Kiev and the U.S. Counteroffensive: Kiev’s Cold War and Russia’s Unpopularity with the Kremlin

KYIV, Ukraine — After being encircled by Ukrainian forces, Russia pulled troops out Saturday from an eastern Ukrainian city that it had been using as a front-line hub. The victory is the result of the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has humiliated and angered the Kremlin.

Russia’s vilified declaration that it had annexed four regions of Ukraine was complicated by Russia’s withdrawal from Lyman. Taking the city paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push further into land that Moscow now illegally claims as its own.

Putin seeks to break what has been an indomitable will to resist. At the same time, the US House of Representatives, which has been reliably supportive of Biden’s campaign to support Ukraine, is about to change hands. Some Republicans, such as Kevin McCarthy, the likely new Speaker of the House, have expressed some reluctance to continue large-scale support for Kyiv, with McCarthy saying he wouldn’t automatically support the Biden administration’s requests for more aid. And that is happening just as Putin is believed to be planning a renewed offensive. Putin, who rules over a much larger, wealthier country, apparently still believes he can win.

Ukrainian forces have retaken vast swaths of territory in a counteroffensive that started in September. They have pushed Russian forces out of the Kharkiv area and moved east across the Oskil River.

Ramzan Kadyrov blamed the retreat on one general who he said was covered up for by higher-ups in the General Staff. He called for “more drastic measures.”

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

Russian bombardments have intensified in recent days as Moscow moved swiftly with its latest annexation and ordered a mass mobilization at home to bolster its forces. The Russians were so unpopular at home that tens of thousands of them left the country.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his military are determined to liberate the areas that Putin claims to have annexed.

A Russian assault on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the Kharkiv district of Ukraine, according to a U.N. official

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 24 civilians were killed in an attack this week on a convoy trying to flee the Kupiansk district. He felt that it couldn’t be justified. He said 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead.

The Security Service of Ukraine, the secret police force known by the acronym SBU, posted photographs of the attacked convoy. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. Another vehicle at the front of the convoy also had been ablaze. Bodies lay on the side of the road or still inside vehicles, which appeared pockmarked with bullet holes.

Starting in October, Russian forces began launching barrages of cruise and ballistic missiles, ground-to-air rockets and loitering munitions, laying waste to energy facilities and other infrastructure on a scale not seen since the start of the war — a significant gear-change in an already grisly fight. The relentless assault on the power grid deprived millions across the country of electricity, heat, water and other essential services as temperatures dropped. According to figures from the OHCHR, it has left 116 civilians dead and 393 injured.

The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog is expected to visit the Ukranian capital this week and discuss the situation after Putin signed a decree stating that Russia would take control of the six-reactor plant. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called it a criminal act and said it considered Putin’s decree “null and void.” According to the operator, the plant will continue to operate.

For months, the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned of another potential nuclear disaster brewing in southern Ukraine, at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which Russia has occupied since March. Russia andUkraine have traded blame for shelling that has repeatedly hit the structures around the site, even as IAEA personnel are stationed there.

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

The old days when a strong country can invade and swallow their neighbors are not going to come back, thanks to a victory by Ukraine. Everyone would be affected by Ukraine’s loss. This is clearly not just their war.

Russian attacks in Ukraine: Secretary General of the Interior Ministry, Defense Minister, Interior Minister, President Biden, Secretary of State, Foreign Minister, Transport Minister Sergei Igorenko, secretary of state, Andreev Uzbe

The bill that President Biden signed Friday provides billions of dollars in military and economic aid to the war-weary people of Ukraine.

The prosecutor general’s office of Ukraine has documented 240 Russian attacks on the country’s energy facilities from the start of the full-scale invasion until the end of January. In the month of February, there have been 15 attacks on the power grid. The data obtained by the office shows that strikes on infrastructure were carried out in 24 ofUkraine’s 27 administrative regions.

The governor stated that a girl was taken to a hospital for treatment after being pulled from the multi-story buildings.

The risk of storming the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains high, despite the fact thatUkrainians have concentrated significant number of militant in Zaporizhzhia direction.

Grossi said that he would travel to the Russian Federation and then return to the Ukrainian capital to agree with a nuclear safety zone around the plant. This is an absolute and urgent imperative.”

While leaders from more than 40 countries are meeting in the Czech Republic on Thursday to launch a European Political Community which aims at boosting security and prosperity across the planet, the Kremlin held the door open for further land grabs in Ukranian.

Peskov did not specify which additional Ukrainian territories Moscow is eyeing, and he wouldn’t say if the Kremlin planned to organize more of the “referendums” in Ukraine that the Ukrainian government and the West have dismissed as illegitimate.

The borders of the areas Moscow is saying are theirs remain unclear, while Putin promises to defend them with his military’s use of nuclear weapons.

The Ukrainian military said on Wednesday that the flag of the country had been raised over the villages that were previously occupied by the Russians. The closest of the liberated villages to the city of Kherson is Davydiv Brid, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.

The deputy head of the Ukrainian regional government said Russian military medics lacked supplies and military hospitals were full of wounded Russian soldiers. Russian soldiers are being dispatched to the peninsula of Crimea after they are stable.

The bodies of their men were left behind by Russian troops when they retreated so quickly from the city of Lyman over the weekend. There were people lying by the road leading into the city.

