What have we learnt about Russia from its actions in the conflict between Ukraine and the United States? An analysis by Dmitri Alperovitch

This annexation is a huge deal. According to Dmitri Alperovitch, Putin is very likely to stay in Ukraine if he wins the presidency.

The President has made it clear that we will be supportive of the military, economic, and humanitarian fronts, but we are not going to engage in a direct war with Russia. And nothing about that will change tomorrow,” the official said.

And that’s the worrying thing. In Russia’s bellicose information space, the talk isn’t about ending a horrific and wasteful war: It’s about correcting the mistakes that forced a Russian retreat, reinforcing discipline, and doubling down in Ukraine.

Putin’s recent heavy-handed conscription drive for 300,000 troops won’t reverse his battlefield losses any time soon, and is backfiring at home, running him up a dangerous political tab.

The best and brightest in almost every field have left Russia. Writers, artists and journalists are some of the most creative technologists, scientists and engineers.

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.”

Kortunov is not sure what goes on in the Kremlin but he understands the public anger over the large losses of life in the war. Many people would begin to ask questions, why did we get into this mess? We lost a lot of people.

He used the same tactics as in the past to annex the territories, and now threatens to use nuclear weapons if the Ukrainians try to take them back.

In private communications with Moscow, Jake Sullivan told them that a nuclear weapon use would cause catastrophic consequences for Russia.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: “Is it a test of Putin’s nuclear capabilities?” says Giles, Brennan, and Kirby

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

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

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

Brennan’s analysis is that Russia is the most likely culprit for the sabotage, and that Putin is likely trying to send a message: “It’s a signal to Europe that Russia can reach beyond Ukraine’s borders. So who knows what he might be planning next.”

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

The coming weeks are crucial in Europe as well as around the globe, according to experts. “As ever, where Putin goes next depends on how the rest of the world is responding,” Giles said. “Russia’s attitude is shaped by the failure of Western countries to confront and deter it.”

Zelensky was in favor of a peace summit this winter. The idea of Russia retreating out of areas they invaded has been floated by the US Secretary of State. Zelensky has argued Russia should retreat even out of territory it claimed in 2014. Putin didn’t suggest he would retreat at all.

Putin is expected to encourage France and Germany to use all their resources to help end the war and try to get the Ukrainians to settle.

“We continue to monitor his nuclear capabilities, Kate, best we can.” All I can tell you today is that we don’t see any evidence that Mr. Putin is planning to use nuclear weapons. Kirby said that there was nothing to give them cause to change their deterrent posture.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russian President Putin was in no way a dispute over the border. Even before it started, as Putin initiated – and continuously denied – his march to war, the importance of preventing Russia’s autocratic regime from gaining control of its neighbor, with its incipient democracy, was clear.

On the flagship Sunday political show, News of the Week, the fall of Lyman was not 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.

Two powerful Putin supporters called for use of harsher fighting methods after they railed against the Kremlin because they felt that it had fallen victim to Moscow’s claims that the region was Russian forever.

The soldiers were forced to retreat because they were fighting NATO soldiers and also with Ukrainians, according to the interview they did on the Sunday broadcast.

“These are no longer toys here. They are part of a systematic and clear offensive by the army and NATO forces,” the unnamed deputy commander of one Russian battalion told the show’s war correspondent, Evgeny Poddubny. The soldier said his unit had been listening in on conversations by soldiers from the other countries.

The broadcast seemed intended to convince Russians who have doubts about the war or feel anger over plans to call up as many as 300,000 civilians that any hardships they bear are to be blamed on a West that is bent on destroying Russia at all costs.

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.

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 said that the West accused them of blowing up the gas lines. “We must understand the geopolitical confrontation, the war, our war with the West on the scale and extent on which it is unfolding. We must join the fight with a mortal enemy who is going to use any means to get the upper hand.

But Russia will keep doing this because it works. US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders assure Russia that they work by mentioning the fear of escalation, which is precisely what Russia wants to stoke.

He said in a phone interview that there was anger, fear, and an idea to hide and flee, but it wasn’t against Putin. “Part of the anger, even among those avoiding mobilization, is against the West, or Ukrainians.”

The capital of the US For all his threats to fire tactical nuclear arms at Ukrainian targets, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is now discovering what the United States itself concluded years ago, American officials suspect: Small nuclear weapons are hard to use, harder to control and a far better weapon of terror and intimidation than a weapon of war.

Many U.S. officials say the main utility would be part of a last-ditch effort by Mr. Putin to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe some of the most sensitive discussions inside the administration.

Russia’s use of the munitions – including its 300mm Smerch cluster rockets that can unleash 72 submunitions over an area the size of a football pitch – has been documented in dozens of Ukrainian regions, including in Kharkiv, as CNN has reported.

An Iran protest triggered by the David v. Goliath conflict: how women are dressed and how men have danced around fires

A former CNN producer and correspondent has a world affairs column. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. Her views are not reflected in this commentary. View more opinion on CNN.

On Sunday, almost by chance, there were two groups of demonstrators in London. One was waving Ukrainian flags; the other Iranian flags. They shouted “All together we will win” when they met.

Ukraine has become the epicenter of a global conflict; a hub whose spokes connect to every country, every life. Russia’s aggression – its Iranian drones, civilian targets, and weaponization of hunger – has already taken a global toll, lowering worldwide living standards and raising international tensions.

These David v. Goliath battles show bravery that is almost unthinkable to the rest of us, and are inspiring equally brave support in places like Afghanistan.

In Iran, the spark was the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month. Zina died in police custody after she was arrested for breaking 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 not really about the hijab, it is about cutting the shackles of oppression and men have joined them in large numbers despite the Regime killing more and more protesters.

Putin, the Khmer Rouge, and the Dust of the World: Seven Months of Living Under the Dust, and Now He Has Turned to Dust

After all, it was less than a decade ago that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military entered Syria’s long civil war, helping to save the dictator Bashar al-Assad (as Iran had).

His forces have planted mines in vast stretches of territory in Kherson from which they’ve recently withdrawn – much as the Khmer Rouge did in Cambodia stretching back to the 1970s. Cambodia’s de-mining experts have been called in to help with the daunting task of cleaning up the Chernobyl site. At the same time, Russian armies have also left behind evidence of unspeakable atrocities and torture, also reminiscent of the Khmer Rouge.

While Moscow and Tehran are isolated and pariahs around the world, they are supported by a significant amount of autocrats.

Iran acknowledged for the first time that they provided some drones to Russia in the months before the war in Ukraine, but they did not give them back. Zelenskyy countered that Iran was “lying” because Ukrainian forces “shoot down at least 10 Iranian drones every day.”

The regimes that are very different in ideologies have in common a tendency to project power abroad, as well as being very similar in their tactics of oppression.

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. So is criticizing Putin. After trying and failing to kill opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Putin’s people manufactured charges to keep him in a penal colony indefinitely.

For people in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, there’s more than passing interest in the admittedly low probability that the Iranian regime could fall. It would affect their countries and the people who live there. After all, Iran’s constitution calls for spreading its Islamist revolution.

The rest of the world is at a point where they are unsure and expecting. Seven months ago, some viewed Putin as something of a genius. That myth has turned to dust. The man who helped suppress uprisings, entered wars, and tried to manipulate elections across the planet now looks cornered.

The Cost of Chaos: The Story of Daria Dugina and the Soviet-Lost-Inspired Soviet-Afghan War

WASHINGTON — United States intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorized the car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, an element of a covert campaign that U.S. officials fear could widen the conflict.

The closely held assessment of Ukrainian complicity, which has not been previously reported, was shared within the U.S. government last week. Ukraine denied involvement in the killing immediately after the attack, and senior officials repeated those denials when asked about the American intelligence assessment.

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. The Cost of Chaos is a book written by Bergen. The views expressed in this commentary are of his own. CNN has more opinion on it.

He continued to hold that there are attempts to rewrite and alter world history by countries that want to divide society and eventually weaken Russia in his address in the Kremlin on Tuesday.

