Putin has a clear preference in the vote in two years

Vladimir Putin’s decision about the annexation of Ukrainian territory and the fate of the Russian flag: Military actions against Russia and the Western world

Moscow’s problems have been made worse by the illegal annexation of four territories of Ukraine, which it doesn’t have control over.

The other areas, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, are both in southern Ukraine and have been occupied by Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began in late February.

Putin, however, attempted to claim that the referendums reflected the will of “millions” of people, despite reports from the ground suggesting that voting took place essentially – and in some cases, literally – at gunpoint.

It’s your decision if we are all going to exist. Whether Ukraine is going to exist. Every day. Every hour. It is you – Ukrainian soldiers – which will decide it,” he said.

The Russian president framed the annexation as an attempt to fix what he sees as a great historical mistake that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He said that despite Russia’s threats about nuclear weapons, there has been no detected change in Russia’s nuclear posture, but Putin’s rhetoric “is by itself reckless and dangerous.”

Although it was condemned by the international community, Russia will continue with its plans to fly its flag over 100,000 square miles of Ukrainian territory, the largest forcible annexation of land in Europe since 1945.

The Russian leader spoke in the chandeliered St. George’s Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace — the same place where he declared in March 2014 that the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was part of Russia.

Russian politicians and officials looked on as Putin was joined by leaders from the Moscow-backed, Kremlin-appointed regions.

The West is engaged in a long campaign to topple Putin, so it would not be a good idea to dismiss his claims. While conventional victory may be beyond Russia, Putin could live with a long war that cripples more Ukrainian cities, kills more Ukrainians, and causes Western governments billions of dollars in lost revenue.

He spoke about some of the military actions taken by the western world, from the British Opium War in China in the 19th century to Allied firebombings of Germany and the Vietnam and Korean Wars.

Vladimir Putin and the Ukraine crisis: The role of nuclear weapons in the war and the prospects for diplomacy – a timely warning from the Kremlin

Over the past few years, Putin has occasionally said that he might use nuclear weapons in response to an increasing influx of Western weapons and aid to Kyiv. Putin said that Russia would not be the first to use such weapons, when asked by a member of the Human Rights Council. He said Russia would not be able to use nuclear weapons at all if it agreed not to use them first and then came under a nuclear strike.

But with the ability to target major Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Russia has shown that it can still cause immense damage and dislocation. Russia and Ukraine conflict is one of the most dangerous phases since the beginning of the year. Tensions were already high from Putin’s earlier statements suggesting that tactical nuclear weapons remain on the table.

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

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

The two eastern regions that Mr. Putin considers his primary prize are known as the Donbas and the Kremlin could proclaim a victory at a time when it is being criticized for not doing enough to stop recent gains by Ukrainian forces.

The recent draft of hundreds of thousands of Russia’s civilians into military service, faced opposition in the country, is one of the hurdles that Mr. Putin has to overcome to regain control over the war.

From the Warsaw castle, Biden intends to recommit to supporting Ukraine, even as the costs mount and public support appears to wane. And in Moscow, Putin will deliver a major speech to the Federal Assembly, in which he will discuss his own views of the ongoing war, which US and European officials believe has reached an important juncture.

The people made a choice, said Putin in the ceremony. “And that choice won’t be betrayed” by Russia, he said.

The situation is complicated by the fact that there is no prospect of a diplomatic process to end the war. Russia appears to have troops on the run after an invasion that has caused a lot of human carnage, but Ukraine is not interested in talking. Putin cannot afford any outcome to the war that looks like anything other than total victory even though his control over the Russian media might allow him to spin a loss into a win.

What Putin’s “Russia and the Newly Integrated Territories are together forever” proclaimed in Moscow in 2006 after the fall of the Soviet Union

Ahead of a concert and a rally at the Kremlin, banners with “Russia and the Newly Integrated Territories are together forever” printed on them were being put up.

The move ends a week in which the Kremlin created referendums in Russian occupied territories that supposedly gave overwhelming approval to joining Russia.

“The United States will not recognize Russia’s claims on the territory of the former Yugoslavia,” Biden said. The results of this referenda were made in Moscow and they were a sham.

The decision, which was made by Putin, was framed as a historical justice following the breakdown of the Soviet Union, which left Russian speakers separated from their homeland.

Western officials have pointed to the timing as evidence of Kremlin desperation to solidify Russian gains before their lines collapse further. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of trying to get people in annexed areas to join the military campaign.

Formal ratification of the territories into the Russian Federation will now move to Russia’s parliament and constitutional court — whose approval is widely seen as a foregone conclusion.

In the midst of a Ukrainian counteroffensive, the Russian government is trying to deploy 300,000 additional troops to bolster its military campaign.

Meanwhile, Russian officials have openly warned that the newly incorporated territories would be entitled to protections under Russia’s nuclear umbrella.

That may be the case. But Putin made clear in his speech that there was no prospect of the war ending soon. In telling Russians the conflict was critical to their own nation’s existence and part of an effort by the West to attack Russia, he set the stage for months more bloodshed and narrowed even further already distant avenues for some kind of face-saving exit if Russia does not prevail.

There are many of the best and brightest who have left Russia. Writers, artists, journalists and some of the most creative technologists, scientists and engineers are included.

CNN is unable to verify the Russian figures, but the 40 kilometers (around 25 miles) traffic tailbacks at the border with Georgia, and the long lines at crossings into Kazakhstan and Finland, speak to the backlash and the strengthening perception that Putin is losing his fabled touch at reading Russia’s mood.

Kortunov says he doesn’t know what goes on in the Kremlin but that he understands the public mood over the huge costs and loss of life in the war. People would start asking questions about why we get into this mess. Why, you know, we lost so many people.”

He used the same tactics as when he annexed Black Sea territories from Ukraine, which is why he’s threatening nuclear strikes should the West try to get the annexed territories back.

US officials fear that Putin might use a smaller nuclear weapon to try and change the course of the war. The White House warned the Kremlin that such a decision would lead to a dangerous escalation and that they wouldn’t say what their response would be, though there is speculation that NATO could target Russian forces.

The Impact of Russian Nuclear Forces on Ukrainian Orthodox Jews in the Donbas Sea, Ukraine, since Vladimir Putin’s Decay of Nord Stream

The first shock hit at 2 a.m. local time, and the second hit at 7 p.m.

Within hours, roiling patches of sea were discovered, the Danes and the Germans sent warships to secure the area, and Norway increased security around its oil and gas facilities.

The Nord Stream pipeline sabotage could, according to Hill, be a last roll of the dice by Putin, so that “there’s no kind of turning back on the gas issues. Europe is not going to be able to build up its gas reserves for the winter. Putin is throwing everything at this right now.

Russian naval vessels were seen by European security officials in the area in the days prior, Western intelligence sources have said. NATO’s North Atlantic Council has described the damage as a “deliberate, reckless and irresponsible act of sabotage.”

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 shift shows that domestic pressure on Russia went to the point where President Putin thought a brutal show of force was necessary.

If Russia can get the West talking about peace negotiations, it could bode well for President Putin, who is unlikely to see that as a path to peace in the near future.

Putin is expected to tell France and Germany that they need to end the war, that they need to protect their territories at any cost, and that they should put pressure on the Ukrainians to settle.

Moscow’s pattern of wrong decisions is not comforting. It leaves the use of its nuclear arsenal as something of a wild card still. We know the consequences of nuclear weapons use for their victims and ordinary Russians. But that’s not stopped Putin up to now.

For Ukrainian Orthodox Jews Asher and David Cherkaskyi, a father and son both fighting on the front lines in the eastern Donbas region, beating Russia has become especially important to them because of their faith.

The battle is not just for Ukrainians or any other nation that Russia attempts to conquer, he said. “This struggle will define what world our children and grandchildren will live in and their children and grandchildren.”

Jewish Patriots: The Story of David Cherkaskyi, the Ukrainian Jew and the First Day of Atonement in the Soviet Union

NPR met the father and son in July, and caught up with them again by phone in September as Jews around the world were celebrating Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, and prepared for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which begins Tuesday evening.

“If you said you were Jewish, you’d be downgraded in school. And if you were fighting in the army, you wouldn’t get a medal no matter how brave you were. He says that you’d be sent to the most dangerous places. I remember the stories of how we were being humiliated and intimidated. Jews are thought to be inferior. Only Russians were good enough to rule in the Soviet Union.

Ukraine first declared independence from Russia in 1918, doing so in an elegant, whitewashed building in the center of Kyiv that still stands and now serves as the offices for the Kyiv House of Teachers.

The Cherkaskyis were in Dnipro, just hours before David was to be deployed to the front in the Donbas. The city has a large Jewish population and one of the world’s top sofruts, a center of religious calligraphy where the Torah and other Jewish parchments are inscribed by hand.

Asher says he first began to identify as a Ukrainian Jew in 2014, during Russia’s occupation of Crimea, where his family lived. He remembers the trumped-up referendum over unifying with Russia.

Asher Cherkaskyi says the so-called voting process the Kremlin just staged in an attempt to justify seizing four Ukrainian regions was even tougher and more cynical than Crimea’s referendum.

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

Russian soldiers in Donetsk, Ukraine, killed in the February 24 anti-demolition campaign: “The light to overcome the darkness approaching Europe and the whole world from the Russian Federation”

But this past Rosh Hashana, Asher says they were able to celebrate as usual, with blessings, apples and honey. And, he says, they said a “a prayer for the light to overcome the darkness approaching Europe and the whole world from the Russian Federation.”

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

Putin was able to weather the unrest with his formidable and well-funded security apparatus, much as he was able to crack down on antiwar protests that broke out right after the February 24 invasion. And in the months that followed mobilization, Russia made some slow, grinding advances in Ukraine’s Donbas region, particularly around the embattled city of Bakhmut.

The losses have sparked an unusual amount of criticism from pro-Russian propagandists critical in recent days. One prominent Russian pro-government tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, said Russian forces had to retreat in the strategically important city of Lyman because they lacked manpower and communicated poorly, and commanding officers there made “mistakes.”

The timing was even worse. Putin lost Lyman just as he was publicly declaring that the Donetsk region – in which Lyman sits – was now annexed by Russia.

The soldiers were forced to retreat because of their battles with NATO troops, the soldiers said in interviews on the Sunday broadcast.

He addressed a group of soldiers who received awards at the Heroes of Russia ceremony. He said that they were doing the attacks. Who started it?

The broadcast was meant to convince Russians who have doubts about the war or feel anger over a plan to call up 300,000 civilians that they will be blamed by the West for any hardship they bear regardless of the war’s outcome.

The idea that Russia is fighting a wider campaign was repeated by the father of the daughter who died in the car bomb in August.

Both sides – Russia and Ukraine with its western backers – are doing their best to turn the screws ahead of a winter which could ultimately decide who will win the most titanic clashes of forces in Europe since the Second World War. It’s worth a deep look at what’s in play right now.

Mr. Putin and Mr. Dugin both accused the Western countries of damaging the gas lines, which happened after underwater explosions last month in what both European and Russians called an act of sabotage.

“The West already accuses us of blowing up the gas pipeline ourselves,” he said. We have to understand the war with the western world on a scale that it is unfolding. We must join this battle with an enemy who will use any means possible to destroy us, even including the detonation of gas pipes.

The nonstop messaging campaign may be working, at least for now. Many Russians think that the West is threatening them, according to a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

During those first weeks of the war last year, it was anger that fueled me. Anger that these Russians with their tanks and artillery and planes should decide they had the right to take away our freedom; anger that they should decide we Ukrainians can’t have a democratic future.

The deputy leader of the occupied Kherson region stated that the Russian military was regrouping.

As the war nears its one-year anniversary, however, international support for Ukraine is being tested. Sanctions on Moscow have contributed to higher energy prices, particularly in Europe, which is heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas. In the United States, Republicans who are poised to take control of the House of Representatives have signaled they won’t quickly approve massive new assistance packages for Ukraine.

The West supported Ukrainians, led by the United States. 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.

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

US officials have said they hope the massive influx of weaponry to Ukraine – which includes new vehicles, longer-range missiles, and Patriot air defense systems – can help Ukraine prevail on the battlefield and put the country in a stronger position to negotiate an end to the war.

“What we’re seeing now is a kind of change in the battlefield dynamics,” Austin said. They have done a good job in the area and moved to take advantage of the opportunities. The fight in the – the Kherson region’s going a bit slower, but they’re making progress.”

On the Russian Response to Musk’s Land Grab in the First Ukrainian Referendum: “Immediate halt to actions undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity and violation of international law”

The contests have been widely panned as a farce that failed to meet internationally recognized standards of free and fair elections. Reports from the ground suggested that voting took place both essentially and literally at gunpoint.

Putin claimed that he was surprised by the results and that the regions will be developed while helping strengthen the country as a whole.

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

But when he was captured last week in the east, he was dressed in camouflage, like a member of the Russian military, but without a flag to signify his loyalties. To keep him warm, the Ukrainian soldiers gave him a Russian parka they had lying around in their trench.

“He came out of the forest and went to our positions,” said Serhiy, one of the Ukrainian soldiers who had found Aleksandr, recounting the capture to a pair of reporters from The New York Times visiting their position near the front line.

There has been little time for reflection for the Ukrainians as they press their counterattack, focused on keeping the pressure on the retreating Russian army to prevent it from regrouping. Yet after months in the trenches never seeing the faces of the enemy, Ukrainian soldiers and commanders have now engaged the Russians up close and gotten a chance to size up their opponent.

Musk proposed re-doing elections under the supervision of the United Nations in the regions of the country that have recently been annexed by Russia. The land grab, covering nearly a fifth of Ukraine, followed referendums that have been widely dismissed as “shams” by much of the world.

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

During the early part of the war in Ukraine, Musk and his companies became involved because of the distribution of Starlink internet terminal which can be used from anywhere with power and a clear view of the sky.

But his latest musings were not well-received by Ukrainian officials, after a months-long war that has left a trail of untold devastation in the region.

The Ukranian news outlet, Kyiv Post, responded to Musk’s poll by referencing his South African birthplace. “Elon, you’re a cool guy and thanks for the Starlink If you could vote on things you know about, it would be wonderful. The publication did not agree with the way votes are carried out on apartheid and Nelson.

When he first posted his defense, Musk implied that there was little chance of victory forUkraine, especially after it recently began retaking territory in its northeast.

One day after Musk spoke on foreign policy, his company said delivery and production numbers for the third quarter were lower than expected. It also comes as his legal battle with Twitter heats up over his attempt to back out of his proposed $44 billion deal to buy the company.

The battle against the cruel regime: The case of Mahsa Amini, a martyred girl in Ukraine, and the death of her husband in Iran

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

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

For decades autocrats have been gaining ground while democracies looked almost spent, in retreat. When we least expected it, there was a ferocious pushback against two of the most brazen tyrannies. In Ukraine and in Iran, the people have decided to defy the odds for the sake of their dignity, freedom and self-determination.

These battles show bravery that is almost unbelievable to other people, and is inspiring support in places like Afghanistan.

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

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

It’s why the women are climbing on cars, waving their hijab and gathering a crowd of supporters in city streets and universities, where security forces are opening fire to try and silence them.

Putin’s first trip outside the Soviet Union since February 2015: Iran’s cyber crisis and its influence on the U.S. military and cybersecurity

Russia has been a dominant military force in Syria since 2015, helping to keep the government in power. Changes in power in one of the world’s most complex conflict areas could lead to Israel rethinking it’s stance in the Ukraine conflict.

Zelensky has become the international personification of Ukrainian resistance and has been asking for support throughout the year. He remained inside his country for the duration of the war because he wanted to rally behind his country and face the uncertainty of security outside of Ukranian.

For eight long years prior to Russia’s disastrous and brutal invasion of its neighbor in February, the Kremlin instead waged a limited war in the east of the country, throwing that eastern border region into a state of turmoil, all while raining down cyberattacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure far beyond any war zone. When it came to the Russian hacking that had hit Ukrainian computers and infrastructure, many military and cybersecurity watchers around the globe warned that it was a template that could be used outside of Russia.

The list of “foreign agents” and “non-desirable” organizations added weekly is intended to damage their reputation among the Russian public.

Is it any wonder that Putin’s first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the start of his Ukraine war was to Iran? Is it any wonder Iran has trained Russian forces and is now believed to have provided Russia with advanced drones to kill Ukrainians?

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

Iran’s prisons are filled with regime critics and courageous journalists – including Niloofar Hamedi, first to report what happened to Mahsa Amini. Journalism is a very dangerous profession in Russia. So is criticizing Putin. Putin’s people manufactured charges to keep Navalny in a prison indefinitely, after he tried to kill the opposition leader.

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

Do you think it will be Putin’s grip on power that is unquestioned? The country is in the middle of another wave of activism. There are signs of elite competition emerging in Moscow even though some Russians are seeing through the wall of state propaganda.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he expects the situation to stabilize in four war-torn regions of Ukraine after signing legislation to annex them on Wednesday, despite the fact that Russia’s military does not fully control those areas.

However, pro-Russian media has been uncommonly critical of the war effort in recent days, delivering gloomy reports that Russia’s campaign is suffering an operational crisis while Ukraine takes advantage on the battlefield.

Russian forces have retreated from previously held settlements in the south of the country, where Ukrainians continue to push towards the Russian-occupied city of Kherson.

Vladimir Putin meets the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Sergei Peskov, on Wednesday for teachers’ day televised by the Kremlin

In a bid to celebrate the news, Putin took the opportunity in a televised meeting for Teachers’ Day to congratulate educators from “all 89 regions of Russia,” a number that includes the newly annexed territories.

Rogov also said that Ukrainians “have concentrated significant number of militants in Zaporizhzhia direction” and that the risk of storming the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “remains high”.

The Ukrainian forces have moved to the river bank and will need to take down some of the Russian troops that left the west bank of the Dnipro River. But those that are there will probably either surrender or in essence be eliminated from the fight.”

Zelensky expressed his gratitude to the military units involved in the operation — “absolutely everyone, from privates to generals, the Armed Forces, intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Guard — all those who brought this day closer for Kherson region.”

In Kherson region, he said that Liubymivka, Khreshchenivka, Zolota Balka, Biliaiivka, Ukraiinka, Velyka, Mala Oleksandrivka, and Davydiv Brid had all been reclaimed, “and this is not a complete list.”

Zelensky on Wednesday assembled his top military and security staff to consider plans for “further liberation of Ukrainian territories,” according to the readout of the meeting from the President’s office.

When pressed to clarify by CNN, Peskov added: “You should read the decree; there is a legal wording there. The Russian Federation adopted the territory at the time the military-civilian administration operated there.

The US military had assessed that it would take as long as until May for the Russian military to regenerate enough power for an offensive, but Russian leaders wanted action sooner. The US now sees it as likely that Russian forces are moving before they are ready due to political pressure from the Kremlin, the senior US military official told CNN.

The phrase “regrouping” was used by the Russian defense ministry in September when they described the retreat of the Russian military from Izium after it was captured by the Ukrainians.

Alexander Slad Chekhov, a leading Russian war correspondent, blamed the United States for the loss of 17 settlements in the Kherson region.

Alexander is a correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda who is embedded with the Russian military in occupied eastern Ukraine and he told his Telegram followers on Wednesday that they don’t have the manpower to hold off the next Ukrainian advance.

Kots confirmed that Russian forces were trying to fortify their defense at the line connecting the occupied cities of Kreminna and Svatova. Yuriy Podolyaka, a pro-Russian military blogger said on Monday that Russian troops had withdrawn to the Zherebets River, which runs just west of Kreminna and Svatova.

The U.S. War on Tactical Nuclear Weapons: A First Interview with Sergei Sergei Slobodanskii Sladkov

They do not have any problems with the intelligence data that they are using. We’re just waiting for our reserves to join the battle.

In an interview with Russia 24, a state media reporter said that it will become even harder in the future due to the hard time on the frontline.

“This doesn’t mean that we’ve collapsed like a house of cards. These mistakes aren’t gigantic strategic failures. We are still learning new things. I know this is hard to hear in our eighth month of the special operation. We are reporters. We are waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

He said it was like getting thumped on your melon. We have suffered losses. But it is war. These kinds of events happen in war. [Reinforcements] are coming, along with their equipment. I do not lie or engage in propaganda. I am a regular reporter who is reporting on what is happening.

Sladkov’s admission on State TV was his second in less than a month, after he previously admitted that Russian forces had endured heavy losses on September 13, a Tuesday. At the beginning of this Tuesday’s interview, Sladkov quipped: “I only tell the truth on Tuesdays, and for other days I just make everything up.”

The Ukrainian government, at least, seems to be taking him at his word. There is a high risk that Russia might use tactical nuclear weapons, which are not as powerful as nuclear weapons, according to an adviser to the president.

A trip to neighboring Poland was mentioned in Biden’s public program, but he always had plans to visit Europe to commemorate the anniversary of the Russian invasion. But a journey across the Atlantic that lacked a Ukrainian component would have been unsatisfactory given that fact that many European leaders have already visited Kyiv. While the security footprint of the US president is larger than that of those leaders, his position as the leader of the West leaves him more exposed.

