exodus During the First Battles of the Second World War: Russia’s Resistance to Russia and the Crimes It Enough

Thousands of perceived government opponents — many of them political activists, civil society workers and journalists — left in the war’s early days amid concerns of persecution.

Hundreds of thousands of Russian men fled to other border states to avoid the draft because of Putin’s order to mobilize 300,000 additional troops in September.

Even though the swelling presence of Russians is a concern for former Soviet republics, some countries that have absorbed the Russian exodus predict their economies will grow.

In the initial days of the invasion, Russia’s ruble currency cratered and its banking and trading markets looked shaky. Hundreds of global corporate brands, such as McDonald’s and ExxonMobil, reduced, suspended or closed their Russian operations entirely.

Europe will blink first when it comes to sanctions, as Europeans grow angry over high energy costs at home, because President Putin wants them to pull back on their support for Ukraine. He announced a five-month ban on oil exports to countries that abide by the price cap, a move likely to make the pain more acute in Europe.

Observers also note that Russia’s military has been adapting. While Putin never got the victory parade in Kyiv his generals were planning for, he has appointed a new battlefield commander, signaling another change in strategy.

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 who have lost their lives remains a subject that is difficult to talk about at home. Western estimates place those figures much higher.

On Fox, DeSantis said that the fears of Russia going into NATO countries has not come close to happening. They have shown themselves to be a great military power.

Longtime allies in Central Asia have criticized Russia’s actions because they are concerned about their own sovereignty which would have been unimaginable in Soviet times. India and China have eagerly purchased discounted Russian oil, but have stopped short of full-throated support for Russia’s military campaign.

The Fate of the Russian State of the Nation after 10 Years of War I. Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukranian

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.

An annual December press conference that is semi-staged and allows the Russian leader to handle fawning questions from pro-Kremlin media was also tabled until 2023.

The Kremlin has given no reason for the delays. After 10 months of war and no sign of victory, many believe the Russian leader has ran out of good news to share.

In his New Years Eve address, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukranian said it was time for his country to hope for victory despite fear over Russia.

In a videotaped speech, Mr. Zelensky recalled a number of notable moments from the war, such as the attack on a maternity hospital, the destruction of a Russian bridge to Crimean, and the intense fighting at the Azovstal steel plant.

He stated that this year has struck his heart, according to a translation on his official website. “We’ve cried out all the tears. All the prayers have been yelled. 311 days. We have something to say at a certain time.

How does Europe feel about Ukraine? A year of losses in a world that has not been conquered, but it has grown increasingly frustrated with the West

All Ukrainians — those working, attending schools or “just learning to walk” — are participating in Ukraine’s defense, Mr. Zelensky said. He doesn’t think that is the right way to think of it, even if it is a year of losses.

From the main squares of foreign cities and their halls of government in the world, the world has rallied around Ukraine, Mr. Zelensky said.

And finally, to those who felt nuclear saber-rattling was an oxymoron in 2022 – that you could not casually threaten people with nukes as the destruction they brought was complete, for everyone on the planet.

Europe is left with a number of unknowns as the year draws to a close. A year ago, the smaller neighbor excelled in IT and agriculture, but now it is invaded by a military once considered the world’s third most formidable.

Russia has also met a West that, far from being divided and reticent, was instead happy to send some of its munitions to its eastern border. Western officials might also be surprised that Russia’s red lines appear to shift constantly, as Moscow realizes how limited its non-nuclear options are. This wasn’t supposed to happen. So, what does Europe do and prepare for, now that it has?

The West has been unified unexpectedly. Despite being split over Iraq, fractured over Syria, and partially unwilling to spend the 2% of GDP on security the United States long demanded of NATO members, Europe and the US have been speaking from the same script on Ukraine. At times, Washington may have seemed warier, and there have been autocratic outliers like Hungary. The shift is towards unity not disparity. That’s quite a surprise.

Russia has not yet lost the war. There are variables which could lead to a stalemate or reversal of fortune. NATO could lose patience or nerve over weapons shipments, and seek economic expediency over long-term security, pushing for a peace unfavorable to Kyiv. At this point, that seems unlikely.

Living in the Wild: Catastrophic Loss of the Red Lines. A Memorino of Kateryna and Oleg

America has done this before. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the soviet union changed its mind and accepted the outcome that favored the west. Had “red lines” thinking been in vogue, America might well have accepted an inferior compromise that weakened its security and credibility.

They’re getting ready for the arrival of twins as they begin. Eight months pregnant is Kateryna’s age. CNN agreed to use only first names for her and Oleg as they fear for their privacy.

Kateryna said that there is a new noise that she has not heard before: the chattering of generators as homes and businesses look for alternative source of energy when electricity is cut off.

Kateryna travels to central Kyiv twice a week in order to work in a co-working space, despite the risks and the imminent arrival of the twins.

These spaces were bought from the company owned by Musk, and have become quite professional with furniture, heat, lighting and reliable internet.

Kateryna is helping to import large containers. It’s more than just a livelihood. It’s also a way to contribute to the war effort.

Kateryna and Oleg are luckier than most Ukrainians in that they have a small generator at home, but they use it sparingly. The risk of running out of diesel is always a factor, it uses a liter of fuel every hour and needs to cool down once a day. They have to choose which appliances to run: it’s lights or laundry, they said.

There is enough food in the stores “but sometimes I have to shop with a flashlight,” Kateryna says. They have a couple of months of food supplies in their house in case the situation goes from bad to worse.

“I have a job here; Oleg has a job here and he cannot work remotely. Our home is where we have many friends. For me it’s a nightmare to move somewhere else,” Kateryna said.

The company my husband works for has a fund which they use to help the Ukrainian fighters who are on the front line. We helped collect money for such equipment,” she said.