Lyman sustained heavy damage both during the occupation and as Ukrainian soldiers fought to retake it. Mykola was one of about 100 people who lined up for aid on Wednesday.

Vladimir Zelensky: “We Don’t Wanna Seek the Light of the War,” he told the Ukrainian parliament in Enerhodar

“We want the war to come to an end, the pharmacy and shops and hospitals to start working as they used to,” he said. We don’t have anything yet. Everything is destroyed and pillaged.

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

“The resumption of shelling, hitting the plant’s sole source of external power, is tremendously irresponsible. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant must be protected,” Grossi said on Saturday.

The shelling is “terrible,” International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said in a press release.

The plant can be put back into operation according to Vladimir Rogov, a Russian official in the Zaporizhzhia government.

In the city of Enerhodar, which lies near a nuclear power plant, crews restored power and cellular connection, which is currently under Russian control.

In a telegram post on Sunday, Rogov stated that water supply would be restored in the near future.

Orlov said “the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly tried to deliver humanitarian supplies with food, hygiene products and so on to the city,” adding that Ukraine is “ready to organize prompt delivery and distribution of drinking water in Enerhodar” but that Russian forces have not let humanitarian aid through.

Russian authorities appeared to be preparing the public for a possible retreat from parts of the Kherson region, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a research group based in Washington. American officials said last month that Russian commanders had recommended retreating across the Dnipro, but that President Vladimir V. Putin had refused to allow it.

A British intelligence report said there was evidence that the Russian authorities were looking into withdrawing from the western bank of the Dnipro.

The Ukrainian military warned on Thursday of a new offensive from that direction, following Russia’s increasing military presence in Belarus, north of Ukraine. Russia invaded the country on February 24th and sent troops from Belarus to capture Kyiv. However, the offensive failed and the Russians withdrew.

There were confused reports on Thursday about the status of another site under Russian occupation, the town of Enerhodar, next to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on the east bank of the Dnipro. Ukrainian officials said that Russian forces were leaving, but The Times could not confirm that, nor was it clear whether such a departure would indicate withdrawal or simply a routine rotation of troops.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Friday was “a historic day” for Ukraine after Russia announced its withdrawal from the west bank of the Kherson region.

The Ukrainian president spoke in a gravelly voice, trying to convince the American people and their leaders to stick with his country. The battles of American soldiers against the Nazis were fought during the second World War. Ukrainians will celebrate Christmas by candles rather than flowers, as Russian attacks have left much of the country without power, heat or running water. He doesn’t complain or compare who has it harder. Ukraine just wants to receive the support it needs to continue the fight until victory.

He came to tell Americans “Thank you.” And he said it over and over. “I hope my words of respect and gratitude resonate in each American heart.” But that was only the first part of his message to the country that has supplied the weapons that have helped enable Ukraine to push back against a much bigger enemy: Zelensky came to explain why this is not just Ukraine’s fight.

He said that stabilization measures would be instituted due to the threat of mines. The occupiers left a lot of bombs at vital facilities. He said that they would be clearing them.

Our defenders are followed by a number of people. Medicine, communications, social services are returning. … Life is returning,” he said.

Vladimir Putin meets with the army in Snihurivka, Ukraine: Attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and the destruction of Donetsk

Officials on Friday told displaced residents to stay out of the newly retaken areas of Kherson because it is too dangerous.

The head of the military administration of Mykolaiv traveled to the small city of Snihurivka Friday to talk about the life in the liberated territories of the region.

Kim warns local residents to be careful despite the fact that the relevant services have already started moving mines in liberated territories.

President Vladimir Putin made rare public comments specifically addressing the Russian military’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure Thursday, while clutching a glass of champagne at a Kremlin reception.

He went on to list a series of events he blames on the Ukrainians: “Who hit the Crimean bridge? Who caused the power lines to go down at the Kursk nuclear power plant?

Russian President Vladimir Putin framed the assault as payback for the October 8 blast that caused damage to the bridge, a key supply route. In the past the Kremlin intended to use its strikes on the energy infrastructure in Ukraine to force President Zelensky to negotiate. The Kremlin denied that the strikes were directed at civilians, but said that the strike could be ended by meeting Moscow’s demands. On state media, propagandists praised the strikes for leaving civilians to live in dire conditions, and one suggested that ordinary Ukrainians should freeze and rot.

Last week Putin appeared on the Kerch Bridge, where he was shown repairs and drove a car across the structure that he himself officially opened in 2018.

He ended his apparently off-the-cuff comments by claiming that people seem to refrain from mentioning that water has been cut off from Donetsk. No one has said anything about it. At all! Complete silence.”

The Russian leader compared the difference in reaction to Russia and attacks on Ukraine to noise and clamor and said to do something about it.

He concluded the speech by adding that “it won’t interfere with our combat missions,” before raising a toast to the listening soldiers and sipping from his champagne glass.

Ukrenergo condemned by the Kiev prosecutor-general for genocide, and many other attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine during the winter months

Temperatures in Ukraine during the winter months typically range between 23 and 36 degrees Fahrenheit (-4.8 C and 2 C), and regularly plunge to -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-21.6 C). Life has been hard for people in the country’s east, who have been without electricity for months.

In a statement in November, Ukrenergo acknowledged that the race to restore power to homes is being hampered by “strong winds, rain and sub-zero temperatures.”