He is serious when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is not doing very well.

US officials said there is no sign of Russia moving or readying its tactical nuclear weapons, which can be small enough to hit soldier formations or large enough to destroy a city.

What Is Putin Wanted From His Own Regime, and How Is He Trying to Get Out of the Cold War? A Remark on Kennedy’s Run Down the Road

“I’m trying to figure out what is Putin’s off ramp,” Biden said. Where is he able to find a way out? Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face but significant power within Russia?” Biden said.

The President may have been thinking about the Cuban missile crisis that JFK spoke of in his graduation address at American University in Washington in 1963, when he talked about the risks of weapons of mass destruction.

“Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war,” Kennedy said.

It would be useless to adopt this kind of approach in the nuclear age, because it would be proof that our policy is bankrupt and we wish the world harm.

The entire strategic logic between maintaining nuclear weapons for self-defense is that they are too terrible to be used, and any nation that did would be writing their own death warrant.

“I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” Biden said at the fundraiser.

The abandoned Russian armored vehicle was found by a battalion commander as he ran down a road with his men after Russian soldiers retreated. Inside there was a sniper rifle, rocket propelled grenades, helmets and belongings. The men were gone.

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

Instigation of the Great Patriotic War in Russia by the Soviet Union During the Russian Revolution and Donald Trump’s Referendum on Russia

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

He asserts that the war inUkraine was instigated by Russia since they have always been part of it, even though Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.

According to a recent book, the Soviets planned to set up a puppet government and leave Afghanistan as soon as possible after they invaded it in 1979.

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

I think we will see more attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure by the Russians, as well as more Iranian-supplied drones, which underscores the importance of doing all that we can to further limit the Russian arms industries.

Ukraine said on Monday that 30 out of 35 missiles were stopped, which is a high success rate. NATO has its best technology on the table to help win the war or at least hold Russia back.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was preceded by the withdrawal of the Soviet forces from Afghanistan.

The Romanov monarchy was weakened after the Russian loss in the Japanese war in 1905. Czar Nicholas II’s feckless leadership during the First World War then precipitated the Russian Revolution in 1917. Subsequently, much of the Romanov family was killed by a Bolshevik firing squad.

On February 22nd, the day before Russia invaded easternUkraine, Donald Trump publicly said that the Russian dictator was a genius and that he was savvy for moving his troops there.

The Great Patriotic War in Russia is one of the central features of Putinism. The Russian party of war has praised the methods used by the Red Army to fight the Wehrmacht, including using punishment battalions and sending soldiers accused of desertion as cannon fodder.

The economic damage has already put an end to Putin’s reputation for providing stability, a key basis of his support among Russians who remember the chaotic years that followed the collapse of the USSR.

“First of all, we need to stop lying,” said Andrei Kartopolov, a former colonel-general in the Russian military and a member of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. Many times before, we brought this up. It seems that it isn’t getting through to individual senior figures.

TheMinistry of Defense was misleading the public about cross-border strikes in the Russian regions of Ukraine, said Kartapolov.

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

There is no need for the entireMinistry of Defense of the Russian Federation to be shadowed because of incompetent commanders, traitors, and other things. “Indeed, many say that the Minister of Defense [Sergei Shoigu], who allowed this situation to happen, could, as an officer, shoot himself. But, you know, the word officer is an unfamiliar word for many.”

After Russia retreated from the strategically important Ukrainian city of Lyman, Kadyrov has been a lot more open with naming the Russian commanders he blames.

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.

A Chechen leader who has called for Russia to take more drastic measures, including the use of “low-yield nuclear weapons” in Ukraine following recent setbacks, welcomed the appointment of a former soldier who saw service in Afghanistan. Kadyrov is known for crushing all forms of dissent, and that is a factor in the praise from him.

Kadyrov stated in a post that he would declare martial law across the country because we are at war with the NATO bloc.

The fate of Ukraine’s power and cellular connection in Enerhodar, the city near Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Crews restored power and cellular connection in Enerhodar, the city near Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that is currently under Russian control, a senior official said Sunday.

Rogov wrote in a telegram post that the water supply would be restored soon.

Ukrainian officials have tried many times to deliver humanitarian supplies to the city but have not been allowed by the Russian army.

Struggling on the battlefield in southern and eastern Ukraine, Russia felt war on its own territory on Sunday as more than a dozen explosions ripped through a Russian border region, and a series of blasts severely damaged the offices of Russia’s puppet government in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

Moscow fired at least 84 cruise missiles toward Ukraine on Monday, the Ukrainian military said, 43 of which were neutralized by missile defense systems. Russian attack drones were used in the fight and a number of them were destroyed.

For several hours on Monday morning Kyiv’s subway system was suspended, with underground stations serving as bunkers. The alert for an air raid in the city was lifted at midday, as rescue workers were trying to pull people out of the rubble.

Shmygal said Monday that a total of elevencrucial infrastructure facilities had been damaged in eight regions.

Against all odds, Ukraine has managed to keep the grid from collapsing. Consumers in some cities and towns were temporarily cut out of the power grid at night, to help conserve energy, while electrical engineers rushed to make repairs.

Ukraine’s Special Services and Skyrmion: Vladimir Putin’s Attacks on the Crimea Bridge, Tagged “Terrorist Attacks”

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.”

There was an explosion that took place on the bridge when a truck crossing it exploded and caused it to be destroyed. The Ukrainians have never claimed responsibility, but the Kremlin was quick to point fingers toward Kyiv. In the days following the bridge explosion, Putin said “further acts of terrorism on the territory of Russia will be harsh … have no doubt about that.” Putin drove a car across the bridge while he was on it, after he had been shown some repairs.

The Russian-appointed head of annexed Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said he had “good news” Monday, claiming that Russia’s approaches to what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine “have changed.”

“I have been saying from the first day of the special military operation that if such actions to destroy the enemy’s infrastructure had been taken every day, we would have finished everything in May and the Kyiv regime would have been defeated,” he added.

“All over Ukraine, the air raid sirens will not abate. There are rockets that continue to strike. Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded. I ask you: do not leave your shelters. Stay safe and take care of your families. Zelensky said let’s hang in there and be strong.

The EU Foreign Policy Chief stated on his tweeter that more military support from the EU is on its way.

ManyUkrainians died in his plea in Brussels, so it was an emotional one. I don’t have the right to leave without the results.

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

Ukraine’s most deadly attack on its largest nuclear power plant: a high drama on the 229th day of the Ukrainian War and a pattern of Russian leadership in Ukraine

The G7 group of nations will hold an emergency meeting via video conference on Tuesday, the office of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed to CNN, and Zelensky said on Twitter that he would address that meeting.

Michael Bociurkiw is a global affairs analyst who in summer relocated from Canada to Ukraine. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Many of the people of Kyiv felt anxious on Friday since they were worried that Russia might launch new attacks on the anniversary.

The significance of the strikes on central Kyiv, and close to the government quarter, cannot be overstated. Western governments should see it as a red line being crossed on this 229th day of the war.

In between air raid sirens, the area around my office in Odesa was mostly quiet, with few reports of missiles or drones being shot down. At this time of the day, nearby restaurants would be filled with customers and chatter of weddings and parties.

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

Russian troops have attacked the power grid of Ukraine repeatedly with drones and missiles in recent months. The attacks have spanned the country on the cusp of winter, leaving Ukrainians vulnerable and in the dark just as the coldest time of the year is beginning.

People were takenaway, tortured, and disappeared when the Russian troops first arrived in this city, according to residents.

Millions of people in many cities in Ukranian will be spending most of their day in bomb shelters, and businesses have been asked to shift work online as much as possible.

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

It was a day of high drama in a war that’s still playing out. But as an historian, Viatrovych also sees the actions of President Vladimir Putin as part of a pattern of behavior by Russian leaders.

Hardwiring newly claimed territory with expensive, record-breaking infrastructure projects seems to be a penchant of dictators. The Kerch bridge was opened by Putin in a truck. One of the things that China did after Beijing reclaimed Macau and Hong Kong was to connect it with the world’s longest sea crossing bridge. The $20 billion, 34-mile road bridge opened after about two years of delays.

The Explosion of Crime and Democracy: Vladimir Putin’s Threat to the U.S. National Self-Defining Power and the Security of the Crimea

The explosion caused a humorous meme to go like a Christmas tree on social media. Many shared their sense of jubilation via text messages.

For Putin, consumed by pride and self-interest, sitting still was never an option. He responded in the only way he knows how, by unleashing more death and destruction, with the force that probably comes natural to a former KGB operative.

Facing increasing criticism at home, as well as on the state-controlled television, has placed Putin on thin ice.

The Ukrainian offensive, which will be launched in the spring or summer, will have a lot more trained, better equipped and capable Ukrainian forces.

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

The first reason, and the one that prompted an immediate response from the West, is the moral and ethical obligation of the world’s democracies to help a nation whose freedom is threatened by an authoritarian power. National self-determination has long been a guiding principle of American foreign policy. The various U.S. administrations have tried to honor it, but not always in a perfect way. But it remains valuable in finding a way forward. In sending an armored column toward Kyiv and seeking to overthrow its government, Mr. Putin clearly violated that principle, and threatens to return Europe to the instability of previous eras, when nations frequently invaded each other and altered the continent’s borders by force.

There is a need for high tech defense systems to protect the country. With winter just around the corner, the need to protect heating systems is urgent.

New Targets for the United States: The December 31 New Year in Kiev after the Russian-Prussian War on Crime and Security Issues

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.

A sense of normality returned on December 31 but air strikes disrupted it. When the missiles hit the city the family went to the shelter and celebrated New Years Eve there.

The targets on Monday reflected Putin’s need for new targets because he has not been able to cause significant victories on the battlefield.

The bombing of power installations, which appeared to be an unsubtle hint of the misery that the Russian President could cause as winter sets in and he retreats from Ukrainian troops with Western weaponry, was announced Monday by the Russian president.

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.

Biden instructed his national security aides to help get a batteries for Ukraine, but also told them to intensify efforts to provide more air defense capabilities.

John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, suggested Washington was looking favorably on Ukraine’s requests and was in touch with the government in Kyiv almost every day. “We do the best we can in subsequent packages to meet those needs,” he told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

Kirby was unsure if it was a sign of Putin’s changing strategy from a losing battlefield war to a campaign to destroy and obliterate Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, but he suggested that it had already been in the works.

It was something they had been planning for a long time. Kirby didn’t say that the explosion on the bridge might have accelerated their planning.

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

He was talking about where he’s going when the weather gets cold. Vindman said on CNN that he is going to try and force the Ukrainian population to compromise by going after the infrastructure.

Zhovkva said, “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 wounded Ukrainians.”

In that case, Mr. Putin was more likely to attack Ukrainians in a broader way. If missile supplies hold out, and Russia makes good on its promise to hit the Ukrainian leadership with strikes, the attacks of the past week could be expanded across the country.

The lesson of this war is that everything that Putin has done to divide the nation has only strengthened and unified it.

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

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

The Russian president tersely compared the difference in reactions to attacks on Russia and attacks on Ukraine, saying, “as soon as we make a move, do something in response – noise, clamor, crackle for the whole universe.”

In the age of nuclear weapons, all accepted modes of just war — self-defense, justice and punishment for wrongdoers, recovery of international borders; in essence, all notions of right and wrong — are irrelevant. It doesn’t matter who they were, who they committed crimes against, and who they acted in self-defense.

It doesn’t really matter who was right or wrong, hundreds of millions could die in an asymmetrical exchange of nuclear missiles. Historians will not be able to tell the story.

President Biden should publicly muse about alternatives and dispatch his diplomats immediately to Russia to give Vladimir Putin off ramps. The President of Ukraine must be pressured to agree on an immediate cease-fire.

Lukashenko said there was no way that they would send their troops to Ukraine until aggression was committed against them. He said Russia is our ally, legally, morally and politically.

The president of the former Soviet republic, Lukashenko, told senior military and security officials in Minsk that this wouldn’t be just a thousand troops.

In remarks reported by the state news agency BELTa, Mr. Lukashenko said that work was already under way to form a “joint regional group of troops” to fight NATO and Ukraine.

Belarus helped Russia launch its initial invasion of Ukraine last February, allowing the Kremlin’s troops to enter the country through the 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) Ukrainian-Belarusian border to the north of Kyiv.

The establishment of a joint force with Russia will be viewed as a sign of defiance by Mr. Lukashenko and will reinforce the view that he is a “co-aggressor.”

Mr. Shraibman said that Lukashenko would likely try to keep his own troops away from Ukraine, because it would be so dangerous for him. It would be a disaster politically.

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.

Russian troops launched the invasion in February after months of amassing along the Ukrainian border. In the first days of the assault, Russian Tu-22 “Backfire” bombers used Belarusian airspace to launch coordinated cruise missile attacks on targets within Ukraine. Military drills have been held by the two nations near the crossing.

There is a chance that the missiles will wreak more havoc on the people of Ukraine than on the Russians because of the tactic they use to bombard air defense systems.

Experts believe Russia may not be able to keep up with the bombardment because it is unlikely that a recurrent pattern will happen. Estimates of the military reserves of either army are unclear, as Western assessments show that Moscow may not be able to keep up.

Moscow still had more than 50% of its pre-war inventory according to the Pentagon, which saw it as the lowest on air-launched cruise missiles.

Some of that inventory was dispatched this week. Russia has been using less precise and older missiles, of which it has large inventories, according to Western officials. Weighing 5.5 tons, they are designed to take out aircraft carriers. Dozens of people were killed in a shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk in June.

The S-300 missile, used in defense against air defense missiles, has been turned into an offensive weapon by the Russians. These have wrought devastation in Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv, among other places, and their speed makes them difficult to intercept. 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 also had plenty of practice in using their limited air defenses, mainly BUK and S-300 systems. The equipment may lose value in combat operations, said the spokesman for the Air Force Command.

Taking out cheap drones is not economic to waste advanced systems on. Russia is about to deploy hundreds of attack drones. Zelensky claims Russia has ordered 2,400 Shahed-136 drones from Iran.

Missiles for their existing systems and a transition to Western-origin layered air defense system were part of the wish-list that the Ukrainians sent to the meeting.

The system is widely considered one of the most capable long-range weapons to defend airspace against incoming ballistic and cruise missiles as well as some aircraft. Because of it’s ability to shoot down Russian missiles and aircraft, it may be capable of shooting them down far from their intended targets.

Western systems are getting used in other countries. 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, according to the Ukrainian Defense Minister.

“I hope that they will send more than one,” she added. She noted there’s “been some reluctance in the past” by the US and NATO to provide advanced equipment, but added “We’ve seen with our own eyes how effective Ukrainian military is.”

Ukraine “badly needed” modern systems such as the IRIS-T that arrived this week from Germany and the NASAMS expected from the United States ,Bronk said.

The Polish Air Defense Campaign against the Invasion of Kyiv’s Third, Fourth and Fifth Regions: Observational Status and Outlook

A battalion of the Ukrainian air defense corps was destroyed by nine Shaheeds after being trained by Poland. General Valerii Zaluzhnyi thanks Poland for their assistance.

He said Poland supplied the Ukrainians with systems to destroy the drones. Last month there were reports that Poland had purchased advanced Israeli equipment, and was then exporting it to Ukraine, contrary to Israel’s policy not to sell defensive tech to Kyiv.

The wide bombardment echoed the early days of Russia’s scattershot initial invasion in February, but also underlined that the conflict in Ukraine, which for months appeared to be descending into a slow and painful grind in the Donbas, has erupted once again as winter nears.

The war is approaching a new phase for the first time. “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.

The conflict that many experts thought would be over within days or weeks has become a lengthy war thatUkraine may be able to win if it chooses, so any deal that weakens the country’s borders or represents victory for Putin would be unacceptable to Kyiv.

Oleksii Hromov, a senior Ukrainian military official, said last week that Kyiv’s forces have recaptured some 120 settlements since late September as they advance in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson regions. On Wednesday, Ukraine said it had liberated at least five settlements.

During the summer, Russia and the western world made a suggestion thatUkraine lacked the ability to seize ground, a notion which has been disproved through these counter-offensives.

The Russians are attempting to keep their frontline from collapsing before the winter sets in, according to the senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

If they can get to Christmas with the frontline looking the same, this will be a huge success for the Russians.

Landing a major blow in Donbas would send another powerful signal, and Ukraine will be eager to improve on its gains before temperatures plummet on the battlefield, and the full impact of rising energy prices is felt around Europe.

“Our strategy is to rebuild generation capacity to Ukraine, not only Zaporizhzhia, but also coal-fired power plants, gas-fired power plants, other nuclear power plants, to be able to provide electricity to increase the production domestically,” said Artur Lorkowski, the director of the Vienna-based Energy Community, an international organization affiliated with the EU that has been coordinating efforts to direct spare parts and infrastructure assistance to Kyiv. “But what is equally important to ensure is that this electricity could be smoothly distributed across the country and this is the biggest problem now.”

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.

“We know – and Russian commanders on the ground know – that their supplies and munitions are running out,” Jeremy Fleming, a UK’s spy chief, said in a rare speech on Tuesday.

That conclusion was also reached by the ISW, which said in its daily update on the conflict Monday that the strikes “wasted some of Russia’s dwindling precision weapons against civilian targets, as opposed to militarily significant targets.”

“Another thing that the Ukrainians will have to do is they’re going to have to move their systems forward so that they can counter any possible Russian artillery that is going to be on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.

The impact of such an intervention on pure manpower would be limited, and the impact of the active-duty troops in Belarusian would not significantly bolster Russia. It could cause another attack on the Ukrainian side of the border.

Giles said that reopening a northern front would be a new challenge for Ukraine. It would give Russia a new route to enter the area, which was reclaimed by the Ukrainians, if Putin prioritised regaining that territory.

At the same time, Ukraine has continued to press for newer and more sophisticated weapons, including longer-range missile systems and fighter jets, requests the US has denied previously. Zelensky pressed Biden on both while he was in Kyiv on Monday, hoping a personal appeal would finally sway him.

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.

Putin has seemed unwell enough to change the leadership at the top, so the question is when the military will start blaming him. The last change was the appointment of Sergei Surovikin as the first person to be placed in overall command of all Russian forces on the Ukraine front — an army general formerly in charge of the brutal Russian bombardment of Aleppo in Syria.

During Russia’s operations in Syria, while he was Commander in Chief of the Russian Aerospace forces, Russian combat aircraft caused widespread destruction of rebel-held areas.

Andrea Kendall-Taylor, director of the Transatlantic Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, also told CNN this week that Surovikin’s appointment “reflects the ascendancy of a lot of hardline voices inside Russia… calling on Putin to make changes, and to bring in someone who would be willing to execute these ruthless attacks.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Russian military personnel who were involved in operations in Syria at the Kremlin.

Irisov then began what he hoped would be the start of a career as an international journalist, as a military reporter with Russian state news agency TASS. His wife worked there and he felt at the time it was “the only main information agency” that tried to ​cover news in an “unbiased” way, with “some opportunity of freedom of speech,” he said.

What has changed since February 24, 2022, when Russian missiles began falling? The fear felt by Ukrainians has been replaced with anger as they stand up to barrages of rockets and drones.

He lives near the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which the Russians pulverized in the first days of the war. When the Russians invaded Ukraine in the early hours of Feb. 24, Viatrovych immediately fled to western Ukraine with his family.

While serving at Latakia air base in Syria in 2019 and 2020, the 31-year-old says he worked on aviation safety and air traffic control, coordinating flights with Damascus’ civilian airlines. He spoke to high-ranking officers while he was with them, and he saw him several times.

“He made a lot of people very angry – they hated him,” Irisov said, describing how the “direct” and “straight” general was disliked at headquarters because of the way he tried to implement his infantry experience into the air force.

The Wagner group is a private military company that has operated in Syria.

In 2004, according to Russian media accounts and at least two think tanks, he berated a subordinate so severely that the subordinate took his own life.

And a book by the think tank the Washington DC-based Jamestown Foundation says that during the unsuccessful coup attempt against former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991, soldiers under Surovikin’s command killed three protesters, leading to Surovikin spending at least six months in prison.

In a 2020 report, Human Rights Watch named him as “someone who may bear ​command responsibility” for the dozens of air and ground attacks on civilian objects and infrastructure in violation of the laws of war​” during the 2019-2020 Idlib offensive in Syria. The attacks caused at least 1,600 deaths and displacement of about 1 million people, according to HRW.

The butcher of Aleppo and the commander of the invasion in Ukraine: a response to a Russian military commander’s warning about the situation in Ukraine

He addressed the group of soldiers getting the awards, holding a glass of champagne.

In February this year, Surovikin was sanctioned by the European Union in his capacity as head of the Aerospace Forces “for actively supporting and implementing actions and policies that undermine and threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine as well as the stability or security in Ukraine.”

Clark said the general’s promotion was meant to put on a tough nationalist face and inject new blood into the Russian command system.