“The fact that these are transfers and deportations of children is unconscionable by any standard,” the note said. “Russia must immediately halt forced transfers and deportations and return the children to their families or legal guardians. Russia must provide registration lists of Ukraine’s relocated and deported children and grant access for outside independent observers to related facilities within Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine and inside Russia itself.”

Is the Russian Army really practicing bad security communications during the Makiivka crisis? A comment by David Dougherty of the Center for Strategic and International Studies

While giving birth to her healthy children, she is concerned that she might end up in a hospital because of another missile attack. She said she would pray very hard at that point.

It is uncommon for a Russian government to admit a high death toll. The Ukrainian military reported even higher figures, initially claiming up to around 400 Russian soldiers were killed. CNN cannot independently verify either side’s reported death toll. One of the deadliest episodes of the conflict for Moscow was marked by the strike.

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.”

It is telling that days after the deadliest known attack on Russian servicemen, President Vladimir Putin called for a temporary ceasefire, citing the Orthodox Christmas holiday. The move was not appreciated by the Ukrainian and US government because it was a cynical attempt to get breathing space in a very bad year for Russian forces.

Russian officials said that four Ukrainian-launched HIMARS rockets hit the vocational school where its forces were housed, apparently adjacent to a large arms depot. (Another two HIMARS rockets were shot down by Russian air defenses).

The failure of Russia to break up their arms depots is a consequence of their inability to communicate effectively, according to Chris Dougherty, a senior fellow for the defense program and co-head of the Gaming Lab at the center for new american security.

it is a view shared by other experts The director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, James Lewis, told me in an e-mail that the Russian Army practices bad security communications.

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. It is a lie and an attempt to take the blame.

A lot of prisoners from Russian prisons have been freed and transferred 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.

The person who was awarded an Order of Courage by President Putin at the Kremlin two weeks ago and who goes by the name WarGonzo was very angry with the Ministry of Defense for its attempt to implicate the troops in using cell phones.

The location of soldiers in a school building wasn’t determined using a local source, but he wondered if the Ministry of Defence was so sure.

A month earlier, the defense ministry underwent a shakeup when Col. Gen. Mikhail Y. Mizintsev, known to Western officials as the “butcher of Mariupol,” was named deputy defense minister for overseeing logistics, replacing four-star Gen. Dmitri V. Bulgakov, who had held the post since 2008. The location of the arms depot, adjacent to the Makiivka recruits, would likely have been on Mizintsev’s watch.

Still, Putin-favorite Sergei Shoigu remains defense minister — as recently as Saturday, before the Makiivka attack, telling his forces in a celebratory video: “Our victory, like the New Year, is inevitable.”

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 streets of Siversk in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region are battered with blasts every few minutes. It can be Russian fire or outgoing Ukrainian fire.

An elderly woman in black pants, heavy shoes, and a dirty grey overcoat and headscarf shuffles up the street. An explosion rings out. She flinches, her eyes open wide, but she doesn’t miss a step. She joins a crowd of several dozen, mostly elderly residents bundled up against the cold.

On the edge of the crowd, standing alone, is 72-year-old Lubov Bilenko. Her face is blank with no expression or emotion and her dark eyes are blank as well.

A pension handout from the Ukrainian Postal Service in the town of Siversk: Anna Fesenko helps a desperate people to get out of trouble

She says in a low voice that they were scared before. She says that they are used to the shelling. We don’t pay attention anymore.

Bilenko told CNN that a mobile unit from the Ukrainian Postal Service came to town to collect her monthly pension from her apartment. The pension of Bilenko is less than 80 dollars a month. It’s just enough to buy a bit of food from one of the few shops still open.

Anna Fesenko, a blonde woman with a quick smile, heads the mobile unit. Anna makes weary town residents laugh as she and her colleagues check documents against a list of recipients and hand out cash.

Before heading the mobile unit, Fesenko worked at the post office in Bakhmut, about 22 miles south of Siversk. But in mid-fall the fighting around the town became so intense that she and her colleagues there had to evacuate.

She understands her job is not just to hand out pensions: It’s to remind the people in Siversk they haven’t been forgotten. “I think we’re the only one connection between them and the rest of the world,” she says.

“I live within a 20-minute walk from here, but my wife is afraid to come here,” says 63-year-old Volodymyr, who declined to give his full name, pulling on a cigarette before joining the line.

The man made it to the front. She has spent months in the basement of her apartment building with her friends and family in the war zone. It’s a cramped, uncomfortable existence. She’s willing to accept the fact that it is there.

Overseeing the operation is the head of the Siversk military administration, Oleksi Vorobiov. He is concerned that a large group of people are in the open.

Russian forces are just across a wide valley, occupying hills visible from the pension distribution point. It is about six miles to the north.

“We are trying to choose the right time and place,” Vorobiov says of the pension handout. That means every time the mobile unit comes, it’s a different place and time to avoid being targeted by the Russians.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/08/europe/ukraine-siversk-postal-service-pensions-intl-cmd/index.html

Putin and the Russians: Moscow’s response to the Ukraine attack in Kramatorsk has been troubling for Germany, and for Russia, for Europe

No one was injured, she said, but she and her colleagues dispensed with formalities. They quickly handed out the cash they could to those still waiting, she said, and left.

Ukrainian officials on Sunday dismissed Moscow’s claim that a large number of Kyiv’s soldiers were killed in a Russian attack last week in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine.

A CNN team on the ground has seen no indication of any massive casualties in the area. The area around the city morgue is not associated with any unusual activity.

A reporter in Kramtorsk of the Associated Press reported that there were no signs of a significant Russian strike on two college dormitories that Russia claimed 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.