The attacks on the energy grid are considered to be genocide by a top Ukrainian official. The prosecutor-general of Ukraine made comments to the BBC last month.

In his nightly address on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine had shot down 10 of the 15 drones that Russian forces used. It was not possible to verify his tally immediately.

Nonetheless, he said, the strikes, using Iranian drones, had left many in the dark. The situation in the Odesa region was very difficult, according to Mr. Zelensky. Repairs would take days, not hours, to restore power to civilians.

He said that the power system is in a bad situation and urged people to use less power.

There are attacks on civilian infrastructure in our country. Residential buildings, a hotel and a shop were damaged. There are people dead and injured.

The Soviet Union’s Chernobyl Disaster and the United Ukrainian Environmental Concern: The Story of Arkadiyivna and the emergence of Green World

On April 26, 1986, Arkadiyivna’s worst fears about the reactor’s safety came to fruition. A cloud of radiation was released across Europe after one of the reactors blew up.

After many years of providing power to big Russian cities, the USSR was ready to expand the use of atomic energy to other Soviet republics. The propaganda of the Soviet Union promised cleaner air.

She heard from friends and relatives who worked at the Chernobyl plant that authorities would cut corners and pump up power production for the USSR to export to other Eastern bloc countries.

It was looked like a kind of desert. As far as nuclear power was concerned, Ukrainians were not trusted to run it themselves,” says David Marples, a historian at Canada’s University of Alberta and author of multiple books about the Chernobyl disaster.

“Before Chernobyl, I didn’t understand why we needed to be independent. I was aware that we are no less deserving of dignity than Russians.

Soon other environmental scientists joined with the dissidents, and established an organization called Green World. The group pushing for Ukrainian independence was allowed by the Soviet government, but behind closed doors.

“Democracy is the only way to protect the environment because everyone has to be involved in protecting the things that affect everyone,” says Samoilenko.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/11/1138382531/ukraine-fears-nuclear-disaster-zaporizhzhia-chernobyl-memories

A Former Mayor’s Tale of Two Cities: Victim of the Russian Occupation of a Nuclear Power Plant in Kupovate

Sophia Arkadiyivna is now retired as mayor of her hometown of Kupovate. The village was no longer on the map in 1999. That’s because it’s in the 60-mile-wide “exclusion zone,” which was deemed too dangerous for the public after the Chernobyl disaster.

But after she retired from her other job as a school teacher, she returned, despite the environmental risks. The government turns a blind eye to pensioners like her who opted to return to their abandoned houses. She spends most days now alone, tending to her garden, her main source of sustenance.

She speaks Ukrainian, with a few Belarusian words peppered in. This village is closer to the border with Belarus — just 10 miles to the east — than to the former Chernobyl plant. She believed that there wasn’t a lot of difference between Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians.

She yelled at them to not steal, not kill, don’t bother anyone, live in a righteous manner, and help people.

Hundreds of other retirees like her lived through the Russian occupation of the exclusion zone in March, as did thousands of Ukrainian officials and workers who continue to maintain the vital power infrastructure that passes through the zone.

Oleksandr said the Russians stole radios, tires, batteries, and alternators from his fleet of vehicles. Many had smashed windows or bullet holes in the doors.

A group of people are cleaning up after a Russian occupation, instead of doing necessary work around the zone. Having survived the month-long occupation, though, they can hardly imagine the stress that people working at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are under.

Serhiy Biruk, a top official in the Ukrainian agency that runs the exclusion zone, is very scared. He was involved in the Chernobyl Cleanup for 37 years.

After Russia forcibly annexed the territory in September, Ukraine’s power utility says occupation officials forced Ukrainian nuclear workers to sign new contracts acknowledging Russia’s control over the power plant.

She says that the energy system was meant to function with Russia and other countries. Anna said that nuclear energy is centralized because of its nature.

Ackermann says people want their energy production to be even more local. They are looking at the lifestyles of people like Arkadiyivna, who rely on off- grid utilities to survive.

Ukraine’s armed forces are hitting deep in the Russian territory: Moscow’s October 23rd annexation of Donetsk

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine is striking more boldly at targets deep in Russian territory because Kyiv has assessed that Moscow’s military is fighting at the limits of its conventional capabilities, former military officials and analysts say.

One Ukrainian region that Moscow attempted to annex in October is Donetsk, which was held by Russian-backed rebels for eight years.

The Russian-appointed mayor of the city, Aleksey Kulemzin, stated on Telegram that the Ukrainians launched a massive strike in the early hours of Monday.

He said that there were 40 rockets fired at civilians in the city.

The regional head of the Kherson military administration said that the city was hit 86 times in the past 24 hours.

“One of (the victims) was a volunteer, 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 regional head of the Kherson military administration said that the strikes left the city completely disconnected from power supplies.

The enemy hit the 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.

The United States gave machinery and generators to the west of Kyiv, in order to help build the city’s power infrastructure.

The Energy Security Project, a program of the US Agency for International Development, has delivered more than 130 generators. There was no charge for the equipment.

Zelensky in Washington: The First International War in the United States and the U.S., with a View through the Lens of CNN

Zelensky was in Washington 300 days after the beginning of the Russia invasion. During his first international trip since the war began, he was able to take advantage of several factors that could counteract the incredible, ferocious resistance by the Ukrainian people with support from the United States and NATO allies.