His appointment was welcomed by various Russian military websites, as well as Yevgeny, who is financiers of theWagner Group, Clark said.

He believes what’s happening now is a reflection of what happened in April, when another commander, Alexander Dvornikov, was appointed overall commander of the operations in Ukraine.

“Similarly, he before then was a commander of one of the groupings of Russian forces and had sort of a master reputation in Syria much like Surovikin for brutality, earning this sort of name of the ‘butcher of Aleppo,’” Clark said.

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

Russian commanders are throwing poorly equipped soldiers into tough fights due to the absence of that. And supported by massive artillery and rocket fires (assuming they can maintain the supply of artillery rounds and rockets), to achieve grinding, costly, incremental gains – with, perhaps, an occasional limited breakthrough.

The Russian Defense Ministry, in a statement cited by the state media outlets RIA Novosti and TASS, described the shootings as a terrorist attack. It said the two gunmen were from a former Soviet nation and had fired on the soldiers during target practice at a firing range.

What Do We Know About Crimes in Ukraine and the State of the Art? The Case of the Explosion on a Bridge between Belarus and Ukraine

Nuclear deterrence exercises will be held by NATO. NATO says the “Steadfast noon” drills are a regular training activity and that they have warned Russia not to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine.

Russian agents took eight people in suspicion of carrying out a large explosion on a bridge.

Two men shot at Russian troops preparing to deploy to Ukraine, killing 11 people and wounding 15 before being killed themselves, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Oct. 15.

Russian troops began arriving in Belarus Oct. 15, which Minsk said were the first convoys of almost 9,000 service members expected as part of a “regional grouping” of forces allegedly to protect Belarus from threats at the border from Ukraine and the West.

There is a Ukrainian human rights lawyer who heads the Center for Civil Liberties. The Center received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for its work. She and other partners created the ‘Tribunal for Putin’ initiative in order to document crimes taking place in Ukraine. The commentary is not a reflection on her views. View more opinion articles on CNN.

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.

What Putin is thinking about Ukraine’s war on the battlefield and how he’s going to try to subjugate the West: Yermak, Kolbe and Alperovitch

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

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 is his muscle memory and it is the one that escalates,” he said. “There’s a lot of tricks he can still pull out to try to undermine morale in Ukraine and in the West.”

This is a huge deal. Dmitri Alperovitch, who runs the think tank said that Putin is abetting his presidency by staying in Ukraine.

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

The fast approaching winter is likely to slow the pace but it is not expected to halt the fighting. David Petraeus thinks the harsh weather favors the Ukrainians on the battlefield. “The Ukrainians can knock on the door and be taken in and get warmed up and get 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.

At the Georgia conference, no one believed that the war was close to an end. “Except when there is stalemate or defeat, I don’t see any chances of talks in the near term,” said Paul Kolbe, the former CIA official.

This war began with a Russian invasion in 2014, he noted, and is now as intense as it’s ever been. Greg Myre is an NPR National Security Correspondent. He can be followed by using the handle #gregmyre1.

Moscow Sobyanin’s Decree: The War Between Russia and the Middle East? CNN’s Dean Obeidalla’s Perspective on Russian Intelligence

The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, seemed to be trying to assure the public. Mr. Sobyanin wrote on Telegram that no measures are being introduced to limit the normal rhythm of the city’s life.

And despite the new power granted them by Mr. Putin, the regional governors of Kursk, Krasnodar and Voronezh said no entry or exit restrictions would be imposed.

The martial law that was imposed in Ukraine is the first time since World War II that Moscow has declared martial law.

The people are worried that they will be close to the border and that the siloviki will do what they want.

According to three senior officials in the Middle East, a signal has been sent by Russia redeploying vital military hardware and troops from Syria.

The Ukrainian military can take advantage of a six week window of opportunity if it can push in the south and the northeast and make gains, according to American intelligence assessments.

Dean Obeidalla is a former attorney and host of a daily show on satellite radio. Follow Dean Obeidalla. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinion on it.

The remark of Tim Vance in Ukraine as viewed by many conservatives: Did Carlson really invade the United States before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine?

That is not a popular opinion in Ukraine. Zelenskyy and many people want the Russians to leave the country. Zelenskyy recently told Time magazine, “We are dealing with a powerful state that is pathologically unwilling to let Ukraine go.”

In Ohio, the GOP senate candidate changed his mind, saying he wanted the Ukrainians to be successful. But as The Washington Post detailed on Sunday, Vance’s original remark is causing Ukrainian Americans who are lifelong Republicans to support his Democratic opponent, Tim Ryan, in that too-close-to-call Senate race.

In fact, around the same time that Russia was destroying Ukrainian power plants, McCarthy was suggesting that a GOP-led Congress might no longer provide robust funding to help Ukraine fight back against Putin’s illegal war — a position that Republican Rep. Liz Cheney called a “dangerous” move motivated by political self-interest.

“He knows better, but the fact that he’s willing to go down the path of suggesting that America will no longer stand for freedom, I think, tells you he’s willing to sacrifice everything for his own political gain.”

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 — who declared on his show in 2019 when there was a potential conflict between the neighboring countries that he was “root(ing) for Russia” — did his best in the months before Putin’s attack to paint Ukraine in a negative light. For example, Carlson falsely claimed Ukraine was “not a democracy” and called Ukrainian leader Zelensky 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. Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana, echoed McCarthy’s thoughts about aid for Ukraine and said we can’t put America first by giving blank checks.

Biden suggested that McCarthy and his fellow Republicans may or may not get it. But there’s one person who fully gets it: Vladmir Putin. Few people will have greater cause for celebration if the GOP wins back control of the House.

Putin Prolonged War: The Evolution of War 1945 to Ukraine, a Conference Call for European Leaders in Brussels on Wednesday, April 24

Petraeus has spent decades studying warfare and practicing its application. He was the commander of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and later the director of the CIA. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton with a dissertation on the Vietnam War and the lessons the American military took from it. The forthcoming book is called, “Conflict: The Evolution of warfare from 1945 to Ukraine.” Petraeus is also an author.

He is trying to distract his nation from the obvious, namely that he is losing badly on the battlefield and failing to achieve even the scaled back objectives of his invasion.

This ability to keep going depends on many variables, including the availability of crucial and affordable energy supplies for the winter and popular will across a broad range of nations.

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

There are emergency caps on the Dutch title transfer facility and permission for EU gas companies to create a price for gas on the international market.

While French President Emmanuel Macron waxed euphoric leaving the summit, which he described as having “maintained European unity,” he conceded that there was only a “clear mandate” for the European Commission to start working on a gas cap mechanism.

Still, divisions remain, with Europe’s biggest economy, Germany, skeptical of any price caps. Now energy ministers must work out details with a Germany concerned such caps would encourage higher consumption – a further burden on restricted supplies.

These divisions are all part of Putin’s fondest dream. Europe could prove vital in achieving success from the Kremlins viewpoint because the continent is failing to agree on essentials.

Germany and France are already at loggerheads on many of these issues. A conference call has been scheduled for Wednesday by the leaders of France and Germany.

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

The Italian Prime Minister, the War on Drugs, and the Future of the Cold War in Washington: On the Importance of Non-Fascist Intervention in Italy

The new government has taken power in Italy. Giorgia Meloni was sworn in Saturday as Italy’s first woman prime minister and has attempted to brush aside the post-fascist aura of her party. One of her far-right coalition partners has a great deal of admiration for Putin.

The video of Berlusconi at the gathering of his party loyalists shows him rejoicing over the 20 bottles of vodka Putin sent him on his 86th birthday.

Matteo Salvini said during the campaign that he didn’t want the sanctions on Russia to hurt people more than people who are hit by them.

Poland and Hungary are enemies of the EU’s liberal policies that seemed to reduce their influence, and they now disagree over the future of Ukraine. Poland was upset by Hungary’s populist leader Viktor Orban’s pro-Putin views.

Similar forces seem to be at work in Washington where House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, poised to become Speaker of the House if Republicans take control after next month’s elections, told an interviewer, “I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it.”

On Monday, the Congressional progressive caucus said that Biden should start talks with Russia on an end to the conflict because its troops are still occupying vast swaths of the country and missiles and drones are striking deep into the interior.

Mia Jacob, the chair of the caucus, sent reporters an email clarifying her remarks in support of Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba to renew America’s support.

Zelensky could not have addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday because Republicans want to take control of the US House next month. More than $21 billion in defense aid has been given by the US in less than a year. That includes $1.8 billion in a new weapons deal announced when Zelensky met President Joe Biden at the White House earlier Wednesday.

The West is putting more pressure on Russia. The State Department released a report last Thursday on the impact of sanctions on the Russian military-industrial complex.

The lack of necessary semi-conductors led to the cessation of Russian production of hypersonic missiles. Plants that produce anti-aircraft systems have shut down and Russia has reverted to Soviet-era defense stock for replenishment. More than 30 years ago, the Soviet era ended.

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

The Justice Department also announced charges against individuals and companies seeking to smuggle high-tech equipment into Russia in violation of sanctions.

Dovzhyk’s opinion on Ukraine: The role of the Russian government in the end of the Cold War and its implications for the Middle East

Editor’s Note: Sasha Dovzhyk is a special projects curator at the Ukrainian Institute London and Associate Lecturer in Ukrainian at School of Slavonic and East-European Studies, University College London. She studied English and Comparative Literature at the University of London. Her time is divided between the UK and Ukraine. The Documenting Ukraine project supports her work. The views she makes in this commentary are her own. There is more opinion on CNN.

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

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

There are repercussions for much of 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. The Saudis deny the accusation.

The Defense Minister of Israel, who is also the chairman of the board of directors, said that Israel supports and stands with NATO and the West but will not move the systems to Ukraine because of the airspace sharing agreement with Russia.

Russia’s assault on Ukrainian ports and its patrols of Black Sea halted Ukraine’s grain exports just after the war started, causing food prices to skyrocket. The head of the World Food Program, David Beasley, warned in May that the world was “marching toward starvation.”

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

Family budgets are affected by higher prices. When they come with such powerful momentum, they pack a political punch. Inflation has put incumbent political leaders on the defensive in many countries.

Friday, April 14, 2016: An historic day for Ukrainian forces in Kherson, Russia, according to the President of the Institut for the Study of War

It is not all on the fringes. Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader who could become Speaker of the House, suggested that the GOP may reduce aid to Ukraine. Progressive Democrats released and withdrew a letter calling for negotiations. Evelyn Farkas, who was a Pentagon official during the Obama administration, said that they are all bringing a big smile to Putin.

Grisly videos filmed by Ukrainian drones showing Russian infantry being struck by artillery in poorly prepared positions have partly supported those assertions, as has reporting in Russian news media of mobilized soldiers telling relatives about high casualty rates. The videos have not been independently verified and their exact location on the front line could not be determined.

Russian forces are staging up to 80 assaults per day, General Zaluzhnyi said in the statement, which described a telephone conversation with an American general, Christopher G. Cavoli, the supreme allied commander in Europe.

The history of most wars is written by the victor, whereas Mr. Zelensky’s narrative has been created in real time and is told in nightly videos.

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

“Russian forces would likely have had more success in such offensive operations if they had waited until enough mobilized personnel had arrived to amass a force large enough to overcome Ukrainian defenses,” the institute said in a statement on Thursday.

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

Friday was a historic day for Ukraine, according to the president, after Russia withdrew from the west bank of the Kherson region.

The president talked about the appearance of Ukrainian flags in the city even before the military arrived, saying, “I am happy to see how people, despite all the threats, despite the repressions, abuse of the occupiers, kept Ukrainian flags, believed in Ukraine.”

He said stabilization measures would follow due to the threat of mines. There were a lot of mines and explosives left by the occupiers. He said that they would be clearing them.

The defenders are followed by police, power engineers and others. Medicine, communications, social services are returning. … Life is returning,” he said.

The Story of the Displaced: A Report from the Military Administration of Snihurivka (Khronaiv)

The displaced are warned not to return to their homes in the newly regained areas of Kherson, because it is too dangerous.

The head of the Mykolaiv region’s military administration visited the small city of Snihurivka Friday to discuss life in liberated territories of the region.

Despite the fact that the relevant services have already started moving mines in the liberated territories, I warn local residents to be careful.

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

Some people in the crowd of locals in Kherson’s central square chanted “Slava Ukrayini!” as they sang the national anthem while the crew filmed there.

Locals have been climbing on top of the buildings, including the cinema, to get at the Ukrainian flags. Soldiers are asked to sign autographs while they are driving through.

There was a time when we were terrified by the Russian army and were afraid to open the door, even if it was just to steal something.

Everyone is celebrating in the square. People dressed in the Ukrainian flag, hugging the soldiers and showing their true colors have come out to see what freedom is all about, according to Robertson.

Katerina said the liberation was the best day of her life. “Our town is free, my street is free,” she told CNN.

The next steps for the Ukrainian military are going to be a major urban operation, stated a CNN military analyst on Saturday. A methodical operation to clear buildings of potentially dangerous booby traps and mines is what you will see.

A crowd waved flags and chanted “ZSU” in a video posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday night.

Russian forces had been loading boats that seem suitable for crossing the river and trying to escape, according to the southern operational command of the Ukrainian military.

For much of the journey through smaller towns and settlements, our team of CNN journalists was forced to drive through diversions and fields: bridges over canals were blown up, and roads were full of craters and littered with anti-tank mines.

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

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

As CNN’s crew stopped to regroup, we witnessed an old man and woman holding hands with a young soldier, exchanging “thank yous.”

Everyone wants you to understand what the occupier went through, how happy they are now and how grateful they are to the countries who helped them.

It is possible that Kyiv is feeling confident about a successful counteroffensive that retook large swaths of territory. However, there are no easy victories on the horizon for either side, Charap says.

Ukrainian and Russian forces exchanged fire on Monday, from across the broad expanse of the Dnipro River that now divides them, after Russia withdrew from the southern city of Kherson.

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

The southern area of the city has been the target of fire from the Russian Army, which is positioned on the eastern bank to hit back if the city is lost.

Mortar shells struck near the bridge, sending up puffs of smoke. Near the river, loud, metallic booms came from incoming rounds. It was not immediately possible to assess what had been hit.

The dangers of mines in Kherson City, as revealed by the Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk

The mines are a significant danger. Four people, including an 11-year-old, were killed when a family driving in the village of Novoraysk, outside the city, ran over a mine, Mr. Yanushevich said. The railway workers were injured while trying to restore service. According to Ukrainian officials, there were at least four more children injured by mines in the region.

The deaths underscored the threats that still remain on the ground, even as Mr Zelensky made a surprise visit to Kherson.

Mr. Zelensky said in a short speech in the city’s main square on Monday that they were going step by step to all of the country.

Russian forces continued to fire from across the river on towns and villages newly recaptured by Ukrainian forces, according to the Ukrainian military’s southern command. The military said two missiles hit Beryslav, which is north of a critical dam. It wasn’t known if there were any casualties.

The Ukrainian government is setting up evacuation routes to the cities of Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih, said Iryna Vereshchuk, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister. She said they wouldn’t have time to fix power supplies to heat homes for children, the sick and people with reduced mobility. “It will not be a mass evacuation. It will cover those who are sick, the elderly and those left without care of their relatives.”

One resident of Kherson City has said that residents have been robbed and exchanged things for homemade alcohol, known as “smogon” or “made with booze”. They are even more aggressive after they get drunk. We are so scared here.” She asked that her surname be withheld for security.

“Russians roam around, identify the empty houses and settle there,” Ivan, 45, wrote in a text message. He lives in Skadovsk, which is south of Kherson city, and asked that his surname not be used out of concern for his safety. We try to figure out a way to get someone local to stay in the place. Russian don’t take it if it’s not abandoned.

The Biden-Xi Summit in Ukraine: Why it’s the perfect time for Putin to visit the U.S. and the ideal time for democracy in the world

It was a good time to have the Biden-Xi summit, as it didn’t coincide with any major events in the West. China is a threat to Taiwan and the United States due to its egregious human rights record. But avoiding a Cold War or a direct, especially an accidental conflict, is crucial.

When Biden was running for president, he mentioned a global contest between democracies and autocracies. Now it is all too real.

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.

During the meeting, President Zelensky made an emotional return to the city where Russian invaders had invaded in the first place.

Now Biden is able to make it possible for the Ukrainian people to stand up against the Russian President so he can destroy Russia’s standing in the world, and so he is willing to kill untold numbers of Russians to prevent a democracy from flourishing.

The friendship between Russia and China was forged before the Russian invasion last year and is feared to be a united front between Moscow and Beijing. The Chinese foreign ministry bristled at Washington not being able to lecture China about the issue.

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

Putin, Putin and Ukraine in the wake of the October 11 missile hijacking incident: Russian retaliation against Ukrainian aircraft in Poland

Biden isn’t the only leader with a strong hand. The leader of China has just gotten a third term and is able to rule for as long as he wants. He doesn’t have to worry about elections, about a critical press or a vociferous opposition party. He is the absolute ruler of a mighty country for many years to come.

There are a number of daunting problems faced by Xi. China is reluctant to reveal economic data due to the slowing economy. The vaccine is disappointing because it was once a tool of global diplomacy. And partly because of that, China is imposing draconian lockdowns as the rest of the world gradually returns to normalcy after 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.

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

There’s one thing absolutely clear, whatever the circumstances of the missile. “Russia bears ultimate responsibility, as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Wednesday.

Russia continues to pour in large numbers of troops that are ill-trained and ill-equipped. In many cases, those troops are meeting their demise quickly. And so we can expect to see more of that.

The Telegram channel and hotline launched by the Ukrainian military intelligence project called “I want to live” helped Russian soldiers who were interested in defecting to contact the hotline, booking some 3,500 calls in its first two months of activity.

Zygar’s Cold War with Russia: Predictions for a High-Energy Future Combat Air System in the epoch of Warfare

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

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

The burden the conflict has on Western countries is proving to be unfulfilled, despite Putin’s hopes that the conflict would drive wedges into the Western alliance. Word was spread on Monday that the long-stalled French-German project for a next- generation jet fighter at the center of the Future Combat Air System was beginning to move forward.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Wednesday that his “special military operation” in Ukraine is taking longer than expected but said it has succeeded in seizing new territory and added that his country’s nuclear weapons are deterring escalation of the conflict.

Speaking in a televised meeting in Russia with members of his Human Rights Council, Putin described the land gains as “a significant result for Russia,” noting that the Sea of Azov “has become Russia’s internal sea.” In one of his frequent historic references to a Russian leader he admires, he added that “Peter the Great fought to get access” to that body of water.

“If it doesn’t use it first under any circumstances, it means that it won’t be the second to use it, either, because the possibility of using it in case of a nuclear strike on our territory will be sharply limited,” he said.

Putin said that his previous comments about nuclear weapons were not saber-rattling, but a factor of deterrence.

We have not gone mad. We are fully aware of what nuclear weapons are,” Putin said. He noted that they are more advanced and state-of-the-art than any other nuclear power has.

The Russian leader did not address Russia’s battles or its attempts to control the region, but acknowledged some of the problems with supplies, treatment of wounded soldiers and limited desertions.

The governor posted pictures of the new anti-tank barriers in open fields in the Kursk region. On Tuesday, the governor had said a fire broke out at an airport in the region after a drone strike. In Belgorod, officials were preparing “self-defense units” while workers expanded anti-tank barriers. Belgorod has seen numerous fires and explosions, apparently from cross-border attacks, and its governor reported Wednesday that Russia’s air defenses have shot down incoming rockets.

Two strategic Russian air bases, more than 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, were struck by drones on Monday. Moscow blamed Ukraine, but didn’t claim responsibility.

Moscow responded with strikes by artillery, multiple rocket launchers, missiles, tanks and mortars at residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, worsening damage to the power grid. Private Ukrainian power utility Ukrenergo said temperatures in eastern areas where it was making repairs had dropped to as low as minus 17 degrees Celsius (near zero Fahrenheit).

He blamed the Ukrainians for certain events, such as the hitting of the bridge. Who blew up the power lines from the Kursk nuclear power plant?”

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

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

Russian authorities have reported constant shelling of the city, which Putin claimed to annex in defiance of international law.

In a rare public conversation, Putin spoke about the Russian military attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

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

He asked in his appearance in the Kremlin if someone was not supplying water to Donetsk. The city of million is not supplied with water.

Ukrenergo’s warning on the failure of power restoration in Ukraine during a recent attack on the southern port city of Odesa

He gave a toast to the soldiers and drank his champagne glass after he added that it wouldn’t interfere with the combat missions.

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

The attacks on the energy grid of Ukraine are considered genocide by a top Ukrainian official. Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Andriy Kostin made the comments while speaking to the BBC last month.

The President of Ukraine said that Russians bombed the southern port city of Odesa on Saturday night, leaving more than 1.5 million people without power.

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

The repeated assaults on the plants and equipment that Ukrainians rely on for heat and light have drawn condemnation from world leaders, and thrust Ukraine into a grim cycle in which crews hurry to restore power only to have it knocked out again.