But that account was angrily dismissed by an influential military blogger and implicitly contradicted by the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine, pointing to discord in the Russian command over Moscow’s response to the attack.

Russia had invested heavily in the 750-mile undersea pipeline linking it to Germany and wanted to increase global sales and ramp up economic leverage over Europe and its power-hungry heavy industries. Germany’s leader in consumer spending was on board from the beginning. Washington was not.

The United States didn’t want the new high-capacity supply to replace old overland lines in order to give vital revenue to the West.

Responding to Biden and Scholz’s decision on tanks, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said it adds “tension to the continent, but it cannot prevent Russia from reaching our goals.”

Europe has been slow to respond to the deep fissures in US politics and the uncertainty another Trumpian-style presidency could wreak on its allies. Decades of a reasonably unshakable reliance, if not complete trust, in the US, has been replaced by stubborn European pragmatism – and Germany leads the way.

The moral compass of Europe was the former Chancellor of Germany. The crowd in Germany’s Bundestag applauded as he flashed a rare moment of steely leadership after finding unexpected metal in his ponderous coalition.

Russian Defense Policy in a Cold War: After the Biden-Scholz War, CNN Seeked Two Former Military Fighters

Despite heavy Western sanctions, some parts of the Russia’s economy are still doing well. The government ran a higher-than- expected deficit due to a 30% increase in defense spending during the previous year, but the International Monetary Fund is projecting a small return to GDP growth for Russia.

The applause at each step of the speech was louder than what he had said. Scholz was the one to get it right for Germany, having brought with him a population that is usually resistant to war, and divided over how much they should help the Ukrainians, who are accused of killing Russians.

Dmitry Medvedev, former Russian president and deputy chairman of its national security council, has said Russia would never allow itself to be defeated and would use nuclear weapons if threatened.

The mixed messaging has some Muscovites CNN spoke with after the announcements by Biden and Scholz on tanks confused. Some said Russia would win regardless, and lumped the US and Germany together as the losers, but a significant proportion were worried about the war, dismayed at the heavy death toll and frustrated that Putin ignored their concerns.

How much Scholz is aware of Putin’s softening popularity or whether he believes it relevant at this moment is unclear, but his actions now, sending tanks, may help ease Putin’s iron grip on power.

Longer debates about the next military moves for Ukraine could be coming and will likely signal to Zelensky that weapons supplies will be on more of a German leash, and less unilaterally led by Washington.

Two former fighters of the Russian private military company said to CNN how they were shot by their own commanders after they failed to perform at a certain point in the battle.

The two fighters were captured by Ukrainian forces late last year. CNN is not disclosing their identities for their own safety. Both are married with children and were recruited while in prison. One was serving a 20-year sentence for manslaughter.

For security reasons, the Ukrainians kept a presence in the room where the interview took place. CNN told the fighters that they could end the interview at any time they wished. They spoke in detail for more than an hour.

An assault by the other fighter that lasted five days was done through a forest near the city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine.

“You can’t help the wounded. The Ukrainians were firing at us so you have to keep going, otherwise you will be hit by the fire.

The prisoner said a self-preservation instinct had kicked in for him, but others froze. It is possible to drop your weapons in the forest. But to drop your weapons is to come under sniper fire and die.”

There was no evacuation of the wounded, he added. “If you’re wounded, you roll away on your own at first, any way you can, somewhere neutral where there’s no fire, and if there’s no one around, you administer first aid to yourself,” he said.

Casualties were piled up by the dozen, the men said. “When the casualties arrive, you get orders to load them, and you don’t really think who’s dead and who’s wounded,” one of the fighters said.

They were numb to the loss of soldiers from the Ukrainians. You thought you would feel something. [after killing someone], but no, you just keep going.”

The other fighter said that their commander told them that if anyone gets cold feet, they would have to be eliminated. And if we failed to eliminate him, we would be eliminated for failing to eliminate him.”

The Invasion of the Soviet Gulag: The Story of Prigozhin and the War of the First Ukrainians in the Cold War

At the time, Prigozhin’s recruitment campaign in Russia’s prisons was in full swing. Western intelligence officials and prison advocacy groups say between 40,000 and 50,000 men were recruited.

“Only a handful in my unit came for money, most came because they had long sentences,” said one of the fighters. “But there were also some who had only 12 days of their sentence remaining, and they went anyway.

The prisoner said that the selection process was very basic and prisoners only had to show they could walk a few yards. Almost everyone was taken by them.

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. There are stories of millions of Ukrainians who died during Stalin’s famine.

Hundreds of prisoners were taken by bus and plane to a training ground after Prigozhin visited, according to two men.

The training was brief and basic – handling guns for the terrible assaults they would soon be ordered to carry out. The men said it was clear they were being prepared for missions they’d not signed up for.

The Zelenskyy Network of Camps: Military Training and Reeducation in the Era of Russian-Croatia

One person said he did not mention anything about danger. He talked about expunging all convictions, we would serve six months, all convictions would be expunged, and we’d pay a payment of around $240,000 to hold the defense on the second line.

The command ordered me to dig in at my position and wait for it to be evacuated. A group of 10 were sent, and all 10 were eliminated by a sniper, he said.

I believe it was the wrong choice because I’d never taken part in a military operation fighting against the AFU. They brought us here under the wrong pretext. One said, “We are at war, but I don’t think it is a just cause.”

Zelenskyy spoke with leaders in London, Paris and Brussels, where he repeated his call for fighter jets to be sent toUkraine.

Biden’s historic visit came days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, providing a symbolic boost to Kyiv at a crucial juncture in the conflict.

“The primary purpose of the camps appears to be political reeducation,” he said, noting that at least 32 of the facilities identified in the report “appear to be engaged in systematic re-education efforts that expose children from Ukraine to Russia-centric academic, cultural, patriotic, and in two cases, specifically military education.”