His revisionist account defined his rationale for the war in Ukraine, which he asserts has historically always been part of Russia even though Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union over three decades ago.

According to a new book, the soviets planned on installing a puppet government in Afghanistan and getting out as soon as possible.

During the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, the US was hesitant to support the Afghan resistance because of a larger conflict with the Soviet Union. It took until 1986 for the CIA to arm the Afghans with highly effective anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, which ended the Soviets’ total air superiority, eventually forcing them to withdraw from Afghanistan three years later.

Failure to demonstrate further progress on the battlefield with billions of dollars worth of military kit could stir unease among Western backers. But capitulation to Russia would be a political death sentence.

Russia has used untrained soldiers to soak up shells and bullets on the front line, in the same way that these weapons have been used to soak up air defenses in Ukraine. The most effective countermeasure that Russia could potentially exhaust was the Patriot system, and its price made it the most disproportionately expensive.

When Russian troops discovered the Soviet Union, they confront Putin in Kiev: Putin and the State of the Army are under Fire, but Is It Going to Win?

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 was the result of Czar Nicholas II’s leadership during the First World War. A lot of the Romanov family was killed by the Bolsheviks.

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 said draftees would not fight and operations would be left to the professionals. Putin’s Ministry of Defense gave platitudes about progress in the battlefield, and talking points were quickly used by Russian state television.

In his just-released book, Lawrence Freedman explains how Putin plunged his nation into the Ukrainian morass.

If Russia is allowed to win, Putin’s war would mark the beginning of a new era of global instability, with less freedom, less peace and less prosperity for the world.

Against that background, Russia has seen some unusual public criticism of the top brass running Putin’s war. Within limits, of course: Criticizing the war itself or Russia’s commander-in-chief is off limits, but those responsible for carrying out the President’s orders are fair game.

We need to stop lying if we want to live in a civilized country, said a member of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. We brought this up more than once. But somehow it’s apparently not getting through to individual senior figures.”

The Ministry of Defense was evading the truth about Ukrainian cross-border strikes in Russian regions, as claimed by Kartapolov.

“Our Russian city of Valuyki… is under constant fire,” he said. We learn about it from governors, Telegram channels, our war correspondents. But no one else. The Ministry of Defense’s reports have not changed in substance. They said they killed Nazis and destroyed 300 rockets. People are aware. Our people are smart. But they don’t want to even tell part of the truth. This can lead to a loss of credibility.”

Valuyki is in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine. When it comes to striking Russian targets across the border, Kyiv generally adopts a neither-confirm-nor-deny stance.

It has been said many times that Russia cannot win the war. It is time to edit the phrase. Ukraine must win the war,” said Yermack. He spoke via teleconference from Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on a day when Russian airstrikes pounded the city. “Their goal is to entail humanitarian catastrophe in Ukrainian towns and cities,” said Yermak. They want to limit the living conditions to survive this winter. They want to provoke another wave of emigration and depopulate Ukraine.”

There isn’t any need to place a shadow on the entire Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation because incompetent commanders, who did not bother, and were not accountable, are what the process and gaps are today. “Indeed, many say that the Minister of Defense [Sergei Shoigu], who allowed this situation to happen, could, as an officer, shoot himself. You know, the word officer is not familiar to many.

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

The Great Patriotic War, a fetish for World War II, is one of the central features of Putinism. The Red Army used punishment battalions and other brutal methods to fight the Wehrmacht, and those in Russia are fond of watching them.

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 said in another Telegram post that he would allow the government to use extraordinary wartime powers in Russia.

“Yes, if it were my will, I would declare martial law throughout the country and use any weapon, because today we are at war with the whole NATO bloc,” Kadyrov said in a post that also seemed to echo Putin’s not-so-subtle threats that Russia might contemplate the use of nuclear weapons.

The Russian bombardment struck several cities, including Western Ukraine close to NATO’s eastern flank, and propelled the conflict into a new phase, just as much of the country was starting to roar back to life.

Igor Zhovkva, Zelensky’s chief diplomatic adviser, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” that Ukraine had shot down 56 of the 84 missiles and drones that were fired by Russia, in apparent revenge for an explosion on a strategic bridge leading to annexed Crimea that is critical for Moscow’s war effort and is a symbol of Putin’s rule.

The bridge explosion occurred as a Ukrainian counteroffensive seized key pockets of Russian-controlled territory, including in regions Putin recently annexed.

Putin appeared on television on Monday and said it was impossible to leave such crimes unanswered. “If attempts to carry out terrorist attacks on our territory continue, responses from Russia will be tough and will correspond in scale to the level of threats to the Russian Federation.”

Kiev bombing and air raid siren attacks: Ukrainian civilians must stay in Ukraine, as Putin fought the annexed Crimea

For several hours on Monday morning Kyiv’s subway system was suspended, with underground stations serving as bunkers. The alert was lifted at noon after rescue workers were able to pull people out of the rubble.

Demys Shmygal, Ukraine’s Prime Minister, said Monday that as of 11 a.m. local time, a total of 11 “crucial infrastructure facilities” in eight regions had been damaged.

The Ukrainian State Emergency Services said that the electricity supply had been disconnected in a number of places. Electricity was “partially disrupted” in the rest of the country.

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

According to Sergey Aksyanov, the Russian appointed head of annexed Crimea, his country’s views on its military operation in Ukraine have changed.

He said that if such actions to destroy the enemy’s infrastructure were taken every day, the Kyiv regime would be defeated in May.

The air raid sirens won’t abate throughout the country. There are missiles continuing to strike. There are people dead and wounded. Don’t leave your shelters. Stay safe and take care of your families. Zelensky added that the let’s hang in there and be strong.

Ukraine’s allies understand this need. General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that air defense options will be looked at after Russia attacked the Ukrainian civilian population.

The Dutch Prime Minister said that Putin was ruining innocent civilians in other cities. “[The Netherlands] condemns these heinous acts. Putin does not seem to understand that the will of the Ukrainian people is unbreakable.”

The attacks are unacceptable and civilians are paying the highest price in the war, according to the Secretary-General.

The Ukraine’s winter is turning out differently after the Zaporizhhia attacks: CNN analyst Michael Bociurkiw and analysis of the U.S. nuclear power crisis

An emergency meeting of the G7 group of nations will be held via video conference on Tuesday, and Zelensky will address the gathering, according to the office of Germany’s Chancellor.

Michael Bociurkiw is an analyst at World- AffairsPro. 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 regular contributor to CNN Opinion. His own opinions are expressed in this commentary. View more opinion at CNN.

The winter season in Ukraine is characterized by wide-ranging power disruptions, as well as a grinding war of attrition on the battlefield.

The area around my office in Odesa remained quiet between air raid sirens as reports of missiles and drones being shot down trickled in. (Normally at this time of the day, nearby restaurants would be heaving with customers, and chatter of plans for upcoming weddings and parties).

The attacks on Zaporizhzhia, close to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, happened about a few hours after the attacks on apartment buildings. At least seventeen people were dead and dozens of others were injured.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “energy terrorism,” as attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure left more than 4 million Ukrainians without electricity.

In scenes reminiscent of the early days of the war when Russian forces neared the capital, some Kyiv media outlets temporarily moved their operations to underground bomb shelters. A group of people in a subway station shelter cover the platforms while a small group performs patriotic Ukrainian songs.

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

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

The 2018 Ukrainian Revolution: Pushing Putin to stop using more deadly weapons by destroying Europe’s longest bridge with a huge, high-tech infrastructure

dictators like hardwiring newly claimed territory with expensive, record-breaking infrastructure projects. In 2018, Putin personally opened the Kerch bridge – Europe’s longest – by driving a truck across it. The world’s longest sea crossing bridge was built after Beijing reclaimed Macau and Hong Kong. The $20 billion, 34-mile road bridge opened after about two years of delays.