“The power system is now, to put it mildly, very far from a normal state — there is an acute shortage in the system,” he said, urging people to reduce their power use to put less strain on the battered power grid.

The fate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the Donbas – A brief history of a turbulent world in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine

The sky was black from the planes attacking you on December 7, 1941, remember Pearl Harbor. Just remember it,” Zelensky said. “Remember September 11, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories, into battlefields. When innocent people were attacked from air you couldn’t stop it. Every day our country experiences the same thing.

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

The presidents of the European Commission and Norwegian Prime Minister will be having a dinner in Paris on Monday.

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.

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner was freed Dec. 8 after nearly 10 months in Russian detention and following months of negotiations. Her release came in exchange for the U.S. handing over convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner is back in the U.S. and reunited with her wife. Bout is back in Russia and is reported to have joined an ultranationalist party.

The measures targeting Russian oil revenue took effect on December 5. They include a price cap and a European Union embargo on most Russian oil imports and a Russian oil price cap.

Zelenskyy said that the city was turned into burned ruins by Russian forces. Fighting has been fierce there as Russia attempts to advance in the city in the eastern Donbas region.

A Human Rights Lawyer’s View of the Dark Ukrainian Feast of Dec. 11: The Case Against the Russia of the Invasion of Poland

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

The month of fairy tales is December and it is when we peer into the darkness to be reassured of the “happily ever after”.

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

Ievheniia was unable to travel back to her husband’s hometown for his funeral because she had a newborn baby. She asked relatives to livestream it for her. Russia’s ongoing attacks on critical infrastructure has made Ukrainian internet connection unreliable, and she got a few short recordings. Denys was buried in a closed coffin.

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

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

As we hurry to bring gifts to our loved ones, enchanted by the flickering of Christmas lights, we must remember the country in Europe plunged into darkness by Russia’s barbaric imperialist war.

Unexpected death of a young Ukrainian soldier from wartime Ukraine: a fairy tale tale tale told by a woman living in a safe country

After driving westwards across the country under Russian bombardment, Ievheniia finally arrived at an enlistment office. She was interviewed on a Friday and told to return the following Monday to sign a contract with the Armed Forces.

On the weekend, she decided to take a pregnancy test, just in case. “With war and evacuation, the ground was slipping under one’s feet,” she said with a laugh. “On top of that, it turned out that I was pregnant.”

The pregnancy test provided that plot twist: the woman who planned to defend her homeland instead joined the flow of refugees looking for safety in Poland.

The war separated Ievheniia and Denys, so they attempted to show their partnership in the state. The country at war was an example of everyday ingenuity; now, it is possible to marry via video call. “Instead of (by) boring civil servants, we got married remotely by a handsome man in a uniform. I had nothing to complain about,” Ievheniia said.

Over the following months, Denys kept the magic alive via the Internet, with flower deliveries and professional photoshoots ordered for Ievheniia from the trenches.

Denys raised the alarm when she didn’t pick up the phone one morning and a rescue squad found Ievheniia unconscious in her flat. It could have ended in death if there had been a delay. A Caesarean section followed. Because the baby was born two months early, the father was able to meet his new son.

Ukrainian servicemen are not currently allowed to leave the country because of martial law. Yet as is appropriate for a fairy tale, Denys got permission, crossed the border, and spent five days with his family.

It was a magical time filled with ordinary things. Then he left. It was his birthday on November 17 and we sent him greetings,” Ievheniia remembered. The next day he was dead.

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

The fable of Italo Calvino and the attack of Kiev on the intersection of the city’s central business district during the end of the war

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

We must not allow the story logic of a fairy tale to get in our way. The kid won’t use magic to defeat the monster. Like ten months ago, Ukrainians need military aid sufficient to bring a decisive victory over Russia, not just prolong the fight with enormous sacrifices. The victory of the Ukrainians depends on the collective effort.

I was wondering how I would act in a fight against absolute evil, when I was a teenager. Would I be able to turn away and proceed with my daily life?” I was told by Ievheniia. Today, all of us have a chance to find out.

According to a Russia-installed official, Ukrainian forces have unleashed the most significant attack on the area since the end of the war in east of the country.

He said that a key in the city’s intersection center came under fire.

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

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

Russian warnings about the Patriot system are “provocative” and “no-go” for Ukraine, as noted by the head of the Kherson military administration

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

“The enemy hit a critical infrastructure facility. The medical aid and humanitarian aid distribution point was damaged by shell fragments, according to the Telegram video.

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

The Energy Security Project has delivered four excavators, 130 generators, and a few other things. All of the equipment is free.

The plan to wrest control from Zelensky’s pro-European government has gone badly. After Russian tanks entered the country a year ago,Ukraine is still fighting and has been able to repel Moscow in some areas.

The reality of the situation has evolved over time, the Kremlin said in response to Zelensky’s proposal.

However, the Kremlin said that the transaction will prolong the Ukrainian people’s suffering.

“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.

Until then, US officials had argued that the Patriot system was too complex and scarce to give to Ukraine. Those arguments have been discarded by Russia’s targeted campaign on civilian infrastructure.

Asked Thursday about Russian warnings that the Patriot system would be “provocative,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. The comments would not affect US aid to the country.

“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.

The video of the installation of the Yars missile into a silo in the Kaluga region was shared by Russia’s defense ministry in order to send a subtle message.

The commander of a Russian militia in the east of the country said on Russian state TV that Russia can’t defeat NATO in a conventional war.

What will Ukraine do to protect itself in the wake of the Makiivka crisis? An interview with Zelensky with the Economist

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 a long time, but under the pressure of Russia’s aerial attacks the United States will be forced to do it.

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

The region would be more stable if NATO was formed, according to Valeriy Chaly, the former ambassador to the United States. It is unlikely that the Ukrainian government will join the alliance in the near term.

Compounding the problem, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said after the recent Makiivka strikes that “the Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war, but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate.”

An official told reporters that the official said that he crossed his fingers that the bullets would fire or explode.

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 a man who was turned into a tank driver.

At that time, Ukrainians were seeking to take advantage of the chaos in Russia following the collapse of the Russian monarchy a year earlier. But Vladimir Lenin and the Communists, the successors to the Russian monarchy, sent troops to Ukraine and defeated that short-lived independence.

He then drove to Kyiv for an emergency session of parliament, which declared martial law. He was granted a rifle by 2 p.m. that day, in order to join the security forces.

Ana is worried about her parents and worried about where the next missile from Russia’s war onUkraine will fall as winter sets in.

Ongoing fight to free itself-from-russia: Ukraine’s first referendum on independence in a hundred years after the independence referendum (1991)

Parts of the glass ceiling in the hall where independence was declared in 1918 were destroyed by the blast. The windows are not being opened. There are shards of glass on the floor.

“There are, of course, parallels to a century ago,” said Steshuk Oleh, the director of the House of Teachers. “This building was also damaged in the fighting back then. This is the second time it has been damaged. But don’t worry. Everything will be rebuilt.

“If you look at all the hardships that Ukraine experienced in the 20th century, and they’re vast, this is the moment where all the wrongs of the last hundred plus years need to be redressed,” he said.

December 1991 was when the referendum on independence was held. The majority of users voted to go their own way. The Soviet Union collapse occurred that month.

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

Putin, the Cold War, and the End of the Era: An Empirical Analysis of Putin’s Campaign to End the War in Ukraine

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

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

This shift in the power dynamic may not change the way the war is fought but could impact the contours of a final deal and shape a lasting peace when it comes.

Being a buffer zone or gray zone is something that isn’t good from a diplomatic point of view. “If you are a gray zone between two security blocs, two military blocs, everybody wants to make a step. This has happened with Ukraine.”

I believe our generation has the chance to end this. He said that Ukrainians were more prepared to fight than in 1918.

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

The Story of Zelensky: A Moment of Survival in the U.S. and Outside of the Llysée Palace, as Revealed by the President and the Secretary of State

One of the videos, posted on December 14, features a young man who is choosing to fight instead of partying with his male friends and then surprises everyone by buying himself a car with the money he made from fighting on a military contract.

In another video, posted on December 15, the former girlfriend of a soldier is newly impressed with his courage and begs him to get back together with her. A further example shows a middle-aged man leaving the factory job that doesn’t pay him enough to sign a military contract and go to the front.

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

The war is portrayed in a number of videos as an escape for men from daily reality of drinking booze, being poor and powerless. Meanwhile, reports and complaints of shortages of provisions and equipment in the Russian military continue to emerge.

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

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

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

I witnessed Zelensky pulling up to the lysée Palace in a small car, while Putin drove in with an armored limo. (The host, French President Emmanuel Macron, hugged Putin but chose only to shake hands with Zelensky).

It is difficult to calculate how much the carefully managed stagecraft of the president’s inner circle has contributed to Zelensky’s popular image both inside and outside Ukraine – but it certainly can’t hurt.

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

Zelensky’s political skills were put to use earlier in his career fighting against Donald Trump who tried to get him out from under the scrutiny he had caused during the quid pro quo scandal.

It all seems like a long while ago, when Zelensky celebrated his victory with his supporters in a nightclub, amidst the fog of war. Standing on stage among the fluttering confetti, he looked in a state of disbelief at having defeated incumbent veteran politician Petro Poroshenko.

The war appears to have turned his ratings around. Just days after the invasion, Zelensky’s ratings approval surged to 90%, and remain high to this day. Zelensky was rated better for handling international affairs by Americans early in the war than US President Joe Biden.

His bubble includes many people from his previous professional life as a TV comedian in the theatrical group Kvartal 95. In the midst of the war a press conference held at the platform of a metro station in April featured the 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.

From Putin to Volodymyr Zelensky – an example of the role of intelligence, fashion and communication in the emergence of a united world

Beyond the man himself, there is Zelensky the brand. Nowadays it is almost impossible to avoid meeting the Ukrainian leader when he wears olive green t-shirts.

“He is probably more comfortable than Putin on camera, too, both as an actor and as a digital native,” she added. Zelensky is doing a better job balancing authority with accessibility, but I believe both of them want to come across as personable.

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

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

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will pay a dramatic surprise visit to Washington on Wednesday, using his first trip outside his homeland since it was invaded 300 days ago to rally his top international partner behind sustained military and economic assistance.

As the world prepares to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden made a historic, unannounced visit to the capital of the embattled country.

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.

A Critical Moment for Secretary of State Mike Milley and the Ukranian Prime Minister Joe Biden on a Supersymmetric Prime Minister’s Visit to Ukraine

The first group of 635 Ukrainians trained on this style of fighting ended their course in Germany last week, according to the Pentagon. The man is Gen. Pat Ryder. More than 700 soldiers have already started a five-week training course.

President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine sparked anger and embarrassment among many of Russia’s hawkish military pundits on Monday, increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin as the Russian leader prepares to justify his stuttering invasion in a national address.

When Zelensky arrives in Washington, he might well experience the same revelation that Churchill did over the capital’s blazing lights at Christmas after months in the dark of air raid blackouts back home.

Nancy Pelosi was the one who helped Zelensky make his appearance as she was about to give up her gavel. Earlier this year she took a surprise visit of her own to meet with Zelensky in Kyiv.

The US aid process matches its help to the shifting strategy of Russia as it relates to the Ukrainian request. 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.

“I think it’s a critical moment, I do” Gen. Mark Milley said. The battlefield is bloody and difficult to navigate, and it will be one of the major factors in President Zelenskyy and President Putin’s determinations as to whether or not to go.

With Republicans taking over the majority of the House in the New Year, his visit to Congress will play a large role in the debate over aid to the Ukranian people. Billions of dollars in US aid sent to Ukraine should be used to shore up the US southern border with new migrants expected in the near future, argue some pro-Donald Trump members.

The Battle of Saratoga and the Battle of the Bulge: A Memoir from the US Secretary of Wartime, Alexander Zelensky

Zelensky was a master of historical allusion and public relations theater. He argued the war in Ukraine was at a turning point – drawing an analogy to the Battle of Saratoga, a rallying point for an outgunned army against a superpower enemy in America’s revolutionary war. He evoked the heroism of US soldiers dug into freezing foxholes in the Battle of the Bulge during Christmas 1944, which thwarted the last effort by Nazi Germany to repel the allied liberation of Europe. He said that FDR promised a hard-won victory for freedom during the war.

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.

During his visit, which happened on the 70th anniversary of the US entering World War II, he said that he didn’t feel close to home and that he spent this anniversary far from his family.

The historical parallels are likely to appreciate the Ukrainian leader. He said that one of the most famous wartime speeches wasquote in an emotional address to British members of parliament.

Zelensky said that they need modern tanks, fighter jets and artillery guns. He said that they need to act faster than the attacker and enhance their cooperation.

The second are precision-guided munitions for Ukrainian jets. Ukranian and Russia are known to have dumb missiles that are fired towards a target. Ukraine has been provided with more and more Western standard precision artillery and missiles, like Howitzers and HIMARS respectively.

The larger year-end spending bill includes money for Ukraine as well as an increase in US defense spending to help replenish weapons and ammunition that were sent to the country.

Russia doesn’t have the resources to begin a new nuclear arms race with Washington because of its economy being in a tough spot and its conventional forces being under tremendous pressure. The collapse of one of the last building blocks of a postCold War thaw between Russia and the US demonstrates the lack of communication between the rivals.

Whatever the truth of the matter is, Biden wants Putin to hear billions of dollars of headlines to convince him of the need for military aid, so that he can stick to his guns.

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.

The costs of the war between the United States and Russia are relatively light due to the fact that Washington spends over $1 trillion a year on defense.

The Heroes of Crime: CNN’s Trevor Zelensky during the First Ukrainian Freedom Talk During the December 22 House Black Hole Debate

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

Zelensky talked about a 10-point peace formula during his address to Congress, as well as mentioning that he told Biden about it at the White House. The Ukrainian leader claimed that Biden supported peace initiatives.

Clinton said she believes that Putin will use bodies of Russian conscripts in the fight in Ukraine.

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.

CNN adapted the story from its December 22 edition of Meanwhile in America, an email about US politics for global readers. Click here if you want to read past editions.

The comic actor-turned-wartime hero effectively put the fate of millions of Ukrainians in the hands of American lawmakers, taxpayers and families, at a time when there is growing skepticism among the incoming Republican House majority about the cost of US involvement.

At an emotional peak of his speech in the House chamber, Zelensky handed Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris a Ukrainian flag he retrieved from the hottest battle front at Bakhmut on Tuesday.

He said that the heroes asked him to bring a flag to the congress, which can save millions of people.

He said that this isn’t just about war in Ukraine and Russia, but also about the women and children who have died due to the fighting. It’s about human rights.

The uncertainty and risks of a war in which the US is fighting a proxy battle with Russia cannot be obscured by Zelensky’s heroic bearing.

— To Americans, Zelensky professed deep thanks for tens of billions of dollars in weapons and aid offered and to come. Implicitly, he argued they couldn’t abandon this gritty, independence hero without also suppressing something of their own patriotic national identify.

— To the incoming House Republican majority, some of whose members want to halt aid, the Ukrainian leader’s hero’s welcome in the chamber suggested they would be shamed if they choose to forsake him.

The fight for minds of the world: The Zelensky-Biden war for the destruction of Ukraine, and the urgency to stay with Putin

Zelensky made the point that the West is unified, and that Biden means it when he said Wednesday that there is an end to the conflict on Putin’s terms.

Later he observed that Ukrainians will be celebrating Christmas by candlelight, “not because it’s romantic, no, but because there will be no electricity.” Russia has destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure and electrical grid.

Zelensky pointed out that despite US help and the upcoming arrival of high-tech weaponry, his nation was still outgunned and outmanned.

The president has limited the potency of the weapons he sends into the battle, balancing the need to defend a European democracy with the desire not to trigger a disastrous direct clash with Russia and to avoid crossing often invisible red lines whose locations are known only to Putin.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s refusal, in his words, “to be pushed” to go it alone in sending tanks to Ukraine – instead standing his ground and demanding US President Joe Biden join him in the venture, risking Putin’s wrath – has shown the transatlantic power dynamic has shifted.

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.

Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida were not applauding when Zelensky was introduced.

President Zelensky was on the US House floor on Wednesday night in green military wear to shore up his supply line, just two days after visiting the bloody front lines in Ukraine.

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.”

The speech he gave was a plea to the Republicans in the House 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.

The battle of the Bulge: A memorial to the US for the fight against Russia and the next generation of Russian diplomats in the White House

He recalled that the Battle of the Bulge took place in 1944 when US troops were surrounded in the snow after D-Day.

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

An address to Congress is the ultimate platform for a foreign president in the US and maybe around the world. It is different from Putin, who had canceled his annual year-end press conference.

Wednesday’s White House reception could not have been the one Zelensky envisioned years ago when he faced then-President Donald Trump’s call for him to investigate Biden in exchange for military aid. And now Zelensky was thanking Americans for their help against Russia in the very chamber where Trump was impeached three years ago for pressuring Zelensky.

Now, with the war nearing its one-year mark on February 24, Biden is hoping to demonstrate to the world his commitment to Ukraine, even as it remains unclear how much longer US and western resolve can last.

Petraeus said it was substantive because of the new money the White House promised to Ukraine in a larger spending bill.

Kevin McCarthy, who wants to be House speaker, had a meeting with Zelensky, who is one of the top congressional leaders.

The U.S. is ready to defend itself against Russia, as Zelensky told reporters at the New York Post-Newtonian Collider

A majority of Americans remain behind supporting Ukraine and keeping sanctions on Russia, according to recent polling, but in a December survey by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the share of Americans who believe the US should support Ukraine for “as long as it takes” dropped 10 percentage points since the summer to about half. Just a third of Republicans supported indefinite support in the survey.

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.

Russia said that the war in Ukraine was set for a long confrontation with Russia after President Zelensky visited Washington.

The Biden administration’s accusation last week that Russia has committed crimes against humanity ensures there will be no return to normality between Washington and Moscow even if the Ukraine war ends.

The ability and willingness of the West and Russia to sustain their operations is at odds with each other. “It’s very difficult to predict how long that will last.”

“Russia is preparing for maximum escalation. It is gathering everything possible, doing drills and training. I can tell you that we will not exclude any possibilities in the next two to three weeks.

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

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 Kremlin has been selling that line to the Russians who are mostly buying it, according to a Russian history professor.

Dismissing accusations of a proxy war, Sloat says Zelenskyy and Ukraine have made clear that they want a “just peace,” and all the U.S. has been doing is help the country defend itself against Russian aggression.

Following Danilov’s comments, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said Wednesday that there a signs Russia is preparing for a renewed offensive in southern Ukraine.

Russian President Putin deviated from his description of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as a special military operation, using the word war for the first time on Thursday.

Putin told the reporters in Moscow that their goal was not to spin the military conflict but to end it. We will continue to strive for this.

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

“There was no decree to end the special military operation, no war was declared,” Yuferev wrote on Twitter. “Several thousand people have already been condemned for such words about the war.”

A US official told CNN their initial assessment was that Putin’s remark was not intentional and likely a slip of the tongue. Officials will be checking to see what the Kremlin says about it in the coming days.

“We never refused, it was the Ukrainian leadership that refused itself to conduct negotiations … sooner or later any party to the conflict will sit down and negotiate and the sooner those opposing us realize it, the better,” he said.

Putin and Shoigu: the impact of the Kremlin on the military and the Ukrainian people during a Russian attack on Kherson

Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday declared the Kremlin would make a substantial investment in many areas of the military. Increasing the size of the military, deployment of a new generation of hypersonic missiles and increasing weapons programs are all included in the initiatives.

In a defiant Christmas address, President Zelensky urged Ukrainians to have faith andpatience after Russian strikes hit the city of Kherson.

The nation was urged to remain firm in the face of winter energy shortages, the absence of loved ones and the threat of Russian attacks.

“There may be empty chairs around it. Our homes and streets are not so bright. And Christmas bells can ring not so loudly and inspiringly. Through the air raid sirens, gunshots and explosions.

Addressing the Ukrainian people directly, he said the country would sing Christmas carols louder than the sound of a power generator and hear the voices and greetings of relatives “in our hearts” even if communication services and the internet are down.

“And even in total darkness – we will find each other – to hug each other tightly. And if there is no heat, we will give a big hug to warm each other.”

Zelensky said that they would celebrate their holidays. As always. We will smile and be happy. As always. The difference is one. We will not wait for a miracle. After all, we create it ourselves.”

In November, a branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox church announced that it would allow its churches to celebrate Christmas on December 25, rather than January 7, as is traditional in Orthodox congregations.

Syria’s foreign minister vows to hold a peace summit in the anniversary of Crimea’s first war with Russia at the United Nations

At least two people were killed in attacks on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region. Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, said four rockets had hit the city — likely S300s — and that critical infrastructure was the intended target.

“These are not military facilities,” he wrote on Telegram Saturday. “This is not a war according to the rules defined. It is terror, it is killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure.”

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

Mr. Zagorodnyuk, clarifying that he did not speak for the government and could not confirm the strikes, added: “You cannot consider, this person will attack you because you are fighting back. There is absolutely no strategic reason not to try to do this.”