It identified 43 facilities that are a part of the network, which “stretches from one end of Russia to the other,” including Russian-occupied Crimea, the “eastern Pacific Coast – closer to Alaska than it is to Moscow,” and Siberia, Raymond said.

According to Raymond, there appears to be a correlation between training children in the use of firearms and military vehicles and being sent to conflict, but the researchers have not seen evidence of that yet.

Hundreds of children, whose status is unknown, have been held for months at these camps, including children with no idea if they will be returned to their families. Children’s return date has been delayed by weeks at two camps according to this report. Children’s returns have been indefinitely postponed at two other camps.

There is a danger that the lack of contact between the child and his parent is causing real and potential harm on a daily basis.

According to the report, at least 12 individuals are not on the US or international sanctions lists and were identified as being directly engaged in operating and politically justifying the program.

Raymond said that the system is consistent with the guidelines of the Rome Statute and the convention against transferring children from one group to another.

Ned Price said that Russia’s forced relocation, reeducation and adoption ofUkraine’s children is a key element of the Kremlin’s systematic efforts to deny and suppress the country’s identity.

The State Department stated that the transfer and deportation of protected persons was a violation of the Fourth Convention on the protection of civilians and constituted a war crime.

Ukraine’s fragile position in the post-Kushushushchenko era: Ana Golea’s visit to Moldova during the September 2011 missile attack

The author is an analyst, consultant and journalist focusing on Eastern and Central European affairs. Follow him on the social media platform, Twitter. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion at CNN.

Ana Golea acknowledges that her country can’t avoid being dragged into conflict, but she hopes that things will improve and her parents will be safe.

Since power shortages hit the small country of 26 million people, Ana has been making more frequent trips to Moldova from the capital city of Bucharest.

Recently, President Maia Sandu said that police found missiles near Larga in the north of the country. It was not the first such incident – Moldovan police also found missile debris in December – and it left many to wonder what will happen if the next time luck runs out and a stray rocket hits closer to home.

Moldova sits to Ukraine’s south, relatively close to Russia’s front lines along Ukraine’s southern, Black Sea coast. The western part of southern Ukraine is not part of NATO and the EU.

Seizing Odesa could have allowed Russia’s army to connect with that territory where some 1,500 Russian troops are stationed—turning the tiny sliver of land into a new Donbas, this time much closer to the doorstep of NATO and the EU.

If Russia attempts to reach Moldova, other countries could be dragged into the conflict, and there is reason to worry about that. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that Russia is trying to “freeze” the war before a spring assault, which many fear might bring Russian forces once again near Odesa.

During a visit to Chisinau earlier this spring, UN Secretary General António Guterres talked about the fragile position Moldova is in, noting that “Moldova is by far the country that has received the most refugees, as proportion of its own population.” He mentioned that the country finds itself on the “front line of preservation, peace and stability in the world.” What does that mean?

Secondly, since Ukrainian refugees have been largely allowed to move freely in Europe, those who did choose to stay in Moldova are usually those having a harder time integrating anywhere else. Moldova’s culture does share a lot of similarities with Ukraine. If Moldova refused to accept refugees, the rest of Europe would have to integrate them.

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. The Council of Europe highlighted the judicial system’s deficiencies in a recent report, with the judiciary coming under scrutiny following a fight for the job of chief prosecutor.

Moldova is also losing its people. 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. It is probably the most difficult spot it has ever been in because it is dependent on both Russia and Ukraine for energy.

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.

One Year During Putin War: Ukraine Wraps Against Perturbations and Perilous Mass Rejection, and Implications for the Security of the Cold War

on February 24, 2022, I was going to be in Kyiv. But a few days before that, my husband broke his shoulder and we had to stay in Moscow. At 9:00 a.m. that day he had surgery.

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 span of a year, the war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions more. It has devastated cities, caused a global food and energy crisis, and tested the resolve of western alliances.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/18/opinions/one-year-anniversary-putin-war-ukraine-russia-wrap-opinions-ctpr/index.html

The First Day of World War II: Ukrainian Civil Liberties in a Foreign Land. The First Year of the Ukranian War and the Birth of the World

Zaporizhzhia, February 23, 2022. I went to sleep expecting to see my husband the next day. The life we were living 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 finally had time to work. I felt good.

We were exhausted and scared and had to come to terms with our displacement. I will be forever grateful to all those who helped us come to Prague and adjust to a new life in a foreign land.

Thanks to the opportunities for Ukrainians provided by the Czech Republic, my husband got a job. I found special needs classes for my son. He now has a learning support assistant. My daughter goes to a Czech school while studying in her Ukrainian school remotely.

Editor’s Note: Oleksandra Matviichuk is a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and defender who heads the Center for Civil Liberties. The Center received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for its work. She and other partners started an initiative called “Tribunal for Putin” to document international crimes in Ukraine. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. There are more opinions on CNN.

That morning we woke up to learn that the invasion started. The war was denounced in an open letter penned by 12 Russian writers, directors and cultural figures. Soon it was published, and tens of thousands of Russian citizens added their signatures.

We left Russia on the third day. I felt like it was a moral obligation. I could no longer stay on the territory of the state that has become a fascist one.

We moved to Berlin. My husband was assigned to work as a volunteer at the refugee camp next to the main railway station, where thousands of Ukrainians arrive every day. I started writing a book. It starts like this:

My passport is a novel in stamps, one year into the invasion. I teach Ukrainian literature in London and in Ukraine, where I get my lessons in courage.

It seems that since February 2022 we have experienced several eras. The first was euphoric, when Putin suddenly, after a significant time of stagnant ratings, received more than 80% approval from the population.