The reality that has developed over the course of this time needs 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.

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

Zelensky spoke to US lawmakers by video in March. “We need you right now,” he said at the time, early in the conflict, when he compared daily Russian strikes on Ukraine to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, attacks that shocked the United States.

In Paris at the time, I witnessed how Zelensky pulled up to the Élysée Palace in a modest Renault, while Putin motored in with an ostentatious armored limousine. (The host, French President Emmanuel Macron, hugged Putin but chose only to shake hands with Zelensky).

Zelensky was at a high in popularity ratings during the first days of his administration, but deteriorated quickly in the days leading up to Russia’s invasion.

The Western backers could be worried if the progress on the battlefield isn’t demonstrated with billions of dollars of military kit. capitulation to Russia would be a political death sentence.

Zelensky, the think, was a scrappy kid who knew what he could do during a campaign for a war

Zelensky’s upbringing in the rough and tumble neighborhoods of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine shaped him into a scrappy kid who learned how to respond to bullies.

He knew what he needed to do after he got into a situation of being bullied by Putin, according to the former political journalist and founder of the think.

The leader when offered a ride from the US when Russia launched its invasion quipped: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

In a different location, a campaign celebration for Zelensky took place in a nightclub, where he thanked his supporters for an easy victory. The man stood on the stage with the confetti and looked in disbelief at having defeated Petro Poroshenko.

Zelenskyy admitted in a later interview with the Washington Post he knew an invasion was on the way. He said he didn’t tell the Ukrainian people so they wouldn’t go crazy.

His bubble includes many people from his previous professional life as a TV comedian in the theatrical group Kvartal 95. Even in the midst of the war, a press conference held on the platform of a Kyiv metro station in April featured perfect lighting and curated camera angles to emphasize a wartime setting.

I remember well how comforting his nightly televised addresses were during the air raid sirens and explosions in Lviv, when he was comforter in chief.

The Rise and Fall of the American Revolution: The Social Work of Vanessa Zelensky at the White House Fashion Show and the Politics of American Style

“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 she’s an effective communicators when she goes to where her husband can’t. 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. TIME magazine did not include Zelenska on the cover, only giving a passing reference in the supporting text.

There are signs that the international influence of Zelensky could be waning. Zelensky had argued that the $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude should have been set at $30 in order to hurt the Kremlin more.

Putin thought the war would be over quickly because the spectacle of Zelensky was celebrated in the heart of American power.

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, Wesley Clark said that Zelensky’s trip reflects a critical moment when the destiny of a war that Ukraine cannot win without upgraded US support could be decided before Russia can regroup.

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.”

Zelensky faced President Donald Trump years ago, who called for him to investigate Biden in exchange for military aid. And now Zelensky was thanking Americans for their help against Russia in the very chamber where Trump was impeached three years ago for pressuring Zelensky.

The historian Doris Kearns Goodwin compared Zelensky’s address to one given by Winston Churchill on Boxing Day in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

His visit is unfolding amid extraordinary security. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wouldn’t even confirm the early reports that she’d welcome Zelensky to the US Capitol in an unexpected coda to her speakership, saying on Tuesday evening, “We don’t know yet. We don’t know.

Zelensky was coming to Washington on a specific mission according to Ruben Gallego, who visitedUkraine earlier this month. He is trying to draw a correlation between our support and survival and future victory of Ukrainians, said a member of the committee.

The decision on Patriots, which would satisfy a long-standing Ukrainian request, reflects a US process of matching its aid to the shifting strategy of Russia’s assault. Russia has mounted an effective attempt to break the will of Ukrainian civilians in order to counter the missile attacks that they have launched on cities and electricity installations.

With the Republicans poised to take over the House majority in the new year, the debate on Capitol Hill over the aid to Ukraine will be important. Some pro-Donald Trump members, who will have significant leverage in the thin GOP majority, have warned that billions of dollars in US cash that have been sent to Ukraine should instead be shoring up the US southern border with a surge of new migrants expected within days.

Kevin McCarthy knows that he has to stand up to his right flank if he is going to be the next speaker. The changing political dynamic between the GOP in the Senate and the Democrats inUkraine appears to inform Kremlin views of how long the US will continue to fight in the conflict that may well decide Putin’s political survival.

Zelensky’s “I have a Dream Speech” and the 1941 December 22 Meeting of the British Prime Minister to the White House

Zelensky used both Mount Rushmore and “I have a Dream Speech” during a virtual address to Congress in March. The fear of aerial bombardment that Americans experienced in modern history was referred to as two days of infamy.

On December 22, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt met the British leader on the plane that he took from the Virginia coast to Washington, where they held a press conference.

Over the course of days of meetings and brainstorming, the two rulers plotted the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, and laid the foundation of the Western.

Churchill, who had pined for US involvement in World War II for months and knew it was the key to defeating Adolf Hitler, said during his visit, “I spend this anniversary and festival far from my country, far from my family, and yet I cannot truthfully say that I feel far from home.”

The Ukrainian leader is likely to appreciate the historical parallels. He told a group of British parliament members that they should remember one of the most famous speeches of the war.

Former CNN producer and correspondent Frida Ghitis is now 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. Her views in this commentary are her own. CNN has more opinion on it.