The Kinzhal, a hypersonic missile that is virtually impossible to shoot down and can reach targets in minutes, is in short supply.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s foreign minister on Monday said that his government is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February, preferably at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as a possible mediator, around the anniversary of Russia’s war.

If Russia faced a war crimes tribunal, then it would only be able to be invited to such a summit, according to the Foreign Minister.

Kuleba, the U.S. Ambassador to the Middle East, told the Group of 20 Summit on “Second Security and Security Policies” on Monday

Kuleba stated that he was satisfied with the outcome of Zelenskyy’s visit to the U.S., and that the U.S. had made a special plan to get the missile battery ready to go. Usually, the training takes up to a year.

The war can be won by the Ukrainians if they remain unified like a fist and Western weapons are delivered on time, he said.

“The United Nations could be the best venue for holding this summit, because this is not about making a favor to a certain country,” he said. “This is really about bringing everyone on board.”

At the Group of 20 summit in Bali in November, Zelenskyy presented a 10-point peace formula that includes the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, the release of all prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine.

Kuleba said that the man has proven himself to be a man of principle and integrity. We would welcome his participation.

He said that everything they did on the battlefield proved the opposite, so they say that they are ready for negotiations.

It shows how important the US is to both the Ukraine and the United States.

He said that the program for the missile battery was developed to be completed faster than usual, without causing any damage to the quality of the weapon on the battlefield.

While Kuleba didn’t mention a specific time frame, he said only that it will be “very much less than six months.” And he added that the training will be done “outside” Ukraine.

Kuleba was second only to Zelenskyy in carrying out Ukraine’s message during the Russia’s air war in the country.

On Monday, Ukraine called on U.N. member states to deprive Russia of its permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Kuleba said they have been ready for this step to uncover the fraud and deprive Russia of its status.

The Foreign Ministry says that Russian never went through the legal procedure for acquiring membership and taking the place of the USSR at the U.N. Security Council after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (I SW), talks of the negotiations with the West have focused less onUkraine and more on the fact that there isn’t actually a fighting force for the country.

Theciliatory tone from Putin was quickly followed by a heavy-handed message from one of his key officials.

Sergey Lavrov, Putin’s foreign minister, said Monday that Ukraine must fulfill Russia’s demands for the “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukrainian-controlled territories, repeating Moscow’s well-worn and false accusation of Nazism against Ukraine, which it has used in an attempt to justify its invasion.

Alexander Rodnyansky, an economic adviser to President Zelensky, told CNN Tuesday that Putin’s comments were likely an effort to buy time in the conflict.

Declarations that Russia has already lost the war remain premature. There are factors that could still lead to a stalemate or reversal of fortune. NATO could lose patience if it tried to take economic advantage of long-term security, pushing for a peace that wouldn’t benefit Kyiv. But that does, at this moment, seem unlikely.

Zelensky’s willingness to accept parameters for a peace negotiation is unclear, and the US has refused to specify what a settlement may look like beyond saying it will be up to Zelensky.

Kuleba told the AP on Monday that each war ends in a diplomatic way. “Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”

The steps include a path to nuclear safety, food security, and a final peace treaty with Moscow. He also urged G20 leaders to use all their power to “make Russia abandon nuclear threats” and implement a price cap on energy imported from Moscow.

Zelensky’s mission to Afghanistan: The point of no return for Olga and the misfortune of her Russian partner

A decisive swing on the battlefield in the New Year could force a change in the calculus, but both sides are dug into what will many observers believe could become a long and grinding conflict.

Zelensky’s first overseas trip in ten months shows his intention to keep his allies focused on the conflict and united in their support.

“The Putin regime has done a very good job of either forcing out or imprisoning all viable alternatives that are of the more democratic fashion and then on the other side you have fear of going out into the streets if there’s no clear path forward,” she said.

One woman who still lives in Moscow and whom CNN will call Olga, described February 24 as the point of no return. “Life turned into a nightmare from which it is impossible to wake up, round-the-clock reading of the news, protests at which there were more security forces than civilians,” she told CNN via an encrypted messaging service, describing the shame and hopelessness she feels. “The aggressor is our country. She claimed the massacre is being waged on her behalf.

Maria has asked CNN not to publish her full name or details of her employer because of personal security concerns. Maria is at risk of being put under house arrest because of her work with an organization that is considered a foreign agent by Russia.

A Russian expert speaks out against raconian laws exposing the military and intelligence in the run-up to and during the invasion of Ukraine

Draconian laws passed since February have outlawed criticism of the military or leadership. The leading independent monitoring group has concluded that over 20,000 people have been rounded up for demonstrating against the war.

He is accused of spreading false information about the Russian military and law enforcement and is currently on Russia’s wanted list. He denies the charges and says he was simply reporting the truth about the actions of the Russian government in the run up to and during the invasion of Ukraine.

There are some technical ways to access Russians who want independent sources of information. But state media propaganda now blankets the airwaves favored by older Russians, with angry TV talk shows spreading conspiracies.

The US Border Patrol recorded 36,272 encounters with Russian citizens over the course of a year. The number includes people who were apprehended or expelled by the border force and is significantly higher than the 13,240 and 5,946 recorded in the two previous fiscal years.

TheOK Russians said its surveys show that people who are leaving are younger than the general Russian public.

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

If you lose the educated middle-class portion of the population, it will affect your economic prospects and the possibility of reconstitution of the country, according to a Russia expert. She pointed to the exodus of liberal, educated Iranians following the country’s 1979 revolution as an example of what can happen when large numbers from such demographics leave the country.

Maria said she remains determined to stay in Russia, even though all of her friends and her son have left. Maria isn’t willing to leave her elderly mother, which makes her unable to travel abroad. “If I knew for sure that the borders would not be closed and I could come at any time if my mother needed my help, it would probably be easier for me to leave. But knowing that something else could happen at any moment scares me,” she told CNN.

She still believes her work is important, but said she is struggling to see any hope for the future. She said her life was like that of someone who was in a constant state of panic, horror, shame and self-doubt.

“You’re constantly torn apart: Are you to blame? Did you not do enough? Can you do something else, and what should you do now? she said. “There are no prospects. I’m an adult, and I didn’t exactly have all my life figured out, but all in all I understood what would happen next. Nobody comprehends anything. People don’t even understand what will happen to them tomorrow.”

He began to wonder what his identity was. “The things we held dear, like the memory of the Second World War, for instance, became completely compromised,” he said, referring to Putin’s baseless claim that Russian forces are “denazifying” Ukraine.

It feels wrong because the message was used by Putin, the Russians helped win the war against Germany, and it was a part of their national identity. You start questioning the history,” he said, adding that the favorable reaction by some parts of the Russian society to the invasion prompted him to research pre-war rhetoric in Germany.

He felt wrong talking about Russians as Americans because he disagreed with Russia’s actions. But saying “Russians” didn’t seem right either. “Because of course, I’m Russian, I also have some partial responsibility for what is going on and I do not want to hide from it.”

Maria, a historian by training, has spent years taking part in anti-government protests, describing herself as a liberal deeply opposed to Putin, a former KGB agent. I knew that our country was not going to be led by a person from the KGB. It’s too deeply embedded with all of the horrors, deaths and all that.

Some people in the west think that a wave of protests on the streets will get the attention of the government, but that’s not true in Russia, Berzina said.

Almost all of the opposition and opinion leaders are in prison or abroad. She said that people have a huge potential for political action, but there is no leader or power base to back them up.

She stated that it was likely difficult for people from democracies to comprehend the reality of a powerful autocracy. There is a frightening feeling of helplessness and insignificance when one sees a huge machine of death and madness.

The main nervous system of the human body is like the central nervous system of the human body, which if you mess with it, will put all sorts of systems out of whack, according to a director of the Defense Priorities think tank. It is not only inconvenient but an enormous economic cost. It’s an effort to create pain for the civilian population, to show that the government can’t protect them adequately.”

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

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

“Moldova has never been in this situation before,” Ana told me. No one could have predicted that there would be a war next door, an energy shortage and rockets falling near our homes.

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

War in Ukraine has left Russia isolated and struggling with more turbulent-ahedral-hearth: a devastating loss of life in Kiev’s capital

At least two people were pulled from the damaged home on Thursday and at least three people, including a 14-year-old, were injured. In the capital, there were homes, an industrial facility, and a playground that were damaged.

Putin said that his forces were embarking on a limited campaign that would be over in a few weeks.

The war irreversibly upended Russian life, rupturing a post-Soviet period in which the country pursued democratic reforms, at least financial integration and dialogue with the West.

Russia’s most revered human rights group, the 2022, co-recipient memorial, was forced to cease its activities due to alleged violations of the foreign agents law.

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

Dissidents are still targeted. Some of the new laws are still unenforced. But few doubt the measures are intended to crush wider dissent — should the moment arise.

The new “fake news” laws made it harder for leading independent media outlets and some vibrant, online investigative startups to stay in the country.

Restrictions extend to internet users as well. American social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook were banned in March. Since the conflict began, over 100,000 websites have been blocked by the internet regulator.

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

Reopening Putin’s Rulings: The Story of Russian Success in the First Three Months of the Great Power and the Failure of Russian Militia

Thousands of perceived government opponents, many of them political activists, left the war in the early days amid concerns of persecution.

Some countries that have absorbed the Russian exodus predict their economies will grow, despite the fact that Russians remain a subject of concern to former Soviet republics.

Helped by Russian price controls, the ruble regained value. Mcdonald’s and several other brands were relaunched with new names that were Russian owned. By year’s end, the government reported the economy had declined by 2.5%, far less than most economists predicted.

Ultimately, President Putin is betting that when it comes to sanctions, Europe will blink first — pulling back on its support to Ukraine as Europeans grow angry over soaring energy costs at home. He announced a five-month ban on oil exports to countries that abide by the price cap, a move likely to make the pain more acute in Europe.

When it comes to Russia’s military campaign, there’s no outward change in the government’s tone. Russia’s Defense Ministry provides daily briefings recounting endless successes on the ground. Putin, too, repeatedly assures that everything is “going according to plan.”

Yet the sheer length of the war — with no immediate Russian victory in sight — suggests Russia vastly underestimated Ukrainians’ willingness to resist.

The true number of Russian losses – officially at just under 6,000 men – remains a highly taboo subject at home. Western estimates place those figures much higher.

But this is a more limited scenario for Russia’s defeat than NATO war planners could have gamed. The Great Power was never meant to falter so explicitly, or so ineptly inspire unity in the foes it had worked so hard to divide.

Longtime allies in Central Asia have criticized Russia’s actions out of concern for their own sovereignty, an affront that would have been unthinkable in Soviet times. India and China have eagerly purchased discounted Russian oil, but have stopped short of full-throated support for Russia’s military campaign.

Russian prime minister and civilians in Kiev after the first ten months of war: Air strikes, civilian settlements, power cuts, and emergency shutdowns

An annual December “big press conference” – a semi-staged affair that allows the Russian leader to handle fawning questions from mostly pro-Kremlin media – was similarly tabled until 2023.

The Kremlin has given no reason for the delays. After 10 months of war with no sign of success, the Russian leader has run out of good news.

Zelensky switched to speak Russian in his nightly address on Saturday in order to send a message to the Kremlin and Russian citizens, as Moscow launched a series of deadly strikes in multiple parts of Ukraine.

Three people died and three were wounded in the region, according to the office of the president of Ukraine. Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram.

There is a person injured in the Zaporizhzhia region. Two people were killed and another was wounded in the region. Two people were wounded in the Kherson region, while one died in the Chernihiv region.

“26 of the enemy’s air strikes were on civilian infrastructure. In particular, the occupants used 10 Shahed-136 UAVs, but all of them were shot down. The General Staff said in its latest update that civilian settlements were also hit by the rocket attacks.

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

The restrictions were put in place to make sure there was no remnants of missile debris in the open section of the red metro line.

Memories of Zelensky during the Russian-Bulgarian War and what he’s learned from it (videotaped speech in Ukrainian)

I really want to win and have more bright feelings in the future. I miss it a lot. I would also like to travel and open borders. And I also think about personal and professional growth, because one should not stand still. Alyona said that she needed to work for the benefit of the country.

It is a symbol not that it is a small victory, but a symbol that we survived the year, said a 43-year-old pharmacy employee.

I would like to thank everyone who helpsUkraine. We have a lot of friends. We had to go through bad things in order to understand that we have a lot of good things. But so many people are doing real miracles for Ukraine.”

“On New Year’s Eve, cities should be covered by wave of celebration, joy and hope. Zelenska said that Ukrainian cities were again covered by missile wave from Russia.

Standing in darkness with a Ukrainian flag rippling gently in the breeze behind him, Mr. Zelensky recounted in a videotaped speech many notable moments from the war — including the attack on a maternity hospital, the intense fighting at the Azovstal steel plant, the destruction of a Russian bridge to Crimea, the retaking of Kherson, the sinking of a Russian flagship — as the video cut to footage that underscored his words.

The translation of his speech was posted on his official website. We have cried out all the tears. All the prayers have been yelled. 311 days. We have something to say about every minute.”

What does Russia do and what does it tell us now that Ukraine is not the only country that has a nuclear power? An example of a confrontation between Russia and the West during the Cold War

Mr Zelensky said that all Ukrainians are involved in the defense of Ukraine. He said that the way to think of it is not a year of losses.

From the main squares of foreign cities to the halls of government, the world rallied around the people of Ukranian.

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

Europe is facing unknowns, unimaginable as recently as January, as the year closes. To recap: a military once considered the world’s third most formidable has invaded its smaller neighbor, which a year ago excelled mostly in IT and agriculture.

Russia has also met a West that, far from being divided and reticent, was instead happy to send some of its munitions to its eastern border. Western officials might also be surprised that Russia’s red lines appear to shift constantly, as Moscow realizes how limited its non-nuclear options are. None of this was supposed to happen. So, what does Europe do and prepare for, now that it has?

And finally, Moscow is left with a question nobody ever wants to learn the answer to: if its supply chains for diesel fuel for tanks 40 miles from its border do not function, then how can they be sure The Button will work, if Putin reaches madly to press it? There is no greater danger for a nuclear power than to reveal its strategic missiles and retaliatory capability do not function.

This is not the first time America has done this. The Soviet Union’s position changed quickly during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and eventually accepted an outcome that favored the West. Had “red lines” thinking been in vogue, America might well have accepted an inferior compromise that weakened its security and credibility.

The War Between Ukraine and the West: Jay Parini Addresses Putin’s Defense Minister with a Proposed Defense Remnant

Editor’s Note: Jay Parini, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College. His most recent book is a memoir called “Borges and Me”, that he wrote in 1971 when he was in the Highlands of Scotland. The author has the right to their views in this commentary. View more opinion at CNN.

It is an unprecedented conflict in modern times, as Thomas L. Friedman notes in The New York Times. Citing TikTok and other social media platforms, along with satellites and live traffic data on Google Maps, Friedman writes, “Welcome to World War Wired – the first war in a totally interconnected world.”

A large-scale invasion is being live-streamed minute by minute, battle by battle, death by death, to the world, as Daniel Johnson wrote in Slate. Those of us who are lucky enough to be miles away from the missile strikes, gunfire and shelling are watching the events unfold in real time on smart phones and other screens.

He is a formidable opponent to Putin due to his gift for communication and social media, even though the army he commands pales in comparison to Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defense minister to implement a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine for 36 hours this week to allow Orthodox Christians to attend Christmas services, according to a Kremlin statement Thursday. Ukrainian officials quickly rejected the proposal as hypocrisy.

The head of the Luhansk regional military administration told Ukrainian television that they wanted to take a break for a day or two to pull more reserves.

During his nightly address on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia aims to use Orthodox Christmas “as a cover” to resupply and stop Ukrainian advances in the eastern Donbas region.

Russian must leave “occupied territories” in Ukraine before any “temporary truce”, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser.

Ned Price is a State Department spokesman and said it was “cynical” and the US had “little faith” in Russia’s intentions.

The German Minister for Foreign Affairs said the promise of a ceasefire would not bring either freedom or security to those living under Moscow’s rule.

Kirill has been a vocal supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and gave a sermon in September in which he said that “military duty washes away all sins.”

The announcement by the Kyiv-headquartered Orthodox Church of Ukraine widened the rift between the Russian Orthodox Church and other Orthodox believers.

In recent years a large part of the Orthodox community in Ukraine has moved away from Moscow, a movement accelerated by the conflict Russia stoked in eastern Ukraine beginning in 2014.

From the frontlines in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, a Ukrainian soldier told CNN that the temporary ceasefire announcement looked like an effort to clean up Russia’s image.

“I do not think that this is done for some military tactical purpose, one day will not solve much,” the Ukrainian soldier, who goes by the call sign Archer, told CNN by phone.

“Perhaps this is done to make the image of the whole of Russia a little more human, because so many atrocities are constantly emerging, and this could earn them few points of support from the people,” the soldier said.

Halyna Hladka saw the ceasefire as an attempt by Russians to win time after Russian attacks soured the most modest celebrations.

Russia has shown it’s use of faith in numerous ways. And besides, in almost a year of war, Russia has not behaved itself as a country capable of adhering to promises,” she said.

The Killing of a Russian School: Does the Army Really Operate Adequately? Comments on Vladimir Putin’s “War Gonzo”

There have been estimates that 200,000 Russians have been killed or wounded in the war. Ukraine has had over 100,000 killed or wounded in action and over 30,000 deaths.

If the Russian account is accurate, it was the cell phones that the novice troops were using in violation of regulations that allowed Ukrainian forces to target them most accurately. The attack on Ukraine was executed in a way that hasn’t been made clear. But the implications are broader and deeper, especially for how Russia is conducting its war now.

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

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

It is a view shared by other experts. “Bad communications security seems to be standard practice in the Russian Army,” James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told me in an e-mail exchange.

He’s not the only Russian war blogger casting doubt. According to a post on the Telegram channel which is linked to the leader of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, the soldiers themselves were at fault for what happened in Makiivka. “In this case, it is to 99% a lie and an attempt to throw off the blame.”

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

Semyon Pegov, who blogs under the alias WarGonzo and was personally awarded the Order of Courage by President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin two weeks ago, attacked the Ministry of Defense for its “blatant attempt to smear blame” in suggesting it was the troops’ own use of cell phones that led to the precision of the attack.

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

The defense ministry had a shakeup a month earlier, when the deputy defense minister was named. The location of the arms depot, adjacent to the Makiivka recruits, would likely have been on Mizintsev’s watch.

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

The attack on Kramatorsk: Russian military attacks on an undersea line to the West and the U.S. imperiled interests in Europe

Germany said it would send a further four Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, increasing its original commitment from 14 tanks to 18. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also pledged to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Moscow claimed that many of the soldiers from the Ukranian military were killed in an attack on Kramatorsk.

A CNN team on the ground has not seen any large casualties in the area. There is no unusual activity in and around Kramatorsk, including in the vicinity of the city morgue, the team reported.

A reporter in Kramtorsk reported no sign of a Russian strike on two college dormitories that Russia had claimed had housed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers.

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

The account was angrily dismissed by an influential military post in the military, and contradicted by the leader of the DPR in eastern Ukraine, suggesting there was a dispute within the Russian command over the response to the attack.

Russia invested a lot in the undersea line to Germany and wanted to ramp up economic strength in Europe and increase global sales. Germany, a leading consumer, was on board from the beginning. Washington wasn’t.

The United States does not want the new, high-capacity subsea supply to be replaced by old overland lines in Ukraine that give vital revenue to the Westward-leaning leadership.

Donald Scholz’s 2006 Eurovision victory speech echoed by thunderous applause from the Bundestags in the early stage of the Cold War

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

Former Chancellor Merkel was Europe’s moral compass. Scholz has found unexpected metal in his ponderous, often stop/go/wait traffic-light governing coalition and won thunderous applause in Germany’s Bundestag on Wednesday as he flashed a rare moment of steely leadership.

“Trust us,” he said, “we won’t put you in danger.” He spelled out how his government had already handled Russia’s aggression and how fears of a freezing winter and economic collapse were not realized. He said that the government dealt with the crisis and that they are in a better position.

The applause that came from the crowd spoke as loudly as his words. Scholz brought with him a population who was usually shy to war and projecting their own power, and deeply divided over how much they should aid Ukraine in killing Russians and potentially angering the Kremlin.

Although his actions, which include sending tanks, may help ease Putin’s grip on power, how much Scholz knows about Putin’s sagging popularity isn’t clear.

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

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

CNN Observations of the Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Violation of the Article Article ‘The War Illness and the Security of Ukraine’

The mixed messaging has some Muscovites CNN spoke with after the announcements by Biden and Scholz on tanks confused. Some people said Russia wouldn’t win, but a significant amount were concerned about the war, dismayed at the death toll, and frustrated that Putin ignored their concerns.

Zelensky will likely feel that weapons supplies will be on a German leash and not led by the United States as a result of long debates about the next military moves for Ukraine.