The reaction among Ukrainians to the explosion was instantaneous: humorous memes lit up social media channels like a Christmas tree. A lot of people shared their joy through text messages.

For Putin, consumed by pride and self-interest, sitting still was never an option. He responded in the only way that he knows how to do it, by unleashing more death and destruction.

Facing more criticism at home, including on state-controlled television, meant that Putin was on thin ice.

The Russians thought they could stable the front and wait out Ukrainians. We are going to wait out NATO and the United States.

Washington and its allies should use urgent telephone diplomacy to urge China and India to stay away from using more deadly weapons, as this is the last chance they have to prevent Putin from using more deadly weapons.

Victory will be dependent on the united front the West has against Russia. Zelensky and his envoys abroad have done an enviable job of warning Western leaders that if they don’t support Ukraine in pushing Putin back completely, their own nations’ security could be caught in the crosshairs of Russian aggression.

Furthermore, high tech defense systems are needed to protect Kyiv and crucial energy infrastructure around the country. The need to protect heating systems is urgent because of the upcoming winter.

Zelensky had no choice but to stay home: When the US and NATO would take care of business – and what has happened to Ukraine?

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.

Zelensky has long wanted more long-range missile systems from Washington and NATO. In a conversation with US President Joe Biden last Sunday, Zelensky thanked the US for its continued support and asked for more air defense help. He said that Russians have destroyed about half of his country’s energy infrastructure.

Whatever the truth of the matter, Biden would prefer for Putin to hear a lot of headline numbers, to make the Russian leader more determined, to encourage European partners to help more, and to make the resources of the Ukrainian people seem unlimited.

Asked Thursday about Russian warnings that the Patriot system would be “provocative,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. The comments wouldn’t change US aid to Ukraine, claimed Gen. Pat Ryder.

As of a Department of Defense briefing in late September, the US had yet to deliver NASAMS to Ukraine. He was the brigadier at the time. Two systems were expected to be delivered in the next two months, with the remaining six to arrive at an unknown date, said Gen. Patrick Ryder.

The entire day was geared to three audiences – the American people and its leaders, the Ukrainian people and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky’s message resonated loudly to all of them: From the moment he landed in the US, dressed in his trademark olive green clothes, to the warm welcome he received in the White House from President Joe Biden, to the rapturous reception in the Congress, a place where few foreign leaders receive the honor of speaking to a joint meeting of the two chambers.

Kirby said Monday that there will likely be additional support packages for Ukraine announced in the very near future.

“It’s clear that he’s feeling the pressure both at home and overseas, and how he reacts to that only he can say,” Kirby told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

Last week, Biden delivered a stark warning about the dangers of Putin’s nuclear threats, invoking the prospect of “Armageddon.” Multiple US officials have said that the comment wasn’t based on any new intel or changes in Russia’s nuclear posture.

U.S. President Vladimir Putin’s strategy for uniting Ukraine during the crisis and uniting it to unite it, and how to respond to it

The attacks took away a semblance of normal that city dwellers had regained after spending months in air raid shelters in the subways.

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.

He proved that the Ukrainians, as well as the soldiers on the front line, are not alone when it comes to the Russian attacks on their power plants.

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.

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 was something that they had been planning for a long time. Kirby did not believe that the explosion on the bridge might have accelerated some of their planning.

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

Monday’s attacks, and further strikes throughout the week, were evidence of Russian President Vladimir Putin lashing out after a series of setbacks in the war that have put him under pressure domestically.

“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.

Any prolonged campaign by Putin against civilians would be aimed at breaking Ukrainian morale and possibly unleashing a new flood of refugees into Western Europe that might open divisions among NATO allies that are supporting Ukraine.

The lesson of this war is that no matter what Putin does, he will only unite it and make it stronger.

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

She said that this was just another terror to frighten people, to scare them in other countries, or to show that he was still a bloody tyrant and look what fireworks we could arrange.

The response to the attacks should be kept in check. Now is the time for pressure to be put on the warring parties to stop fighting.

In the age of nuclear weapons, self-defense, justice and punishment for wrongdoers are all accepted modes of war, and notions of right and wrong are irrelevant. The fact that someone was acting in self-defense doesn’t really matter.

It doesn’t matter who was correct or wrong in the asymmetrical exchange of nuclear missiles, hundreds of millions of people could die. Historians will not survive to tell the story.

President Biden should publicly muse about alternatives and dispatch his diplomats immediately to Russia to give Vladimir Putin off ramps. An immediate cease-fire must occur, and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine must be pressured to agree.

There was a military build-up there before the invasion ofUkraine, which is why President Lukashenko said on Monday that many Russians would return to his country.

Mr. Lukashenko told military and security officials in the capital that this would be more than a thousand troops.

In rambling remarks reported by the state news agency Belta, Mr. Lukashenko said that work had already started on the formation of what he called a “joint regional group of troops” to counter “possible aggression against our country” by NATO and Ukraine.

Statements by the eccentric and unpredictable leader Mr. Lukashenko are not very accurate or up to date. Just days before Russia attacked Ukraine in February, he categorically denied that his territory would be used as a starting point to attack his country.

The establishment of a joint force with Russia will reinforce the view in Ukraine that they are a “co-aggressor” instead of Mr. Lukashenko’s insistence that they are.

According to the state media, Mr. Lukashenko said that there needs to be precautions for the deployment of nuclear weapons in Poland.

Andrei Sannikov, who served as deputy foreign minister under Mr. Lukashenko during his early period in power but fled into exile after being jailed, said Mr. Lukashenko was “running scared,” caught between pressure from Russia to help its demoralized forces in Ukraine and the knowledge that sending in Belarusian troops would be hugely unpopular, even among his loyalists.

Two Russian military bases were struck by the Ukrainians. The New York Times reported that the drones flown from Ukrainian territory were used to attack Russia and that they demonstrated Ukraine’s willingness to take the fight deep into Russia.

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

Over the past 10 days, Russia has effectively launched a new front with long-range missile and drone strikes directed at civilian targets in the capital Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

In the wake of the assault on Ukraine a percentage of projectiles are bound to get through, which is the simple math for Moscow.

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

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

The Russians have been making the air defense missile, the S-3000, into an offensive weapon. Their speed makes them difficult to intercept, and they wreak havoc in areas like Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv. They are not accurate.

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

Over the past nine months the Ukrainians have had plenty of practice in using their limited air defenses, mainly BUK and S-300 systems. According to the Air Force Command’s spokesman, there may be losses in combat operations when these systems do not last forever.

Last month, the US deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, Sasha Baker, said the US had seen “some evidence already” that the Iranian drones “have already experienced numerous failures.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, a Ukrainian wish-list included missiles for their existing systems and a transition to a Western-origin air defense system in addition to early warning capabilities.

The system’s ability to defend airspace against missiles as well as aircraft is one of its greatest strengths. Because of its long-range and high-altitude capability, it can potentially shoot down Russian missiles and aircraft far from their intended targets inside Ukraine.

Western systems are beginning to get used in other countries. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Tuesday that a “new era of air defense has begun” with the arrival of the first IRIS-T from Germany, and two units of the US National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAM) expected soon.

“This is only the beginning. And we need more,” Reznikov said Wednesday before tweeting as he met with Ukraine’s donors at the Brussels meeting:” Item #1 on today’s agenda is strengthening (Ukraine’s) air defense. Feeling optimistic.”

But these are hardly off-the-shelf-items. The IRIS-T had to be manufactured for Ukraine. Western governments have limited inventories of such systems. And Ukraine is a very large country under missile attack from three directions.

The Russian Army is Getting Closer to the Front Lines: The Invasion of Kherson, Ukraine, Last Minute Revisited

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

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

The strikes in the Belgorod region next to Ukraine and the destruction of the municipal administration building in Donetsk, a city firmly controlled by Russia and its proxies since 2014, sent a powerful signal that the mayhem unleashed by President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion is spreading far beyond the front lines.