The Battle of Bakhmut with the United States: Volodymyr Zelensky, Jr., Arrived at the White House Wednesday Night

Members of the United States Congress, Republicans and Democrats, rose to their feet time and again Wednesday night, nearly drowning out Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in one emotional standing ovation after another. It was an extraordinary evening, concluding an extraordinary day during a crucial moment in history.

Zelensky’s historic trip will be seen by generations as one of the defining conflicts of our time, as it occurred in the battle between democracy and autocracy, which today is the blazing, blood-soaked, shivering front line.

“Your money is not charity,” he assured a Congress about to debate billions more in military and economic support, where skeptical Republicans will soon have more influence. It is an investment in global security and democracy that we handle in a responsible way.

“We really fight for our common victory against this tyranny that is real life,” Zelensky said in a press conference at the White House — “and we will win.”

He said that the soldiers fighting in the battle for Bakhmut asked him to give their battle flag to the U.S. Congress as a gift. Tears were shed in the House.

President Zelensky traveled to the bloody front lines in Ukraine to shore up his supply line, and arrived on the floor of the US House in his signature green military wear.

Zelensky gave a presentation in which he claimed that the defeat of Russia was the result of the battle for minds of the world.

He did notmention the elephant in the room in his speech, but it was clear that he was pleading with the new House Republican majority to stay with Ukraine.

A year-long spending bill that includes emergency help for the Ukraine and NATO allies was to be voted on by congress this week.

Wednesday was perhaps the last possible day Zelensky could have addressed a joint meeting of Congress before Republicans, some of whom are slowly growing tired with the largesse of America’s support for his country, take control of the House next month. The US has provided more than $21 billion in defense assistance in less than a year. That includes $1.8 billion in a new weapons deal announced when Zelensky met President Joe Biden at the White House earlier Wednesday.

The Battle of the Bulge: An American Soldier’s View of the U.S. War on Ukraine, and a Prospect for re-engagement with the West

Anna Kovalchuk, another Kyiv resident, said she was determined not to let the Russians ruin her upcoming celebrations. “I’m more worried that most likely there will be no electricity on New Year’s Eve and the holiday will have to be spent in the dark. She told CNN that she stocked up on garlands, power banks and other items so the power would go out but not stop her.

The Battle of the Bulge took place during World War II when US troops were surrounded in the snow on D-Day, and he mentioned it Wednesday.

Zelensky compared Ukrainian soldiers to the brave American soldiers who fought back Hitler’s forces during the Christmas of 1944, and they are doing the same to Putin’s forces.

“He’s already established in the American people’s mind we’re in this together, but then pointing out that they’ll do the fighting for us – ‘just give us the tools and we will finish the job.’ That’s what Churchill said,” Kearns Goodwin told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Wednesday evening.

This is not the first time Russia has accused Western nations of turning the conflict into a proxy war by supplying Ukraine with weapons. Iran has acknowledged providing drones to Russia.

A foreign president speaking to the Congress is a must if they are going to speak to the other side of the world. It’s in contrast to Vladimir Putin, who canceled his annual year-end press conference.

Biden and Zelensky stood side by side at the White House to make sure that Putin couldn’t succeed.

Zelensky and Biden agree that this is the best time for re-engagement with the US public as the war inrussia drags on with no sign of an end in sight.

Petraeus noted that the new money pledged by the White House and a larger spending bill would be important in helping to bridge the gap between Israel and Palestine.

The United States announced a $2 billion dollar security package to Ukraine, which includes new funding for contracts including HIMARS rockets, 155-millimeter artillery ammunition, drones, counter-drone equipment, mine-clearing equipment and secure communications equipment.

Zelensky meets the U.S. Congressman Kevin McCarthy, Vladimir McCarthy, and Russian History Professor V.V. Zagorodnyuk

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who wants to be House speaker and needs votes from Ukraine-skeptical Republicans to get there next month, did meet with Zelensky and the other three top congressional leaders.

According to recent polling, the majority of Americans are behind the US still supporting Ukraine, however, the share who think the US should support the country for as long as it takes has dropped 10 percentage points since the summer. Some Republicans support indefinite support in the survey.

Victoria Spartz, the only Ukrainian member of Congress, is skeptical about some of the aid to Ukraine and is concerned about the Zelensky administration.

The desire to reduce Moscow’s missile prowess at home outweighs the concern of any escalatory concerns in Ukraine, since the sense among officials and civilians is that Russia cannot do much more in the foreseeable future.

He said there had been no calls for peace or signs of willingness to “listen to Russia’s concerns” during Zelenskyy’s visit, which he said proves that the U.S. is fighting a proxy war with Russia “to the last Ukrainian,” Reuters reports.

The Russians are buying that line largely because the Kremlin has been selling it to them, says a Russian history professor.

He tells NPR that the majority of Russians see the conflict as a struggle between Russia and the West in which Ukranian people are pawns.

Last week Moscow warned that the reported delivery of a missile to Ukraine was “yet another provocation by the U.S.”, and might lead to a Russian attack.

But the attacks, which remain sensitive enough that the Ukrainian government has not publicly acknowledged them, have forced Russia to move planes, potentially complicating Moscow’s campaign of aiming cruise missile strikes at Ukraine’s energy grid.

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

“If somebody attacks you, you fight back,” Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defense minister who now advises President Volodomyr Zelensky, said in an interview earlier this month, after the first Ukrainian long-range strike on Russian military targets hit Engels and another airfield in central Russia.