A top Ukrainian national security official said that Russia is preparing for a maximal increase of the war in Ukraine, as soon as the coming weeks.

“These will be defining months in the war,” Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Sky News in an interview broadcast Tuesday.

The Defence Intelligence representative of Ukranian said on national television that February and March will be very active.

“During the week, military representatives from the two countries will practice joint planning of the use of troops based on the prior experience of armed conflicts in recent years,” the ministry said in a statement.

The city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine was hit by a new barrage of missiles Thursday as people scrambled to find shelter.

The first strike was heard by a CNN team as they arrived at the scene. CNN saw the second attack, with two impacts about one minute apart. Two women jumped from their car and ran yelling as other people took shelter. Shrapnel bounced off the blastproof glass of one CNN vehicle.

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

Rescue workers were trying to find survivors in the rubble after the attack on apartment buildings. Authorities also evacuated people to a local school for shelter.

Ukraine belongs to the European family: a message from a friend in Kyiv: We are working hard and will make good on the defence system

A nation that is very, very bad. And a country that has to overcome it in order to reduce to zero the likelihood of such tragedies happening again. We will definitely find and punish all the perpetrators. They do not deserve mercy.”

“My colleagues and I have come here to Kyiv today with a clear message: Ukraine belongs to the European family,” Scholz said during a joint news conference in Kyiv with Zelensky.

During an address to the European Parliament, Zelensky said his country and the EU share the same values, and that the “European standard of life” and the “European rules of life” are “when the law rules.”

Russia wants Europe to return to the 1930s and 1940s, according to a warning by the president. “The answer for us to that is no,” he said. We are defending ourselves. We must defend ourselves.”

Zelensky said at a press conference in the capital city that victory would be inevitable. I am certain there will be victory.”

“I’ve heard about the readiness to give us the necessary weapons and support, including the aircrafts. And I’ll have a number of bilaterals now and we are doing to raise the issue of the fighter jets and other aircrafts,” he said. “So we are working and will continue working in Brussels.”

But despite Zelensky’s optimism, behind closed doors he is likely being warned that without a fully functioning air defense system, NATO’s expensive fighter jets could be easy prey for the Russians, and that any fighter jet commitment needs to be sequenced with better air defense.

The War in Ukraine, the United States, and the War in the Middle East: a U.S. Viewpoint from the Secretary of State

The Ukrainian leader has a proven track record persuading allies to give him what he wants, hinting at success in the United Kingdom, “I think that our visit to London has achieved results.”

His meeting in Paris with the German Chancellor and French President also appears to have extended that conversation. I think this meeting is positive and will be useful for concrete decisions. I wouldn’t want to announce many things publicly but I can say we will work towards the enhancement of our capabilities.

Zelensky was told by France that it is determined to assist Ukrainians in their war against Russia. France was determined to help victory for Ukraine, according to the president. “Ukraine can count on France and its allies to win the war, Russia should not and will not win the war.”

He said that they knew Russia would lose. We know that victory is going to change the world. The United Kingdom is marching with us towards the most important victory of our lifetime. The victory is over the idea of war.

The Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States attended the State of the Union speech for the second year in a row, but the war in Ukraine didn’t get a lot of attention in the speech.

There’s ” strong indication” Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the supply of anti-aircraft weapons to the rebel group in eastern Ukraine, according to the international team.

“It’s unlikely Russian forces will be particularly better organized and so unlikely they’ll be particularly more successful, though they do seem willing to send more troops into the meat grinder,” a senior British official told CNN.

A senior Ukrainian diplomat said that they amassed enough manpower to take one or two small cities. It was overwhelming, compared to the sense of panic that they were trying to build.

Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that the US isn’t seeing Russia massing its aircraft ahead of an aerial operation.

He says the Russians have lost many battles because of multiple failures in their military culture. While Petraeus says this is in many ways the first open-source war, other aspects are being fought with Cold War tactics and weapons – albeit with upgraded capabilities, drones and precision munitions.

Petraeus: Not completely. In an interview with The Atlantic published shortly before the Russian invasion, I explained the considerable difficulties I expected Russia would encounter and noted that an invasion force of some 190,000 was much less than what likely would be required, especially if the Ukrainians proved to be as determined as I thought they would be (and they have been even more so).

The situation is stalemated at the moment because of Russia’s costly attacks in several areas, and also because both sides are building up forces for offensive operations in the late winter and spring.

We are, however, seeing some glimpses and hints of what the future of warfare might look like. We see the Ukrainian use of drones (of only modest range and capability) as aerial observers identifying Russian headquarters and other targets for the precision munitions the US has provided (which will double in range from 70-80 kilometers to 150 kilometers when the just announced US precision munitions arrive in Ukraine).

There would be many more uncouth systems in the air, in cyberspace, on the ground, and at sea, not just in the air.

Back in the cold war days, the adage stated that if it can be seen, it can be hit and then it can be killed. The capabilities we needed to operate that adage were not found in those days. All of the platforms, bases, and headquarters will be vulnerable to being hit and destroyed in the future, unless there are substantial defenses and armouring of those assets.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they had avoided conflict between great powers. It is a system that works for all its flaws. But now, it’s being challenged.”

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

Petraeus: All of the above and more. Poor campaign design, woefully inadequate training and poor command, control, and communications are some of the things that can be found on the list.

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

What the Russian Revolution has to offer in the way of the Ukrainian war ends (bergen-ctpr), and why Ukraine is a better country than Ukraine

And it is still led by a kleptocratic dictator who embraces innumerable grievances and extreme revanchist views that severely undermine his decision-making.

Sometimes attributed to Stalin, the observation was: “Quantity has a quality all its own.” Russia has a far bigger population than Ukraine: Will that make a critical difference to the Ukraine war over the long term?

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

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

Petraeus: All of those technologies have proven very important, and the Ukrainians have demonstrated enormous skill in adapting various technologies and commercial applications to enable intelligence gathering, targeting and other military tasks.

Sometimes, I have thought we should have provided various capabilities, such as long-range precision munitions, tanks, and HIMARS. sooner than we have.

Eventually, for example, Ukraine is going to have to transition from eastern bloc aircraft (e.g., MiG-29s) to western ones (e.g., F-16s). There just aren’t any more MiGs to provide to them, and they reportedly have more pilots than aircraft at this point.

We should start the process of transition since it will take a long time to train pilots and maintenance personnel. All that said, again, I think the Administration has done a very impressive job and proven to be the indispensable nation in this particular situation – with important ramifications for other situations around the world.

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

How Russian War Ends: What Do You Think about the Ottoman-Robertson-Putnam-Scale Invasion of China?

The force that Putin puts into the toughest battles is the quasi-private Wagner Group. Many of the convicts are mercenaries, so what do you think about using them as a tactic?

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

These are not the tactics or practices that, at the end of the day, foster development of well-trained, disciplined, capable, and cohesive units that have trust in their leaders and soldiers on their left and right.

Bergen: What are the lessons of Ukraine for the Chinese if they were to stage an invasion of Taiwan, which would not be over a neighboring land border but over a 100-mile body of water? Does the sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea navy, reshape how the Chinese might think about this question?

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

Petraeus is the leader of the CIA. I think it is. This is the first war in which social media and Smartphones have been readily available and used by the general public. It is through so-called “open sources” that unprecedented transparency and an enormous amount of information is available.

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

Timing the end of the Iraq War: Cristian Gherasim’s commentary on Moldova’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

At the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003 you asked a rhetorical question “tell me how this ends.” For the war in Ukraine: How does this end?

The war now appears poised to stretch at least another year, unlike the last time Biden was in Warsaw, when Putin’s forces appeared to be retreat and the Russian economy seemed doomed under the weight of Western sanctions. There are currently no serious efforts at negotiating an end to the fighting.

Also when Ukraine is hit with missiles and drones, it needs aMarshall plan developed by the US and G7 to rebuild the country, and NATO membership or something else, if that is not possible.

Eastern and Central European affairs are the focus of an analyst, consultant and journalist named Cristian Gherasim. Follow him on Twitter @Crstn_Gherasim. The views he makes in the commentary are his own. CNN has more opinion.

Last year, as Russian forces advanced westward toward the Ukrainian port city of Odesa – just 35 miles from Moldova’s eastern tip – Moldovan experts sounded the alarm. Capturing Odesa would give Putin’s army a land corridor from Russia-occupied Ukraine to Moldova, in particular to a pro-Russian separatist region in the Moldova’s east. Fortunately Odesa was spared and the Russian advance is now bogged down in Eastern Ukraine. But the question is, for how long?

The trips she makes from the Romanian capital of Bucharest, where Ana has been living for the past decade, to Moldova, have only gotten more frequent since power blackouts and energy shortages hit the small country of 2.6 million people.

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

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

The tiny region of Odesa could be used to connect the Russian army with the territory it is currently in, which is much closer to NATO and the EU.

There are concerns that other countries will be involved in the war if Russia launches a new attempt to reach Moldova. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that Russia is trying to “freeze” the war before a spring assault, which many fear might bring Russian forces once again near Odesa.

During his visit to Chisinau earlier this spring, UN Secretary General Guterres mentioned thatMoldova has received most refugees as a proportion of its own population. He said that the country is on the verge of preservation, peace and stability in the world. But what does that mean, exactly?

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

The troubles ofMoldova are related to internal factors as well. The country has long had corruption problems, which the current government has been unable to address. Moldova’s judicial shortcomings have been also highlighted in a recent Council of Europe report, with its judiciary system coming again under scrutiny following a disputed contest for the top job of chief prosecutor.

Moldova is also losing its people. According to World Bank statistics, Moldova has lost 12% of it’s population since 1991, as it has been affected by the demographic decline seen throughout many parts of Europe.

Gazprom has slashed its gas exports to Moldova and Ukraine has halted energy exports altogether due to Russian missile attacks. In November, Russian attacks on Ukraine caused power blackouts in half of Moldova. Moldova is left with only 10% of the electricity it can produce on its own.

The charm offensive by the president ofMoldova is led by plain spoken and charismatic Maia Sandu, who met with western leaders, giving an inspiring speech at Harvard, to help bring attention to the plight of the country. She knows that there would be nothing worse for Moldova than to be forgotten and ignored on the world stage.

Do we need war to end Russia’s war? – Lukashenko’s “not afraid” comments on the russian border

We are not violent people. Lukashenko, a leader with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said at the press conference that they don’t want war.

The CNN team were 100 meters away from the Ukrainian side, where they saw the barbed wire fortifying the border area.

Kyiv has closed all border crossings to Belarus, except to occasionally allow entry to Ukrainian refugees who are looking to return to their home country, out of concern Belarus could be used for a further invasion by Russia.

The CNN team could see a Ukrainian flag on Ukraine’s side of the border crossing and a red and white flag which is associated with the Belarusian opposition – a move Belarusian authorities called a “provocation.”

The US and western leaders are readying for a show of strength to establish once and for all that NATO is in the conflict for the long haul until Moscow is defeated.

The trip comes ahead of Biden’s planned two-day visit to Poland. The President is scheduled to be in Warsaw on Tuesday where he will meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda, the White House said Sunday.

The Cold War and the Cold War: Are China and Russia worried about a possible end to the Ukrain-Russia war? A view from the outside world

In the US House for instance, some members of the new Republican majority are skittish. Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz last week demanded an end to aid to Ukraine and for the US to demand all combatants “reach a peace agreement immediately.” A bipartisan majority for saving Ukraine still exists in the House and the Senate. It’s not sure if Biden can guarantee aid forUkraine in perpetuity. If Donald Trump or another Republican is elected President in the year 2075, US aid may be in serious doubt.

The outside world knows Putin is not contemplating defeat or an exit from the war because of the complete lack of any diplomatic framework for ceasefire talks.

Hill, a former employee of President Donald Trump, said at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that there were few signs that Putin was giving up his determination.

Before the flight of a Chinese spy balloon across the US caused the thaw in US-China relations, the chance of China leaning on Putin for an end to the war was extremely remote.

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

February 23, 2022, is the evening of that day. In Ukranian, a news site boss relaxes with a bath and candles. A woman is going to bed that night to celebrate her husband’s birthday the next day. In Moscow, a journalist happens to postpone his travel plans to Kyiv.

The day of February 23, 2022, Putin War UKraine (Russia Wrap Opinions-ctpr): The first day of World War 2022

Over the course of one year, tens of thousands of lives have been lost and millions of people have been displaced. It tested the resolve of western alliances and unleashed atrocities, decimated cities and had a global food and energy crisis.

February 23, 2022. I went to bed thinking that I would celebrate my husband’s birthday the next day. Our life was getting better. My husband was running his own business. Our daughter started school and made friends at the school. We found a special needs nursery for our son thanks to the support services we had arranged. I finally had time to work. I was happy.

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

Invasion of a foreign land. I: Ukrainian life in Odesa, Poland and my book “My first adventure in Ukraine”

Completely exhausted, crushed and scared, we had to brace ourselves and come to terms with our forced displacement. I will be forever grateful to all those who helped us come to Prague and adjust to a new life in a foreign land.

Thanks to the opportunities for Ukrainians provided by the Czech Republic, my husband got a job. My son needs classes for special needs. He works as a learning support assistant at an adaptation group for Ukrainian children. My daughter does her schoolwork in her Ukrainian school while she’s in the Czech school.

We woke up to find out that the invasion had begun. The open letter I wrote was signed by 12 Russian writers, directors and cultural figures. It was published soon after and tens of thousands of Russians added their signatures.

On the third day we, my husband and I, left Russia. I felt that it was some kind of moral obligation. I could no longer stay on the territory of the state that has become a fascist one.

We moved to Berlin. The refugee camp is next to the main railway station, where thousands of Ukrainians arrive every day. And I started writing a new book. It starts like this:

Russia has just launched missiles towards severalUkrainian cities, including my adopted city of Odesa. Air raid sirens blare as we bolt for shelter into enclosed hallways. The pot of borscht my landlady brings me is meant to make me feel like I’m at home.

Besides the obvious battles, there was another one to fight, trying to claim my life back. The life Russia stole from me and millions of Ukrainians.

The eyes of three men thrust into our van in Posad Pokhrovka in the early days of the war still bother me as they claim that the Nazis beat them like that. They never thought they’d live long enough to see worse than the 1940s.

A year into the full-scale invasion, my passport is a novel in stamps. My life is split between London, where I teach Ukrainian literature, and Ukraine, where I get my lessons in courage.

My former classmates from Zaporizhzhia whom, based on our teenage habits, I expected to perish from addictions a long time ago, have volunteered to fight. My hairdresser, whom I expected to remain a sweet summer child, turned out to have fled on foot from the Russia-occupied town of Bucha through the forest with her mother, grandmother and five dogs.

“That dark night one year ago, the world was literally at the time bracing for the fall of Kyiv,” Biden told Zelensky at a news conference flanked by the Stars and Stripes and Ukraine’s distinctive blue and yellow national flag. The event was symbolic and carried its own symbolism, but that didn’t stop it from being in an ornate room like any other leaders’ press conference.

Andrei Kolesnikov is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of several books on the political and social history of Russia, including “Five Five-Year Liberal Reforms.” Russian Modernization and Egor Gaidar’s Legacy were some of the early aspects of Russian modernization.

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

He canceled the future by putting the past behind him. It’s easier to live this way when you are told all the right things by your superiors and you take for granted everything they tell you.

It is impossible to adapt to a catastrophe of this magnitude for me and my family. The authorities labeled me as a ‘foreign agent’ because I was an active commentator on the events, putting my personal risk at increased risk and reinforcing the notion of living in a utopian world.

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

The next morning my phone was buzzing from all the messages and missed calls. A red headline in all caps on the Kyiv Independent website read: “PUTIN DECLARES WAR ON UKRAINE.”

The fate of Vladyslav Orlov: in the wake of an encounter with a wounded officer in pre-war Russia and how to get help in the hospital

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

The life I knew started falling apart soon after, starting with the small things. I don’t need to know what cup of tea I used to drink, how I dressed or whether I took a shower. The battle mattered more than life.

Just a few weeks into the full-scale invasion it was already hard to remember the struggles, sorrows and joyful moments of the pre-war era. I would remember being upset about my boyfriend, but I could no longer relate. My life didn’t change on February 24, it was stolen from me on that day.

I was no longer concerned with my personal ambitions. Only the common goal was crucial – to raise our flag and show that we are fighting even under these circumstances.

I couldn’t enjoy my victories on the track. They were possible thanks to the many defenders who had died. I got messages from the men on the frontline. They were so happy to follow our achievements, and it was my primary motivation to continue my career.

When the officer in the Ukrainian national guard, Vladyslav Orlov, didn’t see what hit him, the car he was traveling in caught fire and rolled over. He suspected Russian gun fire.

Pinned in the back seat, Orlov says he was initially unable to get out of the vehicle – his feet had been crushed by the car and his legs had been wounded by the explosion. His team laid in the grass to watch the fire and figure out their next steps, in disbelief that they had survived.

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

“(There are) a lot of wounded guys, you know?” Orovl told CNN. There is no free space for doctors, and everybody is working hard but not all of the time. (There’s not) enough medicine because it’s war,” he said in limited English.

Gary Wasserson explains the difficult road to recovery from Orlov’s foot injuries in the United States and how it affects the future of his country

The video caught the attention of a few US volunteers and eventually made it its way to Gary Wasserson, a retired American businessman from New York who had already begun coordinating volunteer aid resources to the region.

There is a program available to let Ukrainians come to the US for a period of time if they can get someone to give them financial assistance. Wasserson’s toughest task was “getting the attention of Homeland Security to understand the urgency of the medical issues at hand,” he said.

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

FuFA told CNN that the complexity was due to both soft tissue wounds as well as bone defects or missing bone from the blast injuries.

“I’ve warned him that this is such a long road that I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point we hit roadblocks where it feels like this is taking too long or that this is too challenging to continue to face,” Fufa said.

He hopes he can walk again, but his hopes for his country are much bigger than that – he said he wants the world to know this isn’t simply about two countries in conflict.

“The really important decision we should take all together is saying that we are willing to do it as long as necessary, and that we will do our best,” the chancellor said.

He also appreciates the government’s strong alliance with the US, and said that they just do it together.

Security and Human Rights Conferences in Munich after the Russian War: Why Do We Need Us? How Do We Document All Crimes? A Human Rights Lawyer’s Perspective

Many are not good at delivering modern items, but we will provide support as they deliver them. “And as you know, there is also a big number of older tanks which we will deliver.”

“One of the things that we are working hard at – at President Biden’s direction – is to increase the production of all of these types of ammunition,” Sullivan said. We are putting enormous effort into something that is not something we can do with a single finger.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was also present at Friday’s meetings, saying the Munich conference is “more important than ever,” given the Russian invasion.

“From the beginning, the security conference has always been a place of understanding and dialogue. What is new is that this is now taking place at the same time as a war of aggression is being waged on European soil by Russia against Ukraine,” Pistorius said. The stakes for the conference were raised even higher by that.

“This is something that leads me to the question – for whom do we document all these crimes?” Oleksandra Matviichuk, the head of the Center for Civil Liberties, told us. “I’m a human rights lawyer and I document human pain in order to bring these Russians to justice, so I’m not a historian.”

Ukraine’s war-anniversary-with-Russia-run-of-a-kind: Taiwan’s foreign minister and a friend of the Soviet Union

The war in Ukraine has taught Taiwan a few things, and it’s keeping a wary eye on China, according to Taiwan’s foreign minister.

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

Natalia believes that they tried to flee in the first days of the war, but their car was hit by Russian forces. Her husband and nephew were killed in a car crash. Vova survived the attack but was hospitalized for months with seven bullets in his body.

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

Putin’s Battle of Stalingrad, the First Folk Hero in Russia and the Status of the Russian Dialogue of the Second Operation on Crimea

The audio for this story was produced by Danny Hajek; edited by Barrie Hardymon and Natalie Winston. Additional help for production came from Carol Klinger, as well as other people. The two people who provided reporting and translation help was Hanna Palamarenko.

Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is fond of a phrase, “the wonderful Russia of the future,” his shorthand for a country without President Vladimir Putin.

Since last February’s invasion, Putin has shrugged off protests and international sanctions. Human rights groups and the independent media have been accused of being foreign agents.

“Putin arrived in Volgograd, which was renamed Stalingrad for a few days on the occasion of the anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad,” Rogov wrote on Telegram. The Battle of Stalingrad’s anniversary is considered to be a turning point in the Patriotic War and used as a warm-up prior to the second offensive against Ukraine, which is being prepared.

The first mobilization caused major tremors in Russian society, which should make it clear that this is risky. Hundreds of thousands of Russians voted with their feet. Protests erupted in ethnic minority regions where police faced off against anti-mobilization demonstrators. Russian social media saw a surge of videos and public complaints about the lack of equipment and appalling conditions for newly mobilized recruits.

The mercenary group says it is no longer recruiting prisoners, but the cost of their battles has raised their profile. While the oligarch has no official government office or administrative power, his ability to deliver some results and his swaggering PR operation have vaulted him significantly closer to Putin.