Not for the first time, the war is teetering towards an unpredictable new phase. “This is now the third, fourth, possibly fifth different war that we’ve been observing,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme.

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

Oleksii Hromov, a senior military official in the Ukrainian military, said last week that some 120 settlements were captured by the forces in the late autumn. On Wednesday, Ukraine said it had liberated more five settlements in its slow but steady push in Kherson.

Russia said Thursday its forces would help evacuate residents of occupied Kherson to other areas, as Ukraine’s offensive continued to make gains in the region. The announcement came shortly after the head of the Moscow-backed administration in Kherson appealed to the Kremlin for help moving residents out of harm’s way, in the latest indication that Russian forces were struggling in the face of Ukrainian advances.

These counter-offensives have shifted the momentum of the war and disproved a suggestion, built up in the West and in Russia during the summer, that while Ukraine could stoutly defend territory, it lacked the ability to seize ground.

The senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies told CNN that the Russians were playing for the whistle and hoping to avoid a collapse in their frontline.

If they can get Christmas with the frontline looking the same as it is, that is a huge success for the Russians.

Ukrainian troops are focused primarily on pushing Russian forces eastwards, having crossed the Oskil River in late September, with Moscow likely preparing to defend the cities of Starobilsk and Svatove in the Luhansk region, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The full impact of rising energy prices is felt around Europe and a big blow in Donbas will send another powerful signal.

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

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.

Ukraine’s national electricity company, Ukrenergo, says it has stabilized the power supply to Kyiv and central regions of Ukraine after much of the country’s electricity supply was disrupted by Russian missile attacks on Monday and Tuesday. But Ukrainian Prime Minister has warned that “there is a lot of work to do” to fix damaged equipment, and asked Ukrainians to reduce their energy usage during peak hours.

That sentiment was voiced last month by Jeremy Fleming, head of Britain’s top-secret electronic espionage agency GCHQ. Russian commanders on the ground know that supplies are running out.

The strikes by Russia resulted in the loss of some of their precision weapons against civilian targets as opposed to important targets, according to the I SW in its Monday update on the conflict.

According to the military expert, the Ukrainian success rate against Russian cruise missiles has risen since the start of the invasion.

The impact of an intervention in terms of pure manpower would be limited because of the number of active duty troops in the country. But it would threaten another assault on Ukraine’s northern flank below the Belarusian border.

The reopening of the northern front would be a challenge for Ukraine. Should Putin prioritize regaining the territory that was lost to the Ukrainians, it would give Russia a new route into the region.

The symbolism of Zelensky’s speech was significant, as it was his first trip outside of Ukraine since the war began, and he came to the country that had enabled his country to defend itself so far.

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.

They join an army already degraded in quality and capability. The composition of Russia’s military force in Ukraine — as much of its prewar active duty personnel has been wounded or killed and its best equipment destroyed or captured — has radically altered over the course of the war. The Russian military leadership is unlikely to know with confidence how this undisciplined composite force will react when confronted with cold, exhausting combat conditions or rumors of Ukrainian assaults. In September, demoralized troops left their positions and equipment in a panic in the Kharkiv region.

The Russian Defense Ministry’s statement described the shootings as a terrorist attack, according to state media outlets. It said the two gunmen were from a former Soviet nation and had fired on the soldiers during target practice at a firing range.

David Petraeus: The Russians and the Ukrainians are preparing for the end of the Russian-Russian War on Nuclear Propagation

“This is a partnership of convenience between two embattled dictatorships,” said Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Both countries are in a state of crisis. Iran is attempting to quell street protest that pose the most serious challenge to the government, while Russia tries to manage dis unity over a faltering war effort.

Even if the president is Volodymyr. Zelenskyy came to the opinion that maybe we should negotiate and stop the punishment. I don’t think he could do that anymore because of the conviction of the Ukrainian people.

Petraeus spoke at an annual conference in Sea Island, Ga., run by The Cipher Brief, which brings together members of the national security community — current and former — to stand back and look at the big picture on global security.

The chief of staff to President Zelenskyy, who is also a Ukrainian, told the conference that the conflict needs to end with a Ukrainian victory.

But Paul Kolbe, a former CIA officer who runs the Intelligence Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School, says the Russian leader is not looking for a way out of the conflict. In fact, he says, just the opposite. “Putin’s memory of running into obstacles is what escalates,” said Kolbe. There are still a lot of tricks he can pull out to try to weaken the West’s sense of confidence.

“It’s a way of saying that the bridges are going to burn,” said Alperovitch. “What this means is that this war is likely to continue for many, many months, potentially many years, as long as he’s in power and as long as he has the resources to continue fighting.”

The fast approaching winter is likely to slow the war but is not expected to stop it. The Ukrainians are doing well on the battlefield, according to David Petraeus. “The Ukrainians can go to the door and ask for a warm drink and a bowl of soup from their fellow citizens.” And of course, they’re welcomed as liberators, whereas the Russian occupiers, the Ukrainians are trying to kill them,” he said.

Nobody thought the war was close to an end at the Georgia conference. “Most wars end with some sort of negotiated solution, whether that comes out of stalemate or defeat, but I don’t see any prospects of talks in the near term,” said Paul Kolbe, the former CIA official.

He noted that the war started with a Russian invasion in 2014, and is now as intense as it ever was. Greg Myre is a national security correspondent for NPR. Follow him.

A Conversation with Dean Obeidallah, Vice President Kevin McCarthy, and a Russian War Hustler: Why Do We Need the United States to Help Ukraine?

Dean Obeidallah is a former lawyer and host of the daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show”. You can follow him on the internet. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

Vance’s initial reaction was callous and inflammatory, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s recent comments were even more alarming. McCarthy stated that if Republicans win the House in November, it would no longer be a “blank check” for the US.

No one would be happier to hear McCarthys words than Putin. Since January 2021, the United States has provided more than $18 billion in assistance to Ukrainians, far more than any other nation. These funds have given Ukrainians desperately needed humanitarian aid, along with a wide range of weapons from artillery munitions to defensive systems.

The idea that Kevin McCarthy will be the leader of the pro-Putin wing of my party is stunning. Cheney said on NBC’s Meet the Press that it was dangerous.

I think that the fact that he is willing to sacrifice everything for his political gain tells you that he knows better.

Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — who recently declared that if Republicans win the House in next month’s elections that she expects McCarthy “to give me a lot of power and a lot of leeway” — blamed Ukraine for the war shortly after Russia’s attack, saying that “Ukraine just kept poking the bear and poking the bear, which is Russia, and Russia invaded.”

Conservative Fox News stars, including Laura Ingraham and especially Tucker Carlson, have been laying the groundwork with members of the Republican base, readying them for the possibility of an end to US assistance for Ukraine.

Carlson claimed that he was leaving his show in 2019 to root for Russia after there was a potential conflict between the neighboring countries. Carlson made up the story that Ukraine was not a democracy and called the Ukrainian leader a puppet of the Biden administration.

And just last week, Ingraham derided former Vice President Mike Pence for referring to the United States as the “arsenal of democracy” and suggested our massive military is too depleted to help other countries such as Ukraine. During that same episode, Ingraham welcomed GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, who echoed McCarthy’s comments about aid for Ukraine, saying, “We can’t put America first by giving blank checks to those around the world to solve their problems.”

Biden suggested that McCarthy and his fellow Republicans may or may not be able to comprehend it. There is one person who fully comprehends it: Vladmir Putin. Few people will have greater cause for celebration if the GOP wins back control of the House.

The Iran nuclear deal has become a topic of attention among Iran’s rivals and foes in the Middle East, NATO members and nations that are still interested in restoring the deal in order to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon.

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.

The United States and the West supported Ukraine due to that. The war in Ukraine reinvigorated NATO, even bringing new applications for membership from countries that had been committed to neutrality. It also helped reaffirm the interest of many in eastern European states – former Soviet satellites – of orienting their future toward Europe and the West.