Serhiy Hrabskiy, a retired colonel and commentator on the war for Ukrainian news media, said that Ukraine’s military has not hesitated to hit airfields, fuel tanks and ammunition depots that are legitimate military targets. Targeting sites in Crimea and cross-border artillery duels have become routine as the war has moved closer to Russia and the occupied peninsula.

The Kinzhal, a hypersonic weapon that is almost impossible to shoot down, is in shorter supply than other missiles, according to Mr. Budanov.

Russian missile attacks on Ukraine in the dark: Three killed and many injured in the latest missile barrage on Ukraine a day before the New Year

At least three people were killed and many were injured in a series of missile attacks on Russia on Thursday, which has been called one of the biggest missile barrages since the war began.

Shmyhal said on Telegram that Moscow intended to ruin the civilian infrastructure by leaving them in the dark for the new year.

Elsewhere in the capital, Halyna Hladka stocked up on water as soon as the sirens sounded and quickly made breakfast for her family so they would have something to eat. After nearly two hours, they heard the sounds of explosions. “It seemed to me that they were really close to our area but it turned out to be air defense,” she told CNN. The new year will go on without any doubt because we will celebrate with the family.

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.” People went to work while parents took their kids to school, while others continued with their holiday plans.

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

In western Ukraine, Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said 90% of the city was without power, cautioning that the city’s waterworks could also to stop working with electricity down.

It is described as Senseless barbarism. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said those were the only words that came to mind watching Moscow launch a fresh wave of attacks on Ukrainian cities ahead of the New Year, adding there could be “no neutrality” in the face of such aggression.

The majority of cruise missiles fired at Ukrainian were shot down by the defense forces, according to preliminary data. The missiles were destroyed by the air defenses of Ukraine.

Russia: What is the War? The Crime against Civilian Areas in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka Directions

“All this war that you are waging, you – Russia, it is not the war with NATO, as your propagandists lie,” Zelensky said. It’s not for something historical at all. It’s for one person to remain in power until the end of his life.

There were three deaths and three other injuries in the Donetsk region, according to the deputy head. On Telegram, a person said “Kyrylo Tymoshenko”.

One person was injured in the Zaporizhzhia region. Two people were dead and one was wounded in the region. Two people were wounded in the Kherson region, while one died in the Chernihiv region.

The enemy carried out 26 air strikes on civilian infrastructure. 10 Shahed-136 RQAs were used by the occupants, but all of them were shot down. The General Staff said in its latest operational update that the enemy launched 80 attacks against civilian settlements.

Russia continues to conduct offensive actions at the Bakhmut directions, as well as improving the tactical situation at the Kupiansk and Avdiivka directions.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/31/europe/russia-ukraine-new-years-eve-strikes-intl/index.html

Is Vladimir Zelenskyy still alive? A real-life reaction of a Ukrainian politician after his february 2022 victory

The life support system of the capital is functioning normally. Currently, 30% of consumers are without electricity. Due to emergency shutdowns,” he said on Telegram.

Klitschko also reported that the restrictions were applied to check the open section of the red metro line in the city “for the presence of remnants of missile debris.”

There is more bright impressions and new emotions that I want to have when I win. I miss it very much. I want to travel around the world. I think about personal and professional growth, because one shouldn’t stand still. Alyona Bogulska said she has to work for the benefit of the country.

A pharmacy employee said that it is a symbol that we survived the year and not a small victory.

Zelenskyy’s turnaround began the morning of Feb. 24, 2022, as Russian soldiers headed toward Kyiv, intent on capturing or killing him. The president made a decision.

“We said, ‘What about cruise missiles?’” Arestovych recalled. “He said, ‘I’ll stay here.’” Arestovych says he raised the specter of Russian saboteurs and assassins. He claims Zelenskyy refused a second time.

People had wondered if Zelenskyy 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. She thinks it was a surprise for her that he stood his ground.

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

As a real-life candidate, Zelenskyy was also a sensation, winning in a landslide with 73% of the vote. He named his political party Servant of the People.

During the campaign, Zelenskyy pledged to end the war with Russia in the east of the country, boost the economy and attack corruption. Many had hoped that he would govern in a way that would benefit them.

But his decision to stay in Kyiv in the early days of the war quickly turned public opinion around. By August, about 90% of Ukrainians said they approved of his job performance. The actor in the character was aware of what the people in Ukraine needed during the 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, Franklin Roosevelt, in December of last year, and the Congress gave a huge round of applause.

Vlasovich Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, and the fate of the eustro-Russian border region

Zelensky met with frontline soldiers, visited a military hospital and saw the impact of Russian shelling. The Cabinet meeting was held in Dnipro.

The president was standing in the middle of a street and he said he believed that there was too much information about a full-scale war.

Chornovol served in the Ukranian parliament. Later, she joined the military. I met her in the Kherson region last fall, where her job was to fire small missiles at Russian armor.

Chornovol claims that before the war, the Ukrainian army left the route north open to invasion, even failing to make enough bridges to stop a Russian advance.

Chornovol was proud to show me the camouflaged missile launch system she had made for her. “There was no preparation for the invasion. The city of Kyiv was not fortified.

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

Because Ukraine remains at war, parliamentarians are careful not to launch domestic political attacks. As soon as Ukraine defeats Russia, the European Solidarity Party will be asking difficult questions, according to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.