He canceled the future by canceling the past. It’s easier to support Putin when your superiors decide what to do, and you take for granted what you’re told.

For me personally and my family, what happened was a catastrophe to which it is impossible to adapt. As an active commentator I was labeled a foreign agent, increasing my personal risk and making me think that I live in a utopian society.

On the evening of February 23 I washed my dog, cleaned the house, took a bath and lit candles. I have a cozy, one-bedroom apartment in a northern district of Kyiv. I loved taking care of it. I had a wonderful life, and I loved it. 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. I called my parents to make sure I got the supplies I needed.

Soon after, I knew the life I had was falling apart. 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 was only a matter of the battle.

And besides the obvious battles, there was another one to fight – trying to claim my life back. Russia stole the life of me and millions of Ukrainians.

I did not worry about my personal ambitions anymore. Only the common goal was crucial – to raise our flag and show that we are fighting even under these circumstances.

I couldn’t enjoy my victories on the track. They were possible due to the number of defenders that had died. But I got messages from soldiers on the frontline. They were so happy to follow our achievements, and it was my primary motivation to continue my career.

In October of last year, a car the officer in the Ukrainian national guard was travelling in rolled over and in fire after he saw what hit him. He thought Russian gun fire.

Orlov’s feet had been crushed by the car and his legs were wounded in the explosion, which pinned him in the back of the vehicle. After he made it, he and his team lay in the grass looking at the fire and trying to figure out what to do next.

Orlov was eventually taken to a Ukrainian hospital. He was told he may need to have at least one leg amputated or that he may never walk again, in part due to inundated hospitals and strains on resources after months of war.

Orlov’s Foot: Making the Journey to New York, where they met and flew to Poland, and they eventually met with Matviichuk

That video caught the attention of some US volunteers and eventually made its way to Gary Wasserson, a retired American businessman from New York who was already coordinating volunteer aid resources to the region.

Matkowsky, along with the Ukrainian government, worked to get permission for Orlov to leave, and helped to arrange transportation to Poland. They were able to get a plane ticket to New York.

While Fufa is optimistic about the path forward for Orlov’s feet, she is quick to point out that while reconstruction is one thing, being able to walk again is not guaranteed just yet.

“The complexity comes from the fact that he had both soft tissue wounds as well as bone defects or missing bone from the blast injuries and the multiple fractures in each of the feet,” Fufa told CNN.

FuFA said she warned him that the road is so lengthy that he might be able to hit a roadblock if it feels like it is taking too long.

He hopes to walk again, but he wants the world to know that this is more about his country than about two countries in conflict.

He said the families of the women and children who died in the war in Ukraine and Russia are not just about war. It is about human rights.

“I do think this is a critical moment,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told NPR. The battlefield is very difficult and as bloody as it can be, so President Zelenskyy and President Putin will have a hard time making a decision on whether or not to go.

“This is something that leads me to the question – for whom do we document all these crimes?” Oleksandra Matviichuk, 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’s Foreign Minister tells NPR: “Does China Want to Expand Their Influence?” Vladimir Putin tells the Xi Jinping-Russian Cold War

Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told NPR that his country is keeping an eye on China, as he said his country is learning from the war in Ukraine.

Expansionist motivation is what they have. They want to keep expanding their sphere of influence. They want to expand their power. And if they are not stopped, then they will continue to march on,” Wu told us.

But this moment finds the United States negotiating worsening foreign policy crises at the same time – with its former Cold War adversaries in the Kremlin and its belligerent new superpower rival led by Xi Jinping. Both rivals are challenging the international rule of law and rejecting the international system that has underpinned it for decades.

Natalia believes that the family’s car was hit by Russian forces in the first days of the war. Her husband was killed, along with her 6-year-old nephew, Maxim. Vova was hospitalized for months after the attack with several bullets in his body.

The Great Patriotic War: The Russia of the Future in the Light of Putin’s Voting and Demonstration in Volgograd

The audio for this story was produced by Danny Hajek; edited by Barrie Hardymon and Natalie Winston. Production help from Carol Klinger, and production help from the other people. They helped with reporting and translation.

Navalny’s shorthand for a country without Putin is called the wonderful Russia of the future.

International sanctions and protests have not deterred Putin. Independent media and human rights groups have been branded as foreign agents or shut down entirely.

On February 2, Putin paid a visit to the southern Russian city of Volgograd to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory at what was then called Stalingrad, a crucial turning point in what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War.

“Those who draw the European countries, including Germany, into a new war with Russia – and all the more irresponsibly declare this as a fait accompli – those who expect to win a victory over Russia on the battlefield, apparently do not understand that a modern war with Russia will be completely different for them,” he warned.

The first mobilize caused a lot of tremors in the Russian society. Hundreds of thousands of Russians voted with their feet. Protests erupted in ethnic minority regions such as Dagestan where police faced off against anti-mobilization demonstrators in multiple cities. Russian social media witnessed a surge in videos and public complaints about the lack of equipment and appalling conditions for newly mobilized recruits.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/19/europe/russia-ukraine-war-anniversary-intl-cmd/index.html

The World Has Changed Compared to the Last 25 Years of the Russian War. A Conversation with Ira and Janislava Pavlov

Many of those advances have been led by soldiers of the Wagner Group, a private military company headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Many reports on the group focused on its brutal tactics, including summary execution for wavers or deserters.

“Is Prigozhin ready to challenge Putin?” she wrote in a recent piece. “While the answer is negative, there is one important ‘but.’ It is hard to remain balanced and sane, after going through the trauma of meat grinding and losing a large amount of personnel. As long as Putin is relatively strong and able to maintain a balance between groups of influence, Prigozhin is safe. But the slightest easing could provoke Prigozhin to challenge power, even if not directly to Putin at first. War leads to monsters who can become a challenge to the state.