There are repercussions to what happens far from the battlefields. When oil-producing nations, led by Saudi Arabia, decided last month to slash production, the US accused the Saudis of helping Russia fund the war by boosting its oil revenues. (An accusation the Saudis deny).

Israel and Ukraine have a strained relationship due to weapons supplies going to the Ukrainians. Israel refuses to provide those systems, citing its own strategic concerns, even though it has been asked by Ukraine.

The effect of months of military aid. It’s a completely different scale, but CNN reported last month the US is running low on some weapons systems and munitions it provides to Ukraine. Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives in the new year and they will promise to look at US aid for Ukraine more closely.

As the war nears its one-year anniversary, however, international support for Ukraine is being tested. European energy prices have gone up due to the sanctions on Moscow. The Republicans are poised to take control of the House of Representatives which means they wont approve massive new assistance packages for Ukraine.

Prices affect a lot of things. They come with a political punch when they’re strong. Inflation, worsened by the war, has put incumbent political leaders on the defensive in countless countries.

CNN’s State of Ukraine: An Insider’s Look at the U.S. midterm election results and Russia’s prospects for cooperation

It is 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 letter calling for negotiations was withdrawn by the Progressives. Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official during the Obama administration, said they’re all bringing “a big smile to Putin’s face.”

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

Turkey’s President will meet Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday. Sweden has to meet certain conditions before it can join NATO.

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

And, he added, the Russians are “willing to trade mobilized soldiers and artillery shells.” The Russians are expecting that “over time, NATO and the Western allies and Ukrainians won’t be willing to continue to make those trades. Eventually it will push them to negotiate. This is Putin’s bet, that’s what I think.

The Pentagon announced $400 million in additional aid for the country of Ukraine on November 4.

You can read the recaps here. For context and more in-depth stories, you can find more of NPR’s coverage here. You can listen to the State of Ukraine on NPR.

Seize the moment. Take the opportunity to ‘get out and play’, the US Joint Chief of Staff, and the Kremlin

“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.

The result is a growing debate inside the administration over whether Ukraine’s recent gains on the battlefield should spark a renewed effort to seek some sort of negotiated end to the fighting, according to officials.

The comments left administration officials unsurprised – given Milley’s advocacy for the position internally – but also raised concerned among some about the administration appearing divided in the eyes of the Kremlin.

A senior administration official said that Mr. Biden would not come to the meeting on Wednesday “with a message that is about pushing or prodding or poking Zelensky in any way” toward finding a diplomatic end to the war with Russia. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the trip had not been formally announced, said Russia had given no indication it was willing to engage in good-faith talks about ending the war.

In internal deliberations, officials said Milley has sought to make it clear that he is not urging a Ukrainian capitulation, but rather that he believes now is an optimal time to drive toward an end to the war before it drags into spring or beyond, leading to more death and destruction without changing the front lines.

There is no common view of that view in the administration. The State Department is on the other side of the pole. That dynamic has led to a unique situation where military brass are more fervently pushing for diplomacy than US diplomats.

The US is not a signatory to the 2010 ban, known as the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and maintains large stores of the munitions. The administration believes there are too many negatives to justify the use of cluster bombs and that they should not be used unless absolutely necessary. For the time being, the US doesn’t think the weapons are required for Ukrainian success on the battlefield.

The US plans to purchase 100,000 artillery rounds from South Korea so that it can provide to Ukraine during the high-intensity battles in the country, an official said. 100,000 155mm howitzer rounds will be purchased from the US and then sent to Ukraine through the US.

Xi and Putin: The perfect moment to make the United States a better place in the geopolitical crisis of the 21st century

State Department spokesperson Ned Price would not say Thursday whether the State Department agrees with Milley’s position. Instead, Price deflected to a position that US officials have often made in recent months: the US sides with Zelensky who has said that a diplomatic solution is needed.

Russia will do what Russia does, and we will do what we do. The official said that Zelensky should not be deterred from traveling if he sees fit to advance his people’s interests.

According to the White House and the Chinese government that is what happened. The two sides discussed sources of disagreement, including Taiwan’s autonomy, the war in Ukraine and China’s human rights record. Climate change, global health and economic stability are areas of potential cooperation.

A well-functioning democratic process in the US is likely disappointing to Xi and other autocrats hoping that deep divisions not only continue to weaken the country from within but also prove that democracy is chaotic and ineffective, inferior to their autocratic systems, as they like to claim. 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.

The president of the Ukranians made a triumphant return to Kherson, the one provincial capital that Russian invaders had conquered, after meeting with Biden and Beijing’s president.

Putin’s adventure turned to disaster as the Ukrainians defended their country with unexpected tenacity and as Biden rallied allies in a muscular push to support Ukraine.

By the time Xi and Putin met again in September, China had done little to support Russia militarily, and Putin admitted that Xi had “questions and concerns” about Ukraine. The Russian President was rebuked after he threatened to use nuclear weapons.

Putin avoided confrontations with world leaders at the G20 summit inBali, which is a testament to his growing pariah status on the global stage.

Andelman: The Problem of Xi and the State of the Art in the Age of Cosmic Warfare, the Challenge of Democracy, and the Challenges of War

The other leader with a strong hand, such as Biden, is not the only one. With a third term in office, as China’s leader,Xi can effectively rule for as long as he wants. He doesn’t have to worry about any of those things. He is essentially the absolute ruler of a mighty country for many years to come.

There are lots of daunting problems faced by China’s president. China is hesitant to reveal its economic data because of the slowing economy. China’s Covid-19 vaccine, once a tool of global diplomacy, is a disappointment. China is imposing lockdowns as the rest of the world slowly comes back to normal following the Pandemic.

Also crucial in the epochal competition between the two systems is showing that democracy works, defeating efforts of autocratic countries such as China and Russia to discredit it and proving that unprovoked wars of aggression, aimed at suppressing democracy and conquering territory, will not succeed.

Editor’s Note: David A. Andelman, a contributor to CNN, twice winner of the Deadline Club Award, is a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, author of “A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Might Still Happen” and blogs at Andelman Unleashed. He formerly was a correspondent for The New York Times and CBS News in Europe and Asia. The views expressed in the commentary are of his own. CNN has more opinion.

Putin-Poland missile Ukraineraine-nato-Andelman: a message to Putin, his country, and his country

Poland is not the only country facing repercussions from these attacks. Russian rockets have also knocked out power across neighboring Moldova, which is not a NATO member, and therefore attracted considerably less attention than the Polish incident.

One thing is clear, whatever the circumstances of the missile. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that Russia bears ultimate responsibility for its illegal war against Ukraine.

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.

Russian soldiers have rebelled at what they have been told to do and refuse to fight. The Defense Ministry of the UK believes that Russian troops may be prepared to shoot retreating or deserting soldiers.

The hotline and Telegram channel was launched as a Ukrainian military intelligence project, designed to assist Russian soldiers who are eager to defect, and has been busy in the first two months.

Kim did something similar to set up black market networks in North Korea to source what he needs to fuel his war machine. The United States has taken action against companies and individuals in multiple countries to source high-tech goods for Russia, a situation that has deteriorated since the fall of the Soviet Union.

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.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/opinions/putin-poland-missile-ukraine-nato-andelman/index.html

Russian forces are coming out of the war: What would Ukrainians do if they weren’t afraid to come to their deaths, as Putin warned against the consequences

The west tried to deprive the country of material resources in order to pursue this war and it wasn’t very successful. “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.

This conflict has proved to be a huge burden on the Western countries and so is Putin’s dream that this would drive more wedges into the Western alliance. On Monday, word began circulating in aerospace circles that the long-stalled joint French-German project for a next-generation jet fighter at the heart of the Future Combat Air System – Europe’s largest weapons program – was beginning to move forward.

Russian hopes that it would take control of eastern and southern parts of the country have been dashed in just nine months, the army on the defensive across more than 600 miles of battle lines.

Regardless of whether or not the truce is linked to negotiations, there is no real value to it. A truce gives Russia, its back increasingly to the wall militarily, vitally needed breathing room.