People here blame the swift loss of the region on the SBU, Ukraine’s intelligence service. Ivan Bakanov, Zelenskyy’s friend and a SBU head, was fired in July for having no security experience.

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

Yermolenko, Zelenskyy and Fialko-Smal: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

She says that he is a good president during war. “He’s not a very good president during a non-war period. He has a weakness that is that he trusts people who are his friends and does not tolerate 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. She discouraged Zelenskyy, who is under 5-foot-6.

Zelenskyy studied law at the Economic Institute where his father was a renowned educationist. Natalya Voloshanyuk, a finance professor, recalls Volodymyr as clever, funny and self-confident.

“She said, ‘You should be proud that you study at this university,’ ” Voloshanyuk recalls, “to which he replied, ‘One day you will be proud that you taught me.’ “

“After the fall of the Soviet Union you can create something new,” Yermolenko says. “I think Zelenskyy’s one of one of those people. The good thing is that these people think that impossible is nothing and you can create anything.”

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

The Kremlin’s cynical weaponization of winter: the wake of Yana and Serhii Lysenko

Kyiv, Ukraine — Yana and Serhii Lysenko were fast asleep, their four-year-old daughter in her bedroom down the hall, when they awoke at sunrise to a noise they didn’t recognize — the ominous buzz of an engine, like a motorcycle or lawnmower.

They could see a drone swooping across the sky like a kite from the 23rd floor of their apartment building in central Kyiv. A black cloud was seen in the air after they heard an explosion. Yana said she felt paralyzed, rooted to the spot.

The weapon, later identified by authorities as an Iranian Shahed-136, known as a “kamikaze” or “suicide” drone for the way it explodes on impact, was soon followed by several more. The couple watched in horror as the triangular bombs missed their home and went toward a thermal power plant which provides electricity and heat for the capital.

The UN said that Russia’s attacks violate international humanitarian law which prohibits the targeting of civilians. According to a report released in December by Human Rights Watch, it appeared that Moscow’s tactic was intended to spread terror among the civilian population.

“After not being able to win the war for months on end, the Kremlin devised this particularly cynical tactic,” said Tanya Lokshina, HRW’s associate director for Europe and Central Asia, who has researched Russia’s armed conflicts in Chechnya, Georgia and Syria. “I don’t think that this cynical weaponization of winter was something that we encountered earlier. It was not about using the winter season as a war tactic, but about the lack of care for civilians and indiscriminate strikes. That is new.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/02/europe/putin-ukraine-energy-infrastructure-attack/index.html

How Ukrainian energy infrastructure became strong in the war of 2008-2009, and how to respond to Russian attacks during the November 23rd blackout

During blackouts, doctors have carried out heart surgeries under headlamps, families have cooked meals on camping stoves in their apartments and students have done homework by battery-powered flashlights. The parents took their children to points of insurgence, tents equipped with generators, to get hot cups of tea, charge their phones, and connect life-saving medical equipment according to one photograph that went viral.

“Nobody expected or could have thought that Russia would resort to such barbarism … to turn winter against us and bring us back to some sort of stone age. Serhii said that it could have worked. “But we were able to survive.”

The test was originally due to take place in mid-February, but Russia requested they push it to February 24. “Very, very few people know about this,” Mariia Tsaturian, a spokesperson for Ukrenergo, told CNN. We kept thinking that this could actually be when they would invade, because of the weakness of Ukraine.

Ukrenergo had prepared for that possibility, secretly relocating their main control room to an undisclosed location in the west, to keep engineers safe and the grid stable. The company was busy trying to speed up the timetable to join the European system as the country was thrown into chaos. No one would be able to return to the power grids with the enemy.

It made our system stronger. The director of the Energy Industry Research Center said that it made them more resilient to Russia’s attacks. He pointed out that the successful emergency synchronization also allowed Ukraine to start trading power with the EU in June, bringing in much-needed revenue while also providing affordable electricity to Europe during a time when prices were sky high.

Most of the missiles or shells used in the war were close to the front line and there were only a few cases of energy infrastructure being damaged. But from this moment, they shifted their strategy,” Kharchenko said.

The scale of destruction at individual sites has been difficult to assess, in part because the ministry of energy has restricted the amount of information they give out.

Ukrainian energy think tank DiXi Group claims that Russia launched more than 1,350 rockets and drones at the Ukrainian energy infrastructure between October and January.

There is a big question mark about how to recover this deficit. If Zaporizhzhia came back, it would be able to counterbalance the need, but there is no sign of that. The country’s consumers are not able to bear the higher costs of electricity imports from the EU.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/02/europe/putin-ukraine-energy-infrastructure-attack/index.html

Warming up the Front Line of Siversk: Bringing the UN Into the Public Works Emergency Response Regime in the Infrastructure Attack on Sudan

In their fight to make sure people don’t die from the cold, Brown said the UN is calling communities up and down the front line, making sure they’re getting what they need. Humanitarian aid trucks are delivering warm clothes, heavy blankets, and hygiene kits to these areas. The goal is to get to the end of February, when it is expected to start warming up.

The first thing I did when I arrived was to take the winterization plans because of my fear that we would get to minus 20 in the middle of winter and people would die from the cold.