Against that backdrop, some Russians have taken refuge in a form of political apathy. CNN recently spoke to several Muscovites about how their lives have changed since last year, on condition that their surnames not be used over the risks of publicly criticizing the government.

Ira, a 47-year-old who works for a business publication, said that there had been a lot of changes in Russia but he could not really make a difference. “I just try to keep some internal balance. Maybe I’m too apolitical, but I don’t feel it (further mobilization) is going to happen.”

After the invasion, Ira felt anxious in February and March. She had just bought an apartment and was worried that work might dry up and she wouldn’t be able to pay her mortgage.

She said that it got worse in the spring. “Now it seems we’ve gotten used to a new reality. I started to meet and go out with girlfriends. I began to buy a lot more wine.

She said the restaurants are full and that the faces look different. The hipsters – you know what hipsters are? – There are fewer of them.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/19/europe/russia-ukraine-war-anniversary-intl-cmd/index.html

Russian-UKraine War Anniversary: What Do We Have to Do? Olya and I. Shedding Light on the Problems

Olya said that her family had decided to take more domestic holidays. Europe does not offer direct flights from Russia and there are limited opportunities to travel abroad.

Life carries on, Olya said, even though there is a war on. She said that she cannot influence the situation. “My friends say, we do what we can, what’s possible. It doesn’t help to get depressed.”

Those who reorganized quickly are seeing growth. We had an unusual amount of deals in January, and the activity usually picks up in February.

He said practically nothing had changed, when talking about the cutoff of Western imports. “If we’re talking parts for a (Mercedes Benz) G-Class, it might be trickier.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/19/europe/russia-ukraine-war-anniversary-intl-cmd/index.html

What will you say to Putin if you have not spoken to Putin? I would ask him what he had to say if Putin had won the Nobel Prize in 1991

He said he looked for other sources of information rather than relying on state media. And he acknowledged that he could theoretically be called up in another wave of mobilization.

I need to explain. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Chechnya was one of the two autonomous republics of the newly independent Russian Federation that claimed independence. (The other one was Tatarstan.) But world leaders were by then quite fed up with the discovery that all those union republics that they had for decades regarded simply as administrative units of Russia — Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan and others, still harder to pronounce — appeared to be real things. The West’s shock at this new geography meant that independent Ichkeria had not the slimmest chance of recognition.

The Russian leader will likely be watching rising opposition to Biden’s involvement in the war among conservatives in the US. The future of Ukraine was not an issue for the Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis if he was to win the White House.

“Biden in [Kyiv]. Demonstrative humiliation of Russia,” Russian journalist Sergey Mardan wrote in a snarky response on his Telegram channel. Children may be left with the tales of miraculous hypersonics. Just like spells about the holy war we are waging with the entire West.”

Biden may have escaped unharmed if he had visited the frontlines of eastern Ukraine, claimed a Russian military veteran and former security service officer.

“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.

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

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.

“We said, ‘What about cruise missiles?'” Arestovych recalled. “He said he would stay here.” Arestovych said that he raised the possibility of Russian saboteurs and assassins. He said Zelenskyy refused again.

Zelenskyy was the one who people wondered if he would flee. Daria Kaleniuk, who runs the Anti-Corruption Action Center, a public watchdog group, pointed out that Zelenskyy had downplayed the threat of war and seemed unprepared. That he stood his ground in Kyiv, she says, “honestly, it was a surprise for me.”

It’s about an earnest high school history teacher who rails against Ukraine’s corruption and corrosive politics. When a student captures the rant on video and posts it on social media, Zelenskyy’s character becomes a sensation and is swept into office.

Zelenskyy was a sensation in real life, and won the election with over 75% of the vote. He named his political party Servant of the People.

Zelenskyy had pledged to end the war with Russia and to boost the economy during the campaign. He didn’t govern as well as he could have.

The decision to stay in Kyiv quickly turned people’s opinion around. By August, about 90% of Ukrainians said they approved of his job performance. The character actor understood what the Ukrainian people needed in a time of crisis.

Zelenskyy rallied international support. Six days into the invasion, he addressed the European parliament by video and brought the English interpreter to tears.

He quoted another wartime leader, President Franklin Roosevelt, in December, and received a huge round of applause.

There is too much information today about a full-scale war, said the president while standing in the middle of the street.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, and what she did in the Kherson region during the 2014-2019 war

Chornovol served in Ukraine’s parliament from 2014 to 2019. Later, she joined the military. I met her in the Kherson region in October where she was working to shoot missiles at Russian armor.

The Ukrainian army left the route north of Kyiv open to attack before the war even started, according to Chornovol.

“What was done was simply criminal,” said Chornovol, who proudly showed me her missile launcher which was camouflaged with Astroturf. “There was no preparation for the invasion. Kyiv was not protected in any way.

Jack Watling, senior researcher in land warfare at Royal United Services Institute in London, says that a brigade and half of troops were to be deployed to the area but weren’t. Ukrainian officers said higher-ups in the south were vulnerable to a Russian attack.

parliamentarians are careful not to attack each other due to the war in Ukraine. But Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a Ukrainian lawmaker with the opposition European Solidarity party, says she and others will be asking tough questions about what happened in the south as soon as — she says — Ukraine defeats Russia.

People blame the SBU for the loss of the region. In July, Zelenskyy fired the head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, a longtime friend who had no security experience.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/20/1158150926/volodymyr-zelenskyy-president-ukraine-russia-war

The President is a good one during war, but what is the most important thing he does? Alina Fialko-Smal, the late pop. Zelenskyy

She says the president is a good one during war. “He’s not a very good president during a non-war period. He has weakness in that he trusts people and is not tolerant of different opinions.