Michael Kofman, the director of Russian Studies at the CNA think tank, told me in an interview that a premature truce allows both parties to re-arm.

Russia is starting to rearm, according to experts. “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. What can be done about the production rate of bullets? He mentioned it.

There is information that shows the manufacture of weapons has shifted from two to three factories in Russia, according to Kofman. He said this suggested they wouldn’t double and triple shifts if they had component parts.

Petro Poroshenko told the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday that Ukrainians don’t understand negotiations. The killer comes to the house, kills your wife, rapes your daughter, takes the second floor, and opens the door to the second floor to let you in. I want to have a negotiation. What would be your reaction?”

The U.S. is ready to go back in time to fight the Russians: an email exchange between the US and the Ukrainians prompted by the recent events

“As well as giving the Russians time to regroup and rearm, importantly it would relieve the pressure on their forces at the moment,” General Mick Ryan, a fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told me in an email exchange. For the last nine months, they have been hard at it. Their forces are tired.

The images showed that at least 52 Russian ammunition depots had been hit by the Ukrainian military. It’s a good chunk of the 100 to 200 Russian depots that analysts believe are on the Ukrainian front, according to the report.

He stated that at some point, they will also get tired of this war. The Russian mindset may be changed to “we may not have everything we wanted”. But we’ll have a big chunk of the Donbas and will annex that into Russia and we’ll hold onto Crimea. I think they are making a bet right now.

A truce would also give the West more time to rebuild their rapidly diminishing arsenals, which has already been drained by materiel shipped to Ukraine.

The question of whether the US and its allies will be prepared to go back in time to fight was posed by recent events, but is still uncertain.

According to the first Ukrainian official and another source that is familiar with the request, the Ukrainians would like to use cluster munitions compatible with the US-supplied missiles and howitzers, which would allow them to more effectively attack larger, more dispersed targets.

The High-Energy Warfare in Ukraine: How a Secretary of State Can Respond to the Biden Administration’s Request

Senior Biden administration officials have been handling this request for months and have not rejected it completely.

Cluster munitions are imprecise by design, and scatter “bomblets” across large areas that can fail to explode on impact and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines. Mark Hiznay, an arms expert and associate arms director of Human Rights Watch, previously told CNN that they create “Nasty, bloody fragmentation” for anyone hit by them because of dozens of submunitions that explode at the same time.

The Biden administration has not stopped the option from being used if the stockpiles begin to run low. But sources say the proposal has not yet received significant consideration in large part due to the statutory restrictions that Congress has put on the US’ ability to transfer cluster munitions.

It’s possible that those restrictions will pose a risk to civilians because they apply to munitions with a higher unexploded ordnance rate. The administration has stated that it is unlikely that Biden will be able to overrule the restriction in the near term.

A congressional aide told CNN that the ability of Ukrainians to make gains in the current conflict is not dependent on their purchasing of weapons.

The Defense Ministry chose not to comment on the reports of requests for particular weapons systems or other specific information until an agreement with a supplier is reached.

When a concentration of Russian forces are present, theUkrainian official told CNN, DPICMs are more effective.

Putin’s “Heroes of Russia” speech addressed to soldiers in Donetsk during the 2016 Kremlin-Kuzmin-Vlasov ceremony

He addressed a group of soldiers with a glass of champagne after the awards ceremony for “Heroes of Russia”.

The reference to Kursk appears to reference Russia’s announcement that an airfield in the Kursk region, which neighbors Ukraine, was targeted in a drone attack. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has offered no comment on recent explosions, including in Kursk, which are deep within Russia. The country has declared its drones as able to reach the targets.

Who is not giving water to Donetsk? Putin asked during the awards ceremony. Not supplying water to a city of million is an act of genocide.”

After making comments that appeared off the cuff, he claimed that there was no mention of the water situation. No one has said anything about it. At the very least! Complete silence,” he said.

The Donetsk region: a struggle for the Russian-backed separatists and the Odesa region of Ukraine, as witnessed by the U.S. Army

Donetsk has been held by Russian-backed separatists for eight years and it is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow attempted to annex in October, in violation of international law.

He said that the strikes had left a lot in the dark. Mr. Zelensky called the situation in the Odesa region “very difficult,” noting that only the most critical infrastructure there remained operational. He warned that although repair crews were working “nonstop,” restoring power to civilians would take “days,” not “hours.”

Mr. Zelensky said that 10 of the 15 drones used by the Russians had been shot down by Ukraine. It wasn’t possible to verify his total.

The attacks on the plants and equipment that Ukrainians rely on for heat and light have drawn condemnation from world leaders, andUkraine has been put into a difficult cycle in which crews hurry to restore power only to have it knocked out again.

He said that there was an acute shortage of power in the system and urged people to reduce their power use.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: From a basketball player to a city of Bakhmut, a burned ruins, to the deaths of a volunteer

“Remember Pearl Harbor, terrible morning of December 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking you. Zelensky said to just remember it. On September 11, 2001 evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories, into battlefields. When innocent people were attacked, attacked from air, just like nobody else expected it, you could not stop it. Our country experiences the same thing every day.

Many are watching to see if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukranian after stepping up raids on churches accused of links with Moscow.

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.

Fans, friends and family celebrate the basketball player’s return to the United States after she was released from Russian prison. Meanwhile, some Republican politicians have been complaining about the prisoner swap and other U.S. citizens still held by Russia.

The new measures targeting Russian oil revenue took effect. They include a price cap and a European Union embargo on most Russian oil imports and a Russian oil price cap.

Russian forces turned the city of Bakhmut into burned ruins, Zelenskyy said. There has been a lot of fighting as Russia works to get into the city.

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

According to the mayor, a key intersection in the city had come under fire and over 40 rockets were fired at civilians.

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 volunteer, a member of the rapid response team of the international organization. They were fatally wounded by fragments of enemy shells when they were on the street.

Russian Defense Ministry Sensitivities to the Kremlin’s “Combat Duty” During the December 8th Battle of Kherson

The regional head of Kherson military administration stated that the city was completely disconnected from power supplies after the strikes.

The facility was hit by the enemy. A video on Thursday said Shell fragments damaged residential buildings and the place where the medical aid and humanitarian aid distribution point is located.

The west of the city received machinery and generators from the us to improve the city’s power infrastructure.

The Energy Security Project, which is run by the US Agency for International Development, delivered four excavators and over 130 generators. There was no charge for the equipment.

This week, the Kremlin also appeared to rebuff Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace solution that involved asking Russia to start withdrawing troops from Ukraine this Christmas – as the war approaches the 10-month mark.

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

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

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

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

“I find it ironic and very telling that officials from a country that brutally attacked its neighbor in an illegal and unprovoked invasion … that they would choose to use words like provocative to describe defensive systems that are meant to save lives and protect civilians,” Ryder told reporters.

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

Representing the Russian militia in the eastern part of Russia on the television, Commander Alexander Khodakovsky said that Russia could not defeat the alliance in a conventional war.

The NATO Legacy of the Cold War: Fortifications, trenches and the military response to Russian attacks in Ukraine’s border with Belarus

Unlike smaller air defense systems, Patriot missile batteries need much larger crews, requiring dozens of personnel to properly operate them. The training for Patriot missile batteries normally takes multiple months, a process the United States will now carry out under the pressure of near-daily aerial attacks from Russia.

Zelensky told The Economist that the US Secretary of State’s suggestion that only land seized by Russia since February 2000 should be taken back byUkraine was not in line with reality.

NATO has two main aims, one of which is to give aid to Ukraine and the other is to make sure there are no NATO involvement in the conflict, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Old gun. The US military official reported that the Russian forces have had to use 40-year-old weaponry as their supplies are rapidly diminishing.

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

In the trenches. CNN’s Will Ripley filed a video report from trenches and fortifications being built along Ukraine’s border with Belarus, where there is growing concern about Russia once again assembling troops. Ripley talked to the sewing machine repairman who is now a tank driver.