There is a lot of debate as to how close it is. In an interview with CNN, Russian author and journalist Mikhail Zygar commented that Prigozhin is accumulating a political following that could allow him to challenge Putin, and that he is considered the most hot topic for speculation in Moscow.

“He’s the first folk hero (in) many years,” Zygar said. He is the hero of the most conservative part of Russian society, even though most of the leaders in that part of the society have left.

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

Ira, who is 47 years old, works for a business publication and said that he cannot really make a difference in Russia. I try to maintain a sense of balance. Maybe I’m too apolitical, but I don’t feel it (further mobilization) is going to happen.”

Ira felt anxious in February and March last year after the invasion. She was worried she wouldn’t be able to pay her mortgage since she had just bought an apartment.

She said that it got worse in the spring. It seems like we have gotten used to a new reality. I went out with my girlfriends. I started to buy a lot more wine.”

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

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

Russian-UKraine War anniversaries: What do we do, where do we go, and what are we going to, when we leave?

Olya, a 51-year-old events organizer with two teenage children, said her family had opted for more domestic holidays. Europe is largely closed to direct flights from Russia, and opportunities to travel abroad are more limited.

Life carries on, Olya said, even though there is a war on. “I can’t influence the situation,” she said. My friends often tell me, we do what we can. It doesn’t help to get depressed.”

“Those who adapted quickly reorganized, they are seeing growth,” he said. “In January we concluded an unusual number of deals, and most of our activity usually picks up in February.”

“In terms of everyday life, practically nothing has changed,” he said, talking about the cutoff of Western imports. “If we’re talking parts for a (Mercedes Benz) G-Class, it might be trickier.”

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

The Russo-Ukrainian War: A Hell’s Game For Putin, Or how the Kremlin Could Fail

Georgy said he was skeptical of state media, saying he looked for other sources of information. He admitted that he could get called up again.

Russia grabbed Mariupol after a long siege in the south in an effort to secure a corridor along the Black Sea coast linking the peninsula and the east of the country.

Serhii the Harvard University professor says that it’s difficult for Ukrainians to keep the territorial integrity of the country.

Neither can Putin politically afford to sign a negotiated deal if it means giving up any territory, according to Vladislav Zubok, a history professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

A military solution is unlikely, despite the loss of Russian soldiers and armor by the Ukrainians.

“We believe that the second collapse will be similar to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991,” Zubok says. “I’d say it’s a hell of a game. A very, very dangerous game.”

But while the nightmarish threat is real, Harvard’s Plokhy doesn’t think Putin would ever follow through, given the likelihood of a full military response from the West.

Russia’s loss of military equipment has been widely reported, and the Kremlin was forced to resort to North Korea and Iran for weapons.

“Russia is significantly diminished,” says Plokhy, the author of several books, including The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History, due for release in May.

However, the idea that Russia is simply running out of what it needs to wage war is mostly “wishful thinking,” according to Alexseev. Defense factories in Russia work in three or four shifts.

Despite Western sanctions choking off Russian supplies of microchips needed in high-tech weapons, the Kremlin’s forces still pack a powerful punch, he says.

He states that Russia has learned from their losses and now has 300,000 more troops.

“They burn through bullets very quickly, compared to manufacturing them,” Watling recently told NPR. Zelenskyy expressed the possibility of fatigue among military aid donors during an address at the annual Munich Security conference in Germany on Friday.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/19/1153430731/ukraine-russia-war-one-year-anniversary-how-will-it-end

The fate of Mariupol 2.o, the city of Tatarstan, and the emergence of Ukraine from the collapse of the Soviet Union

If Ukraine mounts a serious threat to Crimea, however, it could harden the resolve of Russians, according to Charap of the Rand Corp. He says that a fight over the peninsula is likely to be bitter and that the ability of the Ukrainians to capture it is highly unlikely.

Instead, an outcome that would satisfy no one seems the most likely. SDSU’s Alexseev calls it Mariupol 2.o, after the slow, devastating siege of that city in the early months of the war. “But on the scale of the entire Ukraine,” he says.

I should explain. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Chechnya was one of the two autonomous republics of the newly independent Russian Federation that claimed independence. (The other one was Tatarstan.) The world leaders were fed up with the fact that all the republics that they had always regarded as administrative units of Russia were actually real things. The West’s shock at the new geography meant that Ichkeria didn’t have the best chance of being recognized.

Biden announced Monday he would join European nations in announcing new sanctions on Moscow and unveil another security assistance package on top of the tens of billions already committed this year.

Biden went out to dinner with his wife in Washington before he left. He was missing in public until Monday morning, when he showed up in Ukranian.

Biden’s trip to Kyiv was shrouded in secrecy, a reflection of the steep security concerns. Air Force One departed Joint Base Andrews under cover of darkness at 4:15 a.m. ET on Sunday, and reporters aboard the plane were not allowed to carry their devices with them.

Biden is traveling with a relatively small entourage, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon and personal aide Annie Tomasini.

Biden has been wanting to visit Ukraine for a while, particularly after his counterparts in Europe had to go on long train journeys to meet with Zelensky. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as well as former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have all made visits to the country to demonstrate their support.

A small city in the far southwestern corner of Ukraine was visited by Biden’s wife on Mother’s Day last year. She met with Zelenska at a former school that was converted into temporary housing for displaced Ukrainians, including 48 children.

Yet security precautions had prevented Biden from making a similar trip. The White House didn’t even look into the potential for a trip across the border after Biden said he had expressed interest.

The developments this week don’t mean that the national security threats from Beijing to the US are the same. The war in Ukraine exposed Russian weakness while the rising power of China will cause trouble for Washington in the future. And the two US foes are not locked in a formal alliance against the US, even if both see ways that they can advance their own aspirations to harm American interests and power by working together.

The officials wouldn’t give any details on what intelligence the US has seen suggesting a shift in China’s posture, but they did say that they have shared it with allies and partners at the Munich Security Conference.

Wang is expected to visit Moscow this week in the first visit of a Chinese official in that role since the invasion of Ukraine.

The president of the United States, dressed in overcoat and shades, walked through the city in the afternoon while air raid sirens wailed and he stood exposed beside Zelensky in St. Michael’s Square.

Biden wouldn’t have gone to Ukraine if he had known there were some things Putin could do to prevent him.

Putin will have to respond to what happened today and President Biden claimed the upper hand in Tuesday’s speech.

The dilemma that defines his war strategy is how far to go in order to help Kyiv win while avoiding a clash between the West and Russia, because Biden has so far declined to agree to the request.

Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, complained on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that Washington had taken too long to send game-changing weapons to Ukraine in the past and should not make the same mistake with warplanes. The Texas Republican replied, “I hope so and I think it’s going to happen.”

This is because they would enhance Ukraine’s capacity to potentially strike at Russian jets and air defense systems inside Russia. The use of NATO aircraft in such operations – even with Ukrainian pilots – could prompt the Kremlin to conclude the alliance has directly intervened in the war, increasing the risk of a disastrous escalation of the conflict Biden has tried to avoid.

Joe Biden and the Case for Freedom: What Do Russians Hate about a Candidate’s State of the Union Address?

A grueling and dangerous journey that required energy and endurance felt like a jab at critics who question whether Biden should be contemplating a reelection race at the age of 80.

Biden said that the stagecraft of his State of the Union address was a risk to US democracy and values, and it angered the most extreme wing of the Republican Party. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, for instance, quickly slammed Biden for journeying to Ukraine and other GOP figures accused him of caring more for Kyiv’s borders than those in the US.

This is very offensive. On our president’s day, Joe Biden, the President of the United States chose to support the government of Ukraine instead of America, and the American people were forced to pay for it. I can’t say how much Americans hate Joe Biden.

There is nothing better than standing for our values of freedom and democracy and the right of people to fight tyranny, which are both the same thing as America’s own fight for independence.

“Biden, having received security guarantees in advance, finally went to Kyiv,” Medvedev said in a statement on Telegram. There were disagreements between both sides about what would happen with the new weapons and brave people. And here it is important to note that the West already delivers weapons and money to Kyiv quite regularly. In huge quantities, NATO countries can make money from stealing weapons to sell to terrorists around the world.

Russian army veteran and former Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Igor Girkin meanwhile suggested that Biden could have visited the frontlines in eastern Ukraine and escaped unharmed.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the grandfather gets brought to Bakhmut as well, and nothing will happen to him,” he said.

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

Russian Defense Minister Jake Medvedev and the Munich Security Conference – Opening a Security Conference for the U.N. Security Council on Ukraine

A few hours before he departed, the United States informed Russia of the plans to visit the Ukrainian capital for “deconfliction purposes,” according to Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, is well-known for making provocative statements in order to shore up his nationalist credentials.

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

The U.N. General Assembly is holding a special session on Ukraine. Russia requested that the Security Council discuss the Nord Streampipeline. And Russia’s parliament will hold extraordinary meetings.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy opened the Munich Security Conference, speaking via video link to attendees including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Vice President Kamala Harris. The vice president said that Russia had committed “crimes against humanity.”

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a call for more weaponry for Ukraine at the NATO defense ministers meeting.

A Yale University team reported that the Russian government operated a large network of child custody centers for tens of thousand of Ukrainian children, which was a potential war crime.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: A Sensitive Candidate During the Ukrainian War and a Real-Living President

People were wondering if Zelenskyy would flee. Daria Kaleniuk, who runs the Anti-Corruption Action Center, a public watchdog group, pointed out that Zelenskyy had downplayed the threat of war and seemed unprepared. It was a surprise for her that he stood up for what he believed in.

It is about a high school history teacher who is against corruption and politics in Ukraine. Zelenskyy’s character becomes a sensation when a student makes a video of his rant and posts it on social media.

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

His decision to remain in Kyiv during the war was a turning point in public opinion. By August, about 90% of Ukrainians said they approved of his job performance. The character actor understood what the Ukrainian people needed in a time of crisis.

Zelenskyy was supported by international support. He spoke to the European parliament by video six days after the invasion.

He quoted another leader during his speech to the congress, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

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

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, and what happened in the south a few weeks after the invasion: a meeting with Ivan Bakanov

I saw him in the Kherson region less than two weeks before the invasion. He was there to observe drills to defend against Russian sabotage. Afterward, Zelenskyy gave an impromptu news conference in which he was defensive and confusing. U.S. officials had warned Russia would launch a massive invasion, but Zelenskyy downplayed it.

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

Chornovol served in Ukraine’s parliament from 2014 to 2019. She joined the military after that. I met her in the Kherson region last fall, where her job was to fire small missiles at Russian armor.

Chornovol says that – before the war – the Ukrainian army left the route north of Kyiv open to invasion, even failing to mine bridges to stop a Russian advance.

Chornovol proudly showed me her camouflaged missile launchers, which she said was a result of criminal activity. “There was no preparation for the invasion. Kyiv was not fortified in any way.”

A brigade and a half of troops were supposed to be deployed to the area, but they weren’t. Ukrainian officers warned higher-ups in the south that they were vulnerable to a Russian attack.

Because Ukraine remains at war, parliamentarians are careful not to launch domestic political attacks. But Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, a Ukrainian lawmaker with the opposition European Solidarity party, says she and others will be asking tough questions about what happened in the south as soon as — she says — Ukraine defeats Russia.

People say the loss of the region was caused by the SBU. In July, Zelenskyy fired the head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, a longtime friend who had no security experience.

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

What’s the point of studying a president? Alina Fialko-Smal tells Zelenskyy at the economic institute

She says that he’s a good president during war. He’s not a very good president during a non-war period. His biggest weakness is that he doesn’t like different opinions and he has friends who do.

There was an actor there named Alina Fialko-Smal. She says Zelenskyy used to watch her troupe perform and sought advice on becoming a dramatic actor. Zelenskyy is tall but she discouraged him.

Zelenskyy studied law at the economic institute where his father is a renowned teacher. Natalya Voloshanyuk, a finance professor, recalls Volodymyr as clever, funny and self-confident.

She told him that he should be proud that he studied there and he replied, “One day you will be proud that you taught me.”

The anarchy of the Soviet Union can help you create something new. I think Zelenskyy is one of those people. The good thing is that these people think that impossible is nothing and you can create anything.”

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

Joe Biden and the anniversary of the First World War: How Europe has fought and what has been accomplished in the last two years, and what will he tell us next?

The last time President Joe Biden spoke from the courtyard of the Royal Castle in Poland, the content of his 27-minute speech was mostly obscured by what he ad-libbed about Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end.

Biden visited the Royal Castle on the anniversary of a war that put him at odds with the Russian leader, and was also the site of a highly secretive visit to the Ukrainian capital a day earlier.

Biden spoke to the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania and the head of the EPA from his hotel room in Warsaw after his speech, to discuss the situation.

“We have to be honest and clear-eyed as we look at the year ahead. The work of the defense of freedom isn’t done in a day or year. It is always important, according to Biden.

Biden, as well as any other Western leader, hasn’t been able to say precisely how long that will be, making this week a more important one than the past year.

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

“This has become a grinding war of attrition and therefore it’s also a battle of logistics,” Stoltenberg said. The war in the Ukrainians is consuming a great amount of weapons. The current rate of Ukraine’s expenditure is many times higher than that of ours.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thinks it is wise to be prepared for a long war.

We are Fighting with Time, Right? The German Marshall Fund and the Legacy of World War II: The Holocaust on Poland and the Holocaust in Ukraine

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

There is a concern about the staying power of the US in the future in Poland and Ukranian. The war would look different if it were not for the support of the US, said the managing director of the German Marshall Fund.

We are fighting with time, right? “Baranowski said that.” “I mean, it’s really whether time is on the side of Russia, who is losing but has a lot of resources to deplete us in the West. That is what makes me pause. I hope we have the staying power.”

Biden will use the anniversary of the war to speak about the damage the war has done to the rest of the world. He and his aides have sought to downplay the prospect Republicans might sharply reduce American aid to Ukraine, noting GOP leaders are largely aligned in their support.

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

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

The American Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, During the First Ukrainian Air Raiders: Kirby Message to the General Relatives

John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council, said the president’s message would be for “people all around the world.”

The trip to an active war zone on Monday was a sign of American support and provided a shot in the arm to a population that had suffered many attacks from Russia.

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

Biden is 80 and walks with a stiff gait. He has a lot of courage and competency, which was demonstrated when the air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv.

The process has been driven by the Ukrainian military’s changing capabilities and needs on the battlefield as well as by Russia’s evolving tactics, according to US officials. Biden’s overarching goal of maintaining unity in the allied coalition is a hallmark of diplomatic considerations.

A joyous Zelensky said Biden’s visit “brings us closer to victory,” adding it will “have repercussions on the battlefield in liberating our territories.”

The Russian Revolution: How Putin Set out to Make Russia Great Again, and What Do We Really Need to Do About It? An Interview with Jill Filipovic

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

The threat of nuclear destruction is scary for Americans who came of age after the Cold War and even more frightening for those who lived through it.

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

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

Conservative religiosity is of course not a requirement for autocracy – just look at the previous era of Russian autocracy, which was decidedly irreligious. The autocrats in Beijing are expanding their own nuclear arsenals, and at the same time they are trying to lend material support to Russia.

They are embracing a number of traditions. The refrain has been common among analysists of global authoritarians. Again, great again. According to Evan Osnos of the New Yorker, China is trying to make itself great again. “Putin set out to ‘Make Russia Great Again,’” Gen. David Petraeus told CNN earlier this month. And, of course, we all know the American version.

A number of right-wing Americans seem to feel comfortable bringing a strongman in to reestablish the traditional order, since they believe Putin has stated that the West is not good.

The most important divide is between those who want liberal democracies that allow people of all religions to live without restrictions and the ones who want autocratic strongmen to use the law to impose conservative, traditional values.

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

The U.S. Democracy of the Revolutionary Era: The Case for a Freer, Fairer, More Just and Fair Ukraine

Donald Trump praised and trashed Putin, elevating his status as a pro-Trump conservative. As of a year ago, Republicans in the US had a more favorable view of Putin than of Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party.

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

This is not just a divide between Russia and the US. It’s a divide within Russia itself, as the nation’s feminists, LGBTQ rights advocates, and democracy activists continue to push (often at great personal risk) for a freer and fairer country. There is a divide between Americans who want liberal democracy to flourish and those who want it to be a one-party state.

Ukraine has made many steps on a democratic path that began during this revolution. Government was granted more rights in local communities. The anti-corruption legislation adopted by parliament makes it hard to hide corruption. Judicial reform can be done with the changes to our Constitution. We are on the right track, even though a lot of things need to be done.

Born Again, Born Again and Made Again: the Center for Civil Liberties and a Vision of a World where Shared Humanity Predominates

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

Over this past year, the emotions I have experienced have evolved. I feel anger over the death and destruction that took place in Ukraine. But I have also felt some love coming my way.

Because amid so many disappointments — in the ability of the international order to protect us, in the idea that the laws of war protect civilians — I have found we can still rely on people.

I saw the spirit in Maidan Square during the protest in 2014). Despite the police beatings and killings, the protests continued because we believed in something better. And it arrived.

And so this love extends further, to the idea of a country that can rise from everything that has been done, and where human rights are respected. Maybe we don’t need a Center for Civil Liberties anymore. Perhaps even to a vision of the world where this spirit of shared humanity prevails.

Getting US Allies to Give Ukraine More Air Defense Using Ukraine, and What It Has Meant to To Be Done, Not to Wanna Have It

Germany followed suit, and the Netherlands has pledged components and missiles, after Biden gave a Patriot missile battery.

In addition to lower-level military contacts, National security adviser Jake Sullivan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley all speak directly with their counterparts multiple times a week.

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

Ukrainian requests through these various channels are then funneled over to the Pentagon, where officials conduct rigorous analysis of the requests to assess the impact they will have on the battlefield, how quickly the Ukrainians can train and integrate the new weapons and the impact of transferring the weapons on US military readiness.

The process has gotten better with US equipment often arriving in Ukraine within days of Biden approving a security package.

One senior State Department official said they had “never seen this bureaucracy work as fast as it’s working,” but added, “We all need to do more, faster.”

The president was so angry about this that he pushed his teams to find ways to help the Pentagon fight the problem, said a senior administration official.

The White House, where Sullivan hosts a daily meeting of the National Security Council officials to coordinate the government-wide effort to support Ukraine, was the start of an effort to get US allies to also give Ukraine more air defense capabilities.

“We really went around the world and found for them, not only additional systems that other countries had and persuade them to transfer them, but parts,” the official said, allowing Ukraine to get non-operational S-300 systems back online.

At key inflection points – from the decision to provide howitzers in April, HIMARS multiple rocket launchers in June and tanks last month – the ratcheting up of US security assistance has been matched or complemented by allies.

“At every stage of conflict, we have adapted to make sure the Ukrainians had what they needed to be successful – and they have,” a senior administration official said. “We have adapted, they have adapted.”

Logistically, the biggest challenge in the support for Ukraine will be maintaining the pace of weapons and supplies as their stock dwindles.

A senior European official said last week that the European Commission hopes to have a proposal ready by March for how to increase the production of ammunition across the bloc. The Defense industry will need to upgrade its facilities due to the expensive production of bullets, according to the official.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier this month that Europe and NATO’s production capacity needs to be ramped up if the West is going to meet Ukraine’s needs.

The Ukrainian military has instinctively wanted to fight an artillery war, US officials say, which involves firing a crushing amount of heavy artillery at the enemy’s defensive lines.

The US has urged the Ukrainian government to shift to a war style of fighting called a maneuver warfare, that uses rapid, unforeseen movements and a combination of different combat arms rather than relying too heavily on artillery.

The plan includes calls for the restoration of Ukraine’s state borders with Russia and the withdrawal of Russian troops, a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes, and the release of all Ukrainian prisoners of war.

“I think strategically the allies are getting to the realization that this is going to be a longer war,” said Salm, the Estonian defense secretary. “It’s going to be an extremely costly war and in order to manage this strategy, you need to have an end goal.”

Zelensky’s room to maneuver in terms of what he is willing to accept has “gotten a little smaller” as Russia’s atrocities have grown, however, the senior State Department official said.

The senior State Department official said the US understands this position. An end goal must be something that any elected leader in Ukraine can sell to the public, the official said. “But I think he’s committed to get there.”

Joe Biden and the Ukraine: How a Cold War Has Affected the American-U.S. Relationship, And Why Did he Go To Ukraine?

President Joe Biden barely slept as he rolled in the dark toward Kyiv earlier this week, sitting awake as his curtained-off train car crossed into the warzone that has come to shape so much of his presidency.

Biden will depart Europe three days later having loudly recommitted to backing Ukraine as it enters a second year of conflict, working to cast aside doubts about the durability of American support and directly blaming his counterpart in the Kremlin for thrusting the continent into war.

In conversations with aides, foreign counterparts and even by phone with his wife over the course of his visit, Biden has asserted his trip this week was essential in showing the world the US wouldn’t waver in its support.