Alina Fialko-Smal was an actor there at the time. She says Zelenskyy used to watch her troupe perform and sought advice on becoming a dramatic actor. Zelenskyy is under the age of 6.

Zelenskyy studied law at Kryvyi Rih Economic Institute, where his father is a renowned educator. Natalya Voloshanyuk, a finance professor, recalls Volodymyr as clever, funny and self-confident.

He replied that one day he would be proud that he taught him, after he was told he should be proud that he was studying at this university.

The Soviet Union collapsed because of anarchy, according to Yermolenko. I think Zelenskyy’s one of those people. Some people think that there’s nothing you can’t do and you can create anything.

People really identify with him, or he identifies himself with the people. And I think this is the most important thing.”

Joe Biden in Poland: How long will he be with Putin? The anniversary of the Kremlin invasion marks the 14th year of his presidency

The contents of a speech by President Joe Biden from the Royal Castle courtyard in Poland were mostly overshadowed by what he said about Russian President Putin at the end.

The anniversary of a war that has put Biden directly at odds with the Russian leader will be marked by the vice president at the Royal Castle this week.

Yet this week’s carefully planned choreography is striking nonetheless in its overt pitting of Biden against his counterpart in the Kremlin. On Tuesday, each will give important speeches to mark one year since Russia launched its invasion.

EU nations will announce new sanctions against Russia and Biden will reveal another security assistance package in addition to the tens of billions already committed this year.

The White House said before Biden’s visit that he would talk to other leaders by phone, such as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the president of France.

Freedom is priceless. It’s worth fighting for, for as long as it takes. Biden told Zelensky how long he would be with him in Kyiv on Monday.

Yet Biden – nor any other Western leader – has not been able to say exactly how long that will be, making this week as much about the year ahead as it is about the past 12 months.

The war has left an indelible mark on nearly all aspects of Biden’s presidency and he has left his mark on the war, from the billions of dollars in arms shipments to the newly invigorated Western alliance. It has caused problems in the global economy and created political problems at home while still allowing Biden to demonstrate his claim that America is back.

As Russian troops massed along the border with Ukraine, there were plenty of people within the Biden administration who predicted Kyiv would fall in a matter of days.

“I think it is wise to be prepared for a long war,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will visit Biden at the White House early next month, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Friday.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/21/politics/joe-biden-poland-trip/index.html

Predictions for Security and Security of the Middle East from a Cold War on the First Day of the Second World War (with an Emphasis on Ukraine)

But it remains unclear what parameters Zelensky might be willing to accept in any peace negotiations, and the US has steadfastly refused to define what a settlement may look like beyond stating it will be up to Zelensky to decide.

Meanwhile, new concerns about the available supplies of ammunition and weapons have emerged in the past week, a clear indication the West cannot provide unlimited support forever – neither logistically nor politically – as evidenced by polls showing support for the war effort waning.

“I do have to say that there is a concern, both in Poland and in Ukraine, about the staying power of the US beyond this administration. The managing director of Warsaw of the German Marshall Fund said the war would look different without support from the US.

“The fact is that we are fighting with time, right?” Baranowski said. It’s whether time is on Russia’s side, who is losing, but having lots of resources to work with in the West. That gives me pause. I hope we have the staying power.

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.

In an indication of the massive number of refugees Poland has absorbed since the start of the war, his remarks will be translated into both Polish and Ukrainian.

Kirby, Zelensky, and Perry: The U.S. President to Ukraine for the First Time since the Russian Invasion

John Kirby said the president would send out a message to people all around the world.

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.

Recall that in the early days of the invasion, Ukraine said it found Russian forces had brought along their dress uniforms apparently expecting a victory parade.

Biden is 80 and walks with a stiff gait. He has no shortage of competence, despite the fact that air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv while Biden was there.

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? Even though he was scared of Biden, Trump tried to push through an investigation against the candidate, despite the fact that he was weak.

Zelensky said the visit will have repercussions on the battlefield in liberated territories and brought us closer to victory.

Biden got criticized by some GOP members for going to a foreign country. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called the trip “incredibly insulting,” a sign of an “America Last” policy. And Rep. Scott Perry — at the center of a legal dispute with the Justice Department over his cell phone in the special counsel’s January 6 probe — described as “breathtaking” that Biden would help Ukraine defend its borders and not do the same for America.

The End of the Cold War: When Putin and his Governments are Trying to Make China Great Again (The New York Times reports on CNN)

Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.” Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely her own. View more opinion on CNN.

For Americans who came of age after the end of the Cold War, this renewed threat of nuclear annihilation is both new and terrifying; for those who lived through the original Cold War, this is no doubt a hair-raising reboot.

Biden is correct that this is a battle between freedom and oppression. It’s worth nothing, though, that Putin’s emphasis on cultural and gender warfare is also correct, in its own way.

He is of course lying and fear-mongering when he fulminates about same-sex marriage or the prospect of a gender-neutral God and when he says that the West seeks “the destruction of the family, cultural and national identity, perversion and the abuse of children are declared the norm.” There is a clear historical and contemporary relationship between conservatism and liberalism on the one hand and democracy and liberal tolerance on the other.

It is not a requirement for autocracy to have conservative religiosity, just as it was not a requirement for Russian autocracy. And the autocrats in Beijing, who are expanding their own nuclear arsenals and toying with lending material support to Russia, are not exactly bringing conservative Christian principles to China.

But they are embracing traditionalism, hypermasculinity and a backward-looking national identity. Among analysists of global authoritarians, a familiar refrain has emerged: Make [x country] Great job again. Evan Osnos writes about how the leader of China is trying to make the country great again. “Putin set out to ‘Make Russia Great Again,’” Gen. David Petraeus told CNN earlier this month. And, of course, we all know the American version.