Zelensky in Kyiv, France: When Putin and Vladimir Putin met at the lysée Palace and won a Nobel Prize in 2019

In Paris at the time, I witnessed how Zelensky pulled up to the lysée Palace in a modest car, while Putin was driving an armored limo. (The host, French President Emmanuel Macron, hugged Putin but chose only to shake hands with Zelensky).

Zelensky is the instantly recognizable wartime president in trademark olive green; a leader who stirs the imaginations of people around the world, as well as naming and shaming allies who are slow to equip their military.

The images alone spoke with tremendous power, despite the eloquent speaker of the Ukrainian president. Biden held Zelensky on his shoulder. Many Congress members greeted him in a warm way. There were words in addition to that.

“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.”

It is perhaps easy to forget that Zelensky honed his political muscles earlier in his career standing up to another bully in 2019 – then-US President Donald Trump, who tried to bamboozle the novice politician in the quid pro quo scandal.

It seems like a long long time since Zelensky celebrated his win in a Kyiv nightclub, thanking his supporters for his huge victory. He was on stage among the confetti and looked a little shocked by his win over Petro Poroshenko.

The war appears to have turned his ratings around. Zelensky received a ratings approval of 90% just a few days after the invasion. Even Americans early in the war rated Zelensky highly for his handling of international affairs – ahead of US President Joe Biden.

His previous professional life as a TV comedian includes many people in his bubble. In the middle of war, a press conference held on the platform of a metro station in April featured perfect lighting and camera angles to emphasize a wartime setting.

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

When Volodymyr Zelensky visited the United States during the G7 crisis: Highlights from the Kremlin’s First Day in Washington

Zelensky is projecting confidence and competence in a modern way, to a younger, global audience that recognizes it as such by wearing T-shirts and hoodies.

She said that he was more comfortable than Putin on camera as an actor and as a digital native. “I believe both of them want to come across as relatable, not aloof or untouchable, although Zelensky is definitely doing a better job balancing authority with accessibility.”

Zelenska has shown that she is an effective communicator in international fora when she traveled to where her husband couldn’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, but it did mention her in the supporting text.

There are signs that the international influence of Zelensky could be waning despite the strong winds at his back. The G7 imposed a price cap on Russian crude oil despite pleas from Zelensky that it should have been set at $30 to cause more pain on the Kremlin.

When the world is united, it is the world, not the aggressor, that decides how events develop, said Zelensky in a recent video address.

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy returned from Washington, D.C. — having secured billions of dollars in U.S. aid and multiple standing ovations in Congress — the Kremlin was quick to criticize the trip.

The visit was intended to get Americans to continue supporting the country and show Ukrainians there is hope and resilience even when things are not going well.

Zelensky, who the official said was very keen to visit the US, determined those parameters met his needs, and the US set to work executing them. The trip was finally confirmed on Sunday.

The official said US troops would train Ukrainians to use the system in a third country. The training would happen at a US Army base in Germany, as reported by CNN.

What can we learn before using anonymous sources? Detecting Zelensky’s request for assistance in the crisis between Ukraine and Russia with the House of Representatives

What we consider before using anonymous sources. Do the sources know the information? What motivates them to tell us? Have they proved reliable in the past? Can we corroborate the information? The Times uses anonymous sources as a last resort despite the questions being satisfied. The reporter and at least one editor know the identity of the source.

In Washington, Republicans poised to take control of Congress have made clear they won’t rubber stamp each of Biden’s requests for Ukraine assistance – though fears funding will dry up completely appear unfounded. Almost $50 billion in additional security and economic assistance will be approved by Congress.

When Zelensky comes to Washington, he might be able to see a similar revelation that took place after months of air raid blackouts back home.

Zelensky’s appearance was facilitated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as one of her final acts before relinquishing the speaker’s gavel. Earlier this year she took a surprise visit of her own to meet with Zelensky in Kyiv.

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. The system would help Kyiv better counter Russia’s brutal missile attacks on cities and electricity installations, which it has mounted in an effective attempt to weaponize bitter winter weather to break the will of Ukrainian civilians.

Zelensky’s trip shows a crucial moment when the fate of the war between Ukraine and Russia could be decided before Russia regroups.

With Republicans set to take over the majority in the House in the new year, his visit to Congress will become even more important in the debate over Ukraine aid. 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.

The Russian War on Everybody: And What It Means for You? Zelensky’s Distortion of the First World War

In March, for instance, Zelensky evoked Mount Rushmore and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream Speech” during a virtual address to Congress. He said that Americans had two days of infamy in modern history because of the fear of aerial bombardment.

The wartime British leader sailed to the United States aboard HMS Duke of York, dodging U-boats in the wintery Atlantic and took a plane from the coast of Virginia to Washington, where he was met on December 22, 1941, by President Franklin Roosevelt before their joint press conference the next day.

Over days of brainstorming and meetings – fueled by Churchill’s regime of sherry with breakfast, Scotch and sodas for lunch, champagne in the evening and a tipple of 90-year-old brandy before bed – the two leaders plotted the defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan and laid the foundation of the Western alliance that Biden has reinvigorated in his support for Ukraine.

He knew the key to defeating Hitler would be US involvement in World War II and so during his visit he said, “I spend this anniversary andfestival far from my country and family, and yet I cannot say that I feel far from.”

The Ukrainian leader is likely to appreciate the historical parallels. He talked to British parliamentarians in emotional fashion, repeating one of the most famous speeches from the war.

Editor’s Note: Keir Giles (@KeirGiles) works with the Russia and Eurasia Programme of Chatham House, an international affairs think tank in the UK. He is the author of “Russia’s War on Everybody: And What it Means for You.” The views expressed in the commentary are of his own. Read more about it on CNN.

It is believed that repetition of the narrative that any one of a wide range of events that Russia dislikes will ensure an escalation of the Third World War has influenced US and Western behavior.

Russia’s UN Security Council veto and fear of Nuclear propaganda have given it a free pass to behave as it chooses without fear of interference from a global community.

That sets a disastrous example for other aggressive powers around the world. It says you can wage genocidal wars of destruction against your neighbors because other nations won’t intervene.

There are two key headline deliverables: first, the Patriot missile systems. Complex, accurate, and expensive, they have been described as the US’s “gold standard” of air defense. NATO preciously guards them, and they require the personnel who operate them – almost 100 in a battalion for each weapon – to be properly trained.

The second are precision-guided munitions for Ukrainian jets. Russia and Ukraine have a lot of weapons that are fired towards a target. Western standard precision military equipment has been given to the country of Ukraine.

The exception of Moscow’s nuclear forces seems to be running out of new cards to play, as the city is struggling to equip and rally its conventional forces. China and India have joined the West in open statements against the use of nuclear force, which has made that option even less likely.

Vladimir Zelensky: “Your money is not charity” and “what we will do about it,” Hillary Clinton tweeted on Wednesday night urging the United States to drop the Snowman

This is trickier. Congress’s likely new Speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, has warned the Biden administration cannot expect a “blank cheque” from the new GOP-led House of Representatives.

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.

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

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 unforgettable evening, capping off a momentous day in history.

“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 the global security and democracy, that we handle in the most responsible way.”

Zelensky spoke at the White House about his fight against tyranny and said they would win.

He handed Pelosi a Ukrainian flag that was signed by soldiers in the besieged area of Bakhmut to ask her to support the country. He carried the flag out of the chamber after he was handed it by her.

Zelensky inspired both Democrats and Republicans who understand what is at stake in this fight against Putin and Russian aggression and now with Iran as well, she said.

The speech made a connection between the struggle of the Ukrainian people and our own revolution, as well as to make us think about the families stuck in the cold with no heat in their homes for Christmas.

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

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

Zelensky at the end of the Cold War: The battle for a resolution of the Iraq crisis and the dilemma of ending the war

Shrouded in secrecy until the last minute, the historic visit was heavy with symbolism, from Zelensky’s drab green sweatshirt to President Joe Biden’s blue-and-yellow striped tie to the Ukrainian battle flag unfurled on the House floor.