A UN convoy recently traveled to Siversk, which was captured in January by the Russians and is about twelve miles from Soledar. Only a small fraction of the population remains, without running water or electricity. Those who have stayed behind are usually the most vulnerable — older people, people with disabilities and chronic conditions, who either can’t leave their homes or don’t want to.

In December, Lysenko said she felt she began to get the hang of living with the scheduled power outages. She taught Italian at the university from home after she took Liza back to kindergarten.

Air strikes on December 31, disrupted the sense of normal. The family invited their friends over to celebrate New Years Eve, but when missiles hit the city they rushed to the shelter.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/02/europe/putin-ukraine-energy-infrastructure-attack/index.html

Putinukraine Energy Infrastructure Attack on Lysenko, a Russian Film Producer Living in an Invincibility Point

“I have thought about moving maybe, but only for a quick moment, because we’ve been waiting to reach our dream for so long. This apartment, our home,” Lysenko said.

When she’s not working at her accounting company in Irpin, you can find her in Hostomel, which is a suburb of Kyiv. But instead of going to her office, she works from a local library, which has been converted into an “invincibility point,” providing electricity and wifi powered by a generator.

“Unfortunately, I cannot afford to get a generator for the office, so for now, this is our way out. But hopefully it will get better,” she said, adding that her employees, who still work in the office, often only have four hours of electricity before they need to go and work remotely elsewhere.

Her 67-year-old father, who also lives in Hostomel, uses a car battery as a temporary power source for his small home. Is he the one who got that battery? She said that he stole it from the ruscists. He is fearless.

Russian forces launched their attack on Kyiv, after the film producer was released from the hospital, where he had been treated for a stroke.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023/02/europe/putin-ukraine-energy-infrastructure-attack/index.html

Living in a Warm House: A Memories of the Kurdistan-Kirchenko-Yevtushenko-Lopshina

In the beginning of the war, he and his wife slept in their small bathroom, while he sat on a stool next to her. Now they use the room, the safest in their home, as a personal “invincibility point,” stocked with water jugs, candles and flashlights, food for their dog and power banks to charge their phones and laptops.

During the war, the couple have been trapped in their apartment in the left bank of the city. The stress of relentless strikes, air raid sirens and outages have set his progress back, Yevtushenko said, adding that if not for the stroke he would have joined the armed forces.

In case of cuts, residents of high-rise apartment buildings leave vital supplies like food, water and diapers in elevators. Most people CNN spoke with though couldn’t remember the last time they had used the lift, worried about being trapped inside.

This is an illustration of what you see here in Ukranian. Lokshina, the associate director at the human rights watchdog, HRW, said that it is about cafes and restaurants sharing their generators, it’s about special places for people to charge their phones at gas stations, and it’s also about cafes and restaurants sharing their generators. It’s not only taking care of you, but helping others as well.

When she returned to Kyiv, Lokshina was struck by how life carried on. She tried to get her nails done before an official meeting in the capital, but couldn’t get an appointment because she was booked until curfew. “Despite the continuing attacks, despite the blackouts, which happen time and time again, despite the unpredictability of it. And the risk factors. People make a point out of doing their best to live a normal life.

You don’t need much to be happy. A warm house with lights and water and a peaceful sky are what we can find above our heads. “That’s it,”Yana said. “Our values have changed a lot. In fact, we have changed.”

Kyiv War Anniversary in Intl-Cmd: a Family of Misfits, and a Student President to Lead the Way

The former President and deputy Chair of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said on Friday that Russia wants to push the borders of threats to its country as far as possible.

The leader of the country addressed the military on Friday. He told them that the future would be determined by them.

Ukraine’s international allies showed their solidarity on Friday, with landmarks around the world lit up in colors of the Ukrainian flag, and new weapons and funding announcements.

The UN Security Council should not allow the crimes of Russian President Putin to become our new normal, according to the US Secretary of State.

The German government agreed to send a further four Leopard 2 tanks toUkraine, increasing its commitment from 14 tanks to 18. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also pledged to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

And Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he intends to present the idea of imposing new sanctions against Russia during a virtual meeting with G7 leaders and Zelensky.

But there was a noticeable feeling of anxiety in Kyiv on Friday, as many of its residents worried Russia might launch new attacks on the day of the anniversary.

Kathalina Pahitsky, a 16-year old student, went to the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv to lay flowers in memory of two former students from her school who lost their lives fighting in the war.

It was a bitterly cold morning in Kyiv, but Pahitsky said she felt it was her duty as the student president of her school to represent her classmates and pay her respects to the fallen heroes.

There are photographs on the main street. It’s a great honor. They died doing what they were paid to do. It is very important for us. And it would have been for them,” she said.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/24/europe/kyiv-war-anniversary-intl-cmd/index.html

Olexander, the aviator of the IAEA, in Kiev, and the first meeting of the Staff of the ICAEA headquarters in Dnipro

It was hard to describe how Olexander felt on Friday, since he was an IT worker before the war.

He told CNN he doesn’t feel fear, but he still feels confident. “One year ago … I felt fear, I was stressed, psychologically it unsettled me. There is no fear right now.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy on Monday thanked the secretary general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for his support and accused Russia of nuclear blackmail over its control of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant.

“I have just held a meeting of the Staff — for the first time away, in Dnipro. He went to Marhanets and the frontline positions of our warriors in the Zaporizhzhia region before coming to this place. “The commanders of the operational areas reported the actual situation.”