It is alarming to know that a number of right-wing Americans believe Putin thinks the West is a corrupt place; they are comfortable bringing in a strongman to reestablish the traditional order.

The most salient divide is not between East and West; it’s between those who want pluralistic liberal democracies that allow people to live freely no matter what their religious beliefs, sexual orientations and aspirations – and those who prefer autocratic strongmen who use the law to impose conservative, traditional values whether people like it or not.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/21/opinions/vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-one-year-filipovic/index.html

Donald Trump and the Ukraine Crisis: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: A Step on the Road to a Democractic Republic

Donald Trump heaped praise on Putin when he was president, elevating the dictator’s status among Trump conservatives. The Republicans in the US have a better view of Putin than they do of Biden, Pelosi, Harris and the Democrats.

Tucker Carlson is on Fox News and he has spouted pro-Putin propaganda. Newly-elected Sen. JD Vance of Ohio has said, “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another,” while former Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro has declared Ukraine “not really a country,” and former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has praised Putin by saying, “I have enormous respect for him.”

Meanwhile, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed that “NATO has been supplying the neo-Nazis in Ukraine with powerful weapons and extensive training on how to use them.”

Putin has made Russia the leading light for Christian nationalists around the world. And many Christian nationalists, including in the United States, have gotten in line.

This isn’t a divide between Russia and the US. It’s a divide within Russia itself, as the nation’s feminists, LGBTQ rights advocates, and democracy activists continue to push (often at great personal risk) for a freer and fairer country. There is a divide within the US between those who want liberal democracy to thrive and those who want its rule to rule us all.

Ukraine has made many steps on a democratic path that began during this revolution. Government was decentralized to give more rights to local communities. Anti-corruption legislation was adopted by parliament. Judicial reform was made possible by the changes to our Constitution. We were on the right track and there are a lot of things that need to be done.

The World Is Going Through a Flood: The Ukranian Analogies to the Crimes of April 14, 2014, when President Vladimir Putin met with Vladimir Putin

My organization, the Center for Civil Liberties, has been documenting abductions, illegal detentions, rapes, tortures and extra-judicial killings in the occupied territories since 2014. But since February last year, that river of horrors has turned into a flood.

Over this past year, the emotions I have experienced have evolved. I still feel anger over the death and destruction in Ukranian. I have experienced a tide of love as well.

I found that we could still rely on people, despite the fact that the international order protects us and the laws of war protect civilians.

This spirit existed in Maidan Square during the protests of the year. Those protests kept on, despite the police beatings, and then the killings, because we believed in something better. And it came.

This love is extended even further to the vision of a future Ukraine where human rights are respected. Maybe we don’t need the Center for Civil Liberties anymore to fight for them. There is a vision of the world where the spirit of shared humanity prevails.

Putin welcomed Wang to Moscow and told him the relationship with Beijing was going to be a lot better.

Wang told Putin that the two nations often face “crisis and chaos, but there are always opportunities in a crisis and the latter could possibly turn into the former.”

China, which has its own economic problems, may be unwilling to risk US sanctions that could result from sending arms to Moscow. Beijing might be interested in prolonging the war because it believes that the US and its military resources will distract from Biden’s efforts to respond to China.

And this new and complicated foreign policy picture is not just a problem for American diplomats. Rising challenges abroad as well, as the depletion of US and Western weapons stocks as arms are sent to Ukraine, pose questions about military capacity and whether current defense spending is sufficient. The key Republicans accused Biden of snubbing voters facing economic problems, even as he tried to position Democrats as the protectors of working Americans as the 2024 campaign began.

And Biden vowed, “President Putin’s craven lust for land and power will fail, and the Ukrainian people’s love for their country will prevail,” he added.

The Biden trip demonstrated how the estrangement between the US and Russia will shape global politics for a long time.

Putin, for example, announced Tuesday that Russia would suspend participation in the New START nuclear treaty with the United States. It was not clear what practical impact this would have since Moscow has stopped fully implementing the deal.

Any time the top two nuclear powers are not talking is dangerous — one reason why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday Washington was willing to discuss the nuclear situation with Russia no matter what else was going on.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that such a step would cross a US red line but did not specify what consequences could result.

A long-dragging conflict could also drive divides between the US and Europe – further playing into China’s foreign policy goals. And it could further incite political dissent in Washington, weakening Biden’s capacity to fulfill his foreign policy goals on the global stage.

There are many reasons why China is not in a rush to see the war in Ukraine end, even though it has seen the war through its rivalry with the US.

Newlyweds who separated in the middle of their vows to make it easier for the groom to go back to the front were tales I would never forget. A tax preparer in Boston who quit her job to return to Ukraine with suitcases full of medical supplies. The wife of a border guard who made the three-hour round trip from Lviv to the Polish border almost daily to drop off fleeing women and children and pick up weapons and supplies.

How sad that human beings survived deadly waves of Covid only to get right back into the business-as-usual of killing one other. It’s senseless to spend tens of billions of dollars on missiles, tanks and other aid, when more needs to be done to help communities adapt to rising oceans and drying rivers. It’s lunacy that farmers in a breadbasket of the world have gone hungry hiding in bomb shelters. It is crazy that Vladimir Putin thought that Ukrainians should be part of his own people when he sent his army into the country.

Governments gussy up war. They say that victory gives soldiers hope and will to fight. But in the end, war is death in a muddy foxhole. There is a frozen field with no strategic value. It’s a generational grudge that begets new generational grudges. It took 888-276-5932 888-276-5932 888-276-5932s to lay the over 700 mile line across the Baltic Sea. Some of the largest steel plants in Europe can’t make a single metal sheet. It has been emptied of it’s charm by bombings and siege.