Yet as Zelensky departed Washington for a lengthy and similarly risky return trip to Ukraine, it wasn’t clear that a pathway to ending the conflict was any clearer.

Emerging from their talks, both men made clear they see the war entering a new phase. As Russia sends more troops to the frontlines and wages a brutal air campaign against civilian targets, fears of a stalemate are growing.

But on Wednesday, Zelensky used bellicose rhetoric that suggested such a peace was not close, saying the road to ending the war would not involve making concessions to Russia.

“For me as a president, just peace is not negotiable.” he said, indicating he doesn’t see any road to peace in which Ukraine gives up territory or sovereignty.

Later, in his address to Congress, Zelensky said he’d presented a 10-point peace formula to Biden – though US officials said afterward it was the same plan he offered to world leaders at the Group of 20 summit last month.

For his part, Biden said it was up to Zelensky to “decide how he wants to the war to end,” a long-held view that leaves plenty of questions unanswered.

Zelensky spoke about several important battles in American history, from the Battle of Saratoga in the American Revolutionary War to the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

He delivered his address in English as he telegraphed ahead of time. His army green shirt, pants and boots seemed designed to remind his audience that they were in the presence of a wartime leader.

Zelensky and the Russian Revolution: An American Perspective on the World’s Most Complex Relationships, and a Question for Biden

Zelensky has demonstrated an ability to connect with his audience, and this can be seen in his popularity among national legislatures or the audience of the Grammys.

He sought to evoke the feelings of Americans when Russia attempted to interrupt the power supply in his country.

Ukrainians will be celebrating Christmas by candles, not because they are beautiful, but because there is no electricity. Russia destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.

But he also seemed aware that many Americans – including some Republicans in Congress – have wondered aloud why billions of US dollars are needed for a conflict thousands of miles away. He was attempting to make the cause more than just his homeland.

Zelensky had a question for Biden, who responded with a joke about the world’s most complicated relationships.

That hasn’t always sat well with Biden or his team. But as he has with a host of other foreign leaders, Biden appeared intent Wednesday on translating physical proximity into a better understanding of his counterpart.

“It is all about looking someone in the eye. I mean that very sincerely. He said that there was no substitute for looking at someone in the eye and facing them face to face.

The Battle of Bakhmut with Russia: The Victorious Case of Zelensky: A Wartime For The People, Not the USA

CNN adapted the December 22 edition of their Meanwhile in America, a daily email about US politics for global readers. Click here to read past editions and subscribe.

The comic actor-turned-wartime hero put the fate of millions of Ukrainians in the hands of American politicians and taxpayers at a time when there is growing skepticism regarding the cost of US involvement.

Zelensky gave the speaker and vice president a Ukrainian flag he retrieved from the battle front at Bakhmut after delivering a powerful speech in the House chamber.

He said that the flag was being brought to Congress and members of the House and Senate because of their decisions that could save millions of people.

His broader message was that Ukraine’s fight was not just some flashpoint over an ancient grudge on the fringes of the old Soviet empire. It was that his fight is America’s and everyone’s – to hold back tyranny and save global democracy.

But Zelensky’s inspirational rhetoric and heroic bearing couldn’t disguise the uncertainties and risks of a war in which the US is effectively now fighting a proxy battle with its nuclear superpower rival, Russia.

— To Americans, Zelensky professed deep thanks for tens of billions of dollars in weapons and aid offered and to come. They cannot abandon this independence hero without also suppressing something of their own patriotism.

There were some House Republicans who wanted to halt aid that were welcomed by the Ukrainian leader’s hero’s welcome in the chamber.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/22/world/volodymyr-zelensky-grit-defiance/index.html

Zelensky, the enemy is in the details: The message to the white house on Russia and the future of the European war on terrorism

— To Europeans, enduring their own grim winter of high electricity and heating prices after cutting off from Russian energy, and who may be minded to push for an end to the conflict on Putin’s terms, Zelensky showed that the West is united and that Biden means it when he said Wednesday the US is in “for as long as it takes.”

“What’s going to happen after Patriots are installed? Zelensky said during the White House news conference that they would send another signal to President Biden after that. In his address to Congress, he said: “We have artillery, yes, thank you. We have it. Is it enough? Not really. Both times, he was joking but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t deadly serious. Zelensky called on Washington to send more offensive weapons in an address to Congress.

The president wants to defend a European democracy while trying to avoid a confrontation with Russia, so he limits the power of the weapons he gives to the battle, but also makes sure to avoid crossing invisible red lines.

You want to give everything that Ukraine has to give? Biden explained to the White House that pushing a large force into Ukraine would break the consensus needed to support the war.

Zelensky made it clear that he did not believe a blank check forUkraine would be okay with House Speaker-designate Kevin McCarthy.

However, given partisan fury that will erupt in a divided Washington next year, there is no guarantee that America’s lawmakers will even be able to fund their own government – let alone one fighting for its survival thousands of miles away.

The Battle of the Bulge for the American People: Volodymyr Zelensky Returns to the White House after the World War II

Fresh from a trip to the bloody front lines in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky strode onto the ornate US House floor on Wednesday evening in his signature green military wear to shore up his supply line.

On the dais where heads of state usually sport suits, Zelensky embraced the look of a warrior as he used confident English to claim “joint victory” in what he said was the defeat of Russia in the “battle for minds of the world.”

Although he did not mention the elephant in the room, the speech was a clear plea to Republican lawmakers, who will control the House in January, to stay with Ukraine.

His remarks came as Congress had been planning to vote this week on a year-long spending bill that includes roughly $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies.

Zelensky did not think Wednesday’s reception at the White House was what he wanted it to be when Donald Trump called for him to investigate Biden. Zelensky was thanking Americans for their assistance against Russia in the same room where Trump was impeached three years ago.

He returned to US military history Wednesday, referring to the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, when US troops were surrounded in the snow after gaining a foothold in Europe on D-Day.

“Just like the brave American soldiers, which held their lines and fought back Hitler’s forces during the Christmas of 1944, brave Ukrainian soldiers are doing this same to Putin’s forces this Christmas,” Zelensky said.

He already established that the American people are in this together, but he said that they will finish the job and give us the tools. That’s what Churchill said,” Kearns Goodwin told CNN’s Anderson Cooper Wednesday evening.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/22/politics/zelensky-speech-house-republicans-analysis/index.html

Zelensky’s war in Ukraine: What is the fate of the U.S. and how it will affect the American public?

In the US and around the world, anaddress to Congress is the most important platform for a foreign president. It is very different from Putin who canceled his year-end press conference.

Zelensky, and also to Biden, it is clear that this is the time for the US public to re-engagement with the world, as Russia continues to wage its war and there is no sign of an end in sight.

There was more than one reason for it to be substantive, and it was because of the money the White House promised to Ukraine in a larger spending bill.

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.

The only Ukrainian-born member of Congress, Indiana GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz, has expressed skepticism about some of the aid to Ukraine and concerns about corruption in Zelensky’s administration.

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.

In a statement, the foreign ministry said that Russia condemns what it calls “monstrous crimes” of the “regime in Ukranian.” After the Zelensky summit in the White House, the US president promised more military support to Ukraine.

Maria Zakharova said that no matter how much military support the Western world gives to the Ukrainian government they won’t achieve anything.

“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 told journalists, however, that Wednesday’s meeting showed the US is waging a proxy war of “indirect fighting” against Russia down “to the last Ukrainian.”

The Russian public is mostly buying that line, which the Kremlin has been selling, according to a Russian history professor.

Zelenskyy and Ukraine want “just peace,” and the U.S. has been helping the country defend itself against Russian aggression, says Sloat.

Moscow had warned last week that it would see the reported delivery of Patriot missiles to Ukraine as “another provocative move by the U.S.” Does Sloat worry this could provoke a Russian escalation?