The US and Europe are likely to be torn between the two by a long-dragging conflict. And it could further incite political dissent in Washington, weakening Biden’s capacity to fulfill his foreign policy goals on the global stage.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been encouraged to focus on planning and executing a spring counteroffensive rather than fighting on multiple fronts because of persistent concerns among some US and European officials.

Tellingly, Sullivan said much of Biden’s focus during the day-long journey into the warzone was spent plotting out how he would raise those issues with Zelensky when they sat down to talk inside the gold-and-white Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv.

There will be follow-up discussions among the US and Ukrainian officials in the coming days and weeks, but Biden’s aides were tight-lipped about how that discussion went.

Biden’s aides said his remarks were intended for a multitude of audiences: The besieged Ukrainian people, a Polish population that has borne much of the outside burden, Russians who may be disillusioned by their leaders’ failings.

In the view of some on his team, the most important place to listen in the United States is thousands of miles away, without a direct stake in the war, and that their support for US assistance has softened.

Biden’s critics used his trip this week to paint him as inattentive to his own country’s needs, seizing upon a toxic chemical spill caused by a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, as an example of an American crisis deserving his attention.

When asked if Biden should be with the people in Ohio, Haley, who is now a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said yes. “You always, you have to always during any time of crisis go to your people immediately.”

He wrote in the caption of the photo of the call that he had kept his pledge to make sure they had everything they needed.

Do we Live in Europe? The United States, China, and Russia’s Embedding in the 2024 Russian-Russian War

He said that Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, were making it harder to strengthen rail safety by loosing regulations.

Poland’s president, a close ally of Trump, called for the United States to stay in Europe this week, even though Biden’s idea of American involvement in Europe is innate.

Speaking across the table from Biden on Tuesday, Duda placed this week’s events within a century-old context of robust American presence on the continent.

During the First World War and Second World War, the United States demonstrated its responsibility for European matters. Every single time, they restored the democratic rules. Every time, the United States brought back freedom,” he said.

Putin welcomed Wang and said that relations between Beijing and Moscow were moving in the right direction.

There are always opportunities in a crisis and the two countries could be in danger of turning into one.

The US is trying to bring an end to the crisis with China over a Chinese spy balloon that fell over the US earlier this month. The US warned China against selling arms to Russia and Wang headed to Moscow as the US warned China not to sell arms to Russia.

This foreign policy picture is not just a problem for American diplomats. The recent depletion of US and Western weapons in the hands of Ukraine poses questions about military capacity, as well as whether current defense spending is sufficient. Key Republicans meanwhile are accusing Biden of snubbing voters facing economic and other problems, even as he tries to position Democrats as the protectors of working Americans as the 2024 campaign dawns.

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

Biden’s trip also demonstrated that the estrangement between the US and Russia – a factor that will shape global politics for years – is almost complete.

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

One reason why the US is willing to discuss the nuclear situation with Russia is because any time the top two nuclear powers are not talking is dangerous.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations warned on Sunday that a step toward Syria would violate a US red line, but did not specify what consequences would occur.

All current thoughts about the course of the war could change if China supplies the weaponry for Putin’s army. It is not the only country Mr. Zelensky is concerned about.

“Ukraine is gonna decide what victory’s gonna look like,” Secretary Austin told NPR’s Ari Shapiro. I don’t want to talk about Ukrainian President Zelenskyy or the Ukrainian people.

We’re gonna focus on what’s in front of us right now and put [Ukraine] in the best possible position to continue to be successful. And I think that’ll lead us to Ukraine being in, again, a good a good place, whether or not the fighting continues; or whether or not they decide to go to the negotiating table.

I don’t want to speculate at this point. I’m trying to provide the capabilities required to achieve their objectives. The chairman and I are going to stay focused on that.

The War Between Ukraine and Russia: A Tale of Two Mans and One Floating Tracer and One Miser: A New Perspective on the Problems and Opportunities of the Cold War

I mean, they can be driven out, or Putin can decide to take his forces back out of Ukraine because he’s in such a bad position. And that could happen as well. He could do this today. And we all know that this is this war is happening because of one man; one man’s desire to erase his neighbor’s boundaries and occupy his neighbor’s territory. This is unprovoked and unjust. At any point in the future, Putin could end this.

Newlyweds who separated after saying their vows so the groom could come back to them is a story I will never forget. A tax preparer in Boston who quit her job to return to Ukraine with suitcases full of medical supplies. The wife of a border guard would travel three hours to thePolish border every day to drop off fleeing women and children and pick up supplies.

It’s sad that human beings survived deadly waves of Covid only to be killed by one another. It’s senseless to spend tens of billions of dollars on missiles, tanks and other aid, when more needs to be done to help communities adapt to rising oceans and drying rivers. It is incomprehensible that farmers have gone hungry and hid in bomb shelters. Russian soldiers have been accused of raping and murdering civilians in the country and Vladimir Putin declared Ukrainians to be part of his own people.

Governments gussy up war. They talk of victory because that gives soldiers hope and the will to fight on. But in the end, war is death in a muddy foxhole. It’s an existential fight over a frozen field with no strategic value. It’s a generational grudge that begets new generational grudges. It’s an $11 billion, roughly 740-mile pipeline laid across the Baltic Sea rendered useless overnight. It’s some of the largest steel plants in Europe unable to produce or ship a single metal sheet. It’s a charming seaside city emptied out by bombings and siege.

Putinologist: “The Soviet Union was a gambler” and “the gambler wasn’t so lucky” (like Alperovitch)

“He was seeing Ukraine slip away from his orbit. It was clear to Alperovitch when he saw that he could not control it that he would attempt a regime change.

Those who studied the Communist leaders of the Soviet Union were known as “Kremlinologists”. The new generation of analysts who are trying to understand Russia today can be called “Putinologists”, because they’re trying to understand how Russia is being treated in the war in Ukranian.

Alperovitch was born in Moscow and came to the U.S. at age 13 in 1994. He’s never returned to Russia, though that country — and Putin — have shaped his life. He was a founder of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which often investigated Russian computer hacks, like the 2016 breach of the Democratic National Committee. I have always viewed the Russian leader as a gambler. Most of the time he’s gotten lucky. (Ukraine) is the one gamble that’s probably his biggest, which has not worked out well so far.”

Critical decisions, like invadingUkraine, are seen as the work of Putin alone, and he has consolidated his hold on Russia throughout his more than two decades in power.

Julia Ioffe is one Putinologist who accepts the label with some reluctance. “It’s something I fought for a long time,” said Ioffe, who writes for Puck News and is often interviewed by other news organizations. “But at the same time, people in the West have a really hard time understanding him. Someone needs to translate him to the West. So OK, I’ll do it.” She left Moscow at the age of 7 for the US with her family. In college at Princeton, she initially planned to be a doctor. “But I couldn’t resist Soviet history and switched tracks,” she noted. I tried to do something other than work, but I kept getting sucked in. I have been doing this in one form or another for my entire professional life. That included a three-year stint in Moscow a decade ago. Her editor at the time suggested she write a column called “Kremlinology 2012.” “It was supposed to be a kind of tongue-in-cheek thing because it was like, ‘Who does Kremlinology anymore?'” she recalled. “But the system was becoming more and more and more Soviet, and there were fewer and fewer ways to get into it, to understand it. It’s back. Ioffe traveled to Russia until a few years ago. She wrote about how Putin shaped Russian society for his military adventures.

“He created this cult around World War II. That shows that war is important. That calms the war. She said it’s easy to convince Russians that a war like this is needed and that they need to go in.

The deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainians, a threat of nuclear attack, and the leveling of so much of a country should not have made this point. But it’s perhaps the revulsion to Putin’s brutal and inept war that helped Europe and the rest of the West rediscover a collective sense of purpose.

Ukraine: The fate of the Russian-Ukraine war and the role of civilian terrorists in a conflict of interest for the United Nations

The Russian dead I saw were scruffy, with a sleeping mat and workout gloves for comfort, and only their armor at their backs.

Europe was going in the opposite direction a year ago, that is what the most startling thing about the choice Moscow imposed on the West, to seek its strategic defeat in Ukraine rather than its limited appeasement.

Defense budgets were growing for Russian malice, but the hope is that Putin would be a good neighbor, rather than a violent one, and that even though he had been around for a long time, he wasn’t old enough to see it all.

Is it a bad thing? For the people ofUkraine, their sacrifice was never supposed to happen. So much loss remains hidden: I recall being inside and shivering outside the administration building of Mykolaiv at the start of the war. Now all I can think of is how many must have been inside it when a missile tore it in two in March.

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

From their perch on the 23rd floor of an apartment block in central Kyiv, they could see a drone swooping across the pink dawn sky, like a kite. They heard an explosion and saw a black cloud in the sky. She said that she felt immobile.

The Iranian Shahed-136 was believed to be a suicide drone that exploded in the air, and was followed by several more. The couple watched in horror as the menacing triangular munitions darted past, careening and dive-bombing towards a thermal power plant just over a mile from their home, which provides electricity and heat for the capital.

Russia’s attacks violate international humanitarian law, which prohibits the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, according to the UN. In a report released in December, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that it appeared Moscow’s tactic was primarily designed to spread terror among the civilian population, in contravention of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.

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

Temperatures in Ukraine during the winter months typically range between 23 and 36 degrees Fahrenheit (-4.8 C and 2 C), and regularly plunge to -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-21.6 C). In towns and villages in the country’s eastern part, life has been tough because of the lack of electricity for months.

What happened to Ukraine during World War II: Emergency Synchronization and Russian-EU Trade in the Ukrenergo Energy Sector, as envisioned by the UN

During blackouts, doctors have carried out heart surgeries under headlamps, families have cooked meals on camping stoves in their apartments and students have done homework by battery-powered flashlights. Parents have taken their children to tents with generators, to get a hot cup of tea, and to connect life-saving medical equipment, according to one photograph that went viral.

Nobody expected Russia would resort to barbarism and bring us back to Stone Age times. Serhii said that it could have worked. We were able to survive.

The test was originally due to take place in mid-February, but Russia requested they push it to February 24. Mariia Tsaturian, a representative for Ukrenergo, told CNN that very few people know about it. We thought that this might actually be when they invaded, because Ukraine looked weak at the time.

“It made our system stronger. It made us more resilient to Russia’s attacks,” Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Industry Research Center (EIRC), a research and consulting company in Kyiv, and former adviser to Ukraine’s energy minister, told CNN. He pointed out that the successful emergency synchronization also allowed Ukraine to start trading power with the EU in June, bringing in much-needed revenue while also providing affordable electricity to Europe during a time when prices were sky high.

The scale of destruction at individual sites has been difficult to assess, in part due to the restriction of information by the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy.

How to recover this deficit is a big question mark. If Zaporizhzhia came back online it would help balance the overall need, but there are no signs of that happening at the moment. Kyiv is also looking into the possibility of importing electricity from the EU, but the costs would be much higher — an expense that the country’s consumers can’t bear.

“No one on the planet has experienced such a challenge … a country of this size being at war and their energy sector being weaponized in the way that Russia is doing to Ukraine,” Lorkowski said. They can keep the system running despite the atrocities and shelling. And this is for me the source of hope that it will continue until the end of this winter.”

Preparing for winter was one of the first things that the UN resident co-ordinator in Ukranian did when she took up her position last summer.

“When I arrived in August, the winterization plans were the first thing I jumped into because my fear was, we’d get to the middle of winter and it would be minus 20, and I would get reports of people freezing to death and this was what kept me up at night,” Brown told CNN in late January after visiting the city of Vovchansk, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, where she said it was minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

One of the UN convoys recently traveled to Siversk, a flattened town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Soledar, which was captured by Russian forces in January. About 1000 residents still have no electricity or running water. Older people, people with disabilities and people with chronic conditions are usually the most vulnerable of those who have stayed behind.

In their apartment in Kyiv, the Lysenkos said they’ve started to adjust to this new normal. The couple bought a small gas cooker, to heat up their food. They have learned what the power schedule is so that they can plan around it. They also had the building’s engineers reconnect the elevator, so that it would work even if power was out in their apartment.

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

Yulia Ivanenko commutes every day from her apartment in the Kyiv suburb of Hostomel to the nearby town of Irpin, where she runs an accounting company. But instead of going to her office, she works from a local library, which has been converted into an “invincibility point,” providing electricity and wifi powered by a generator.

“Unfortunately, I cannot afford to get a generator for the office, so for now, this is our way out. She said that her employees, who work in the office, usually only get four hours of electricity before needing to go and work elsewhere.

Her father uses a car battery as his short-term power source for his tiny home in Hostomel. “You know where he got that battery? She said that he stole it from the ruscists. “He’s fearless.”

Eduard Yevtushenko, a 55-year-old film producer, had just gotten home from the hospital, where he was in rehab for a stroke, when Russian forces launched their attack on Kyiv.

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

Taking care of yourself: a personal invincibility point in a city where you can easily charge your phone and use it to make a living

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

This is an example of what you can find in Ukranian. It’s about cafes and restaurants sharing their generators, it’s about the special kind of places where people can charge their phones being created at shopping centers, at gas stations, you name it,” said Lokshina, the associate director at the human rights watchdog, HRW. It is about helping others and not only taking care of yourself.

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

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

Lokshina is the most recent head of HRW’s Moscow bureau and he is currently working in exile from Georgia after Russia revoked the organization’s registration. She carried out research during Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure. The de-occupied towns and villages she visited had no electricity for a long time. They were most devastated by a lack of connectivity, she said, unable to get in touch with friends and relatives, to find out how they were and what was happening in the outside world.

Lokshina was struck by how life carried on when she returned to Kyiv. Before an official meeting in the capital, she tried to get her nails done but was unable to get an appointment — every salon she tried was booked until curfew. “Despite the continuing attacks, despite the blackouts, which happen time and time again, despite the unpredictability of it. There are risk factors. She said people make a point out of trying to live a normal life.

”You don’t need much for happiness. A peaceful sky above our heads and some small comforts: a warm house with lights and water. That is it,Yana said. Our values have changed a lot. We have changed.

The US-Russia War on Ukraine and the Role of Russia and China in the War on the First Seven Decades of the Cold War

President Zelensky said he was confident that his country could defeat the Russians in one year if Ukraine’s allies continued to support them.

Both Sullivan and Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, took questions at the town hall from Americans and Ukrainians Thursday, on topics ranging from how the US will keep arming Ukraine to an assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions and the role China may play in the conflict.

But Sullivan argued that one year into the conflict, Ukraine has already stopped Russia from accomplishing its main objective of taking over the capital of Kyiv.

“Sitting here today, we do not see movements in Russia’s nuclear forces that lead us to believe that something fundamentally has changed from how things have been over the course of the past year,” Sullivan said.

The $2 billion package includes new funding for contracts including HIMARS rockets, 155-millimeter artillery ammunition, drones, counter-drone equipment, mine-clearing equipment and secure communications equipment.

Sullivan was asked by a Ukrainian soldier named Yegor, currently serving on the front lines, whether the US would be able to increase production of ammunition and other weapons to Ukraine, such as 155-millimeter artillery shells and HIMARS.

He acknowledged that the Ukrainians have asked for more than the US is willing to give and that Biden has eventually transferred weapons it had initially resisted sending.

Sullivan stated Thursday evening that the Biden administration doesn’t currently provide F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, as they are not the key capability it needs for a counteroffensive.

Sullivan was asked about the Beijing plan on Thursday, which called for the end of hostilities in Ukraine and urged Beijing to be a broker between Moscow and Kyiv.

“Well my first reaction to it is they could stop at point one, which is respect the sovereignty of all nations,” Sullivan said. “This war could end tomorrow if Russia stopped attacking Ukraine and withdrew its forces. Ukraine wasn’t attacking Russia, NATO wasn’t attacking Russia, the United States wasn’t attacking Russia. This was a war of choice waged by Putin.

Both Sullivan and Power brushed aside criticism from some of Biden’s Republican critics that the billions of dollars the US is spending in Ukraine would be better spent at home.

“I would say to those senators, yes, let’s do these things at home. Are you saying that American is incapable of helping to create a powerful force of good in the world? Sullivan said.

“I think there’s a pessimism in this argument that these senators are making. There is an optimistic view that President Biden has, which is that we can do it and we should do it, and we are doing it.

Power argued that US support for Ukraine is actually one of the rare issues where there is strong bipartisanship in today’s Washington, when she was asked by a Ukrainian mother about the commonality between the citizens of the two countries.

Power was asked by Lera if she could rely on American to feel safe in her country. Power responded that the US was committed to making Ukrainians feel as safe as possible despite the war.

We stand with you and we want to help you feel safe when one person attempts to take that away, Power said.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/24/politics/takeaways-cnn-ukraine-war-town-hall/index.html

What Ukraine’s rail workers have done in the last 11 years of the First World War, and how they have pushed the borders of threats to the country

When the war is over, Power acknowledged the difficult road to rebuild the country. Some estimates have totaled the damage to date at $130 billion, she noted.

She added that the Biden administration and other allies are trying to make sure the money spent on reconstruction is well spent.

“The other thing we want to do now is, with an eye to those big-ticket items, most of which will only happen when there’s a negotiated peace,” Power said.

“But we have to make sure resources are going to be well spent,” she added. When large investments are being made, you want to make sure that donors and investors know that it is a good investment so that they can spend their money wisely.

It was a wonderful day, Kamyshin says. “We saw the faces of the people seeing the train, crying, waving their hands. Trust me, it was unforgettable. That’s one of the days to remember forever.”

Kamyshin and Ukraine’s rail workers have had to make countless small, but enormously consequential decisions that weren’t part of the pre-invasion script. They abandoned ticketing so anyone who needed to travel could do so immediately. They slowed down the trains to limit casualties in the event of derailment or sabotage. They changed the rules on pets so that evacuees could bring them as they fled—Ukraine Railways estimates 120,000 animals have traveled over the past 12 months.

All of that work has been attacked at some point. The Russians shell everything, according to Kamyshin. “Two hundred and fifty people died, 800 people injured. Railwaymen and women are the only ones. That’s the price we paid in this war.”

In Mariupol, a port city located on the Black Sea close to the Russian border, rail workers were able to get trains in and out many times before the tracks were destroyed, because of the constant bombardment. Two trains are stuck but the stranded crews were able to flee by road.

According to the former President and the deputy chair of the security council in Russia, the aim of Russia is to push the borders of threats to the country as far as possible.

The First Anniversary of the Kyiv War: a Memorandum to the Japanese Prime Minister and a Committal to the United Nations Security Council

Zelensky used the first anniversary of the war to rally troops and renew calls for international assistance for his country. He visited wounded service members and handed out awards before holding a press conference.

The leader of the Ukrainians addressed members of the military. He told them that they would decide the future of the country.

landmarks all over the world lit up with the colors of the Ukrainian flag and new weapons on Friday in support of the country.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the international community not to let Putin’s crimes “become our new normal,” at the United Nations Security Council.

During a virtual meeting with leaders of the G7 and Zelensky, the Japanese Prime Minister said he intends to bring up the topic of imposing new sanctions against Russia.

Two former students of her school died in the war so she went to lay a flower in their honor.

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

“Their photographs are here on the main street. It’s a great honor. They died as heroes. It is very important for us. And it would have been for them,” she said.

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

Olexander Atamas, the military commander, tells CNN: “It is not a fear” but a “principle”

Olexander Atamas, who worked for an IT company before the war, said it was hard to describe his feelings on Friday.

“I would prefer to describe what I don’t feel now, I don’t feel a fear, but [I] feel confidence in my abilities,” he told CNN. “One year ago … I felt fear, I was stressed, psychologically it unsettled me. But currently there is no fear at all.”

Mr. Zelensky believes that Russia will not be able to quickly rebuild its military because of its battered state.

Not one to shrink from questions or to shy away from calling out even allies if he feels they could be doing more to help Ukraine, he nevertheless tread carefully when talking about China.

Asked about reports that Beijing was considering providing Moscow with lethal weapons, Mr. Zelensky initially ignored the question. When it was raised a second time, he said that working to ensure China did not arm Russia was one of his top priorities.

Mr. Zelensky had the question translated a second time and then engaged the reporter directly, telling her that it was not about geography or geopolitics but basic principles.

Zelensky’s openness and openness to dialogue with China in the context of the Oslo-Zenyi-Pelegnsky war

Does China believe that innocents should not be killed? That a nuclear power plant should not be occupied? That respect for the sovereign rights of a nation means an invader should withdraw?

He used an English accent to stress his openness to direct talks with China. We need to speak about our common issues with no one else.

Iran is already providing attack drones to Russia, and the West has warned the Moscow is also seeking to acquire ballistic missiles. It was in this context that Mr. Zelensky was asked about Israel. He was asked if Israel and Ukraine were strong allies because of their common enemy.

He said that he understood Israel’s long and complex history with Russia but said that he had wished for Israel to take a firmer stance against it since the start of the war.

He had questions about internal disagreements in his government. There was a journalist from Azerbaijan who wanted to take a picture with the Ukrainian leader. Mr. Zelensky agreed.

Over more than two and half hours, questions about how and when Ukraine could win the war, were the most frequent — even if that answer would only be determined on the battlefield.