Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea: What he wanted to do about it, but what he didn’t want to do
But when Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia in 1999, he had other plans. The Russian leader says he doesn’t accept Ukraine’s independence, and that it’s part of Russia. He claims that only Russia can protect Ukraine from foreign invaders.
Russian forces retreated from Kherson city — the only regional capital they had seized from Ukraine since launching their invasion in February. On Nov. 11, Ukrainian forces began moving into Kherson and were greeted by cheering residents.
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.
He said that he hoped the New Year would bring all this. We are ready to fight for it. That’s why each of us is here. I am here. We are here. You are here. Everyone is present. We are all Ukraine.”
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.
Putin doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of either the Soviets or the Romanovs. Which might explain his recent desperate moves: the mobilization of 300,000 additional troops – a measure that he had long sought to avoid – and his nuclear weapons saber-rattling.
Despite widespread international condemnation, Russia will forge ahead with its plan to fly its flag over over 100,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, the largest annexation of land in Europe since 1945.
They join an army already degraded in quality and capability. The composition of Russia’s military force in Ukraine — as much of its prewar active duty personnel has been wounded or killed and its best equipment destroyed or captured — has radically altered over the course of the war. The Russian military leadership is not sure how this undisciplined force will react when confronted with cold, exhausting combat conditions or rumors of Ukrainian assaults. Recent experience suggests these troops might abandon their positions and equipment in panic, as demoralized forces did in the Kharkiv region in September.
After holding a referendum on independence, the Ukrainians believed they had solved the matter. Ninety-two percent voted in favor of going their own way. The Soviet Union fell later in the month.
For that reason, Ukraine received massive support from the West, 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 helped clarify the interest of many in eastern European states in aligning their future toward Europe and the West.
You can read past recaps here. More of NPR’s coverage can be found here. You can get updates throughout the day from the State of Ukrainepodcast on NPR.
The cost of chaos: CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen reflects on the past, present, and future of the Ukrainian conflict with Russia in the 21st century
Peter Bergen is the national security analyst for CNN and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. Bergen is the author of “The Cost of Chaos: The Trump Administration and the World.” His own views are included in this commentary. You can express your opinion on CNN.
Putin has worked to install friendly, pro-Russian leaders in Ukraine. There were protests in 2004, and Ukrainians pushed back. A decade later, the president of the Ukraine fled to Russia.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive has captured key areas of Russian-controlled territory including the transportation hub city of Lyman, which is a large part of Russian-controlled territory.
How long Putin can insulate himself and prevent the blame from turning on himself is the key question in the wake of Makiivka. There is no indication that Ukrainian forces have any intention of lessening the pressure on Russian forces in the east or south of their country as the war enters a new calendar year.
With even his allies expressing concern, and hundreds of thousands of citizens fleeing partial mobilizements, an increasingly isolated Putin has once again taken to making speech offering his distorted view of history.
(Indeed, his revisionist account defines his rationale for the war in Ukraine, which he asserts has historically always been part of Russia – even though Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.)
When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, they planned to install a puppet government and get out of the country as soon as it was feasible, as explained in a recent, authoritative book about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, “Afghan Crucible” by historian Elisabeth Leake.
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.
As the war approaches its 1st anniversary later this month, Ukrainians have kept pressing the Western leaders to give them more advanced weaponry to fight back against Russia. In January, the US, Britain, and Germany agreed to send modern battle tanks, but now Ukraine is pushing for fighter jets and long-range missiles.
Ukraine is using sophisticated Western-supplied weapons to help shoot down Russia’s missiles and drones, as well as send artillery fire into Russian-held areas of the country.
Vladimir V. Putin’s 1991 invasion of Ukraine: a devastating example of how delusions and illusions can shape events in Russia and the West
Putin is also surely aware that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was hastened by the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan two years earlier.
He has to realize that the Romanov monarchy was weakened after the Russian loss in 1905. The Russian Revolution was started by Czar Nicholas II, who made a lot of feckless leadership during the First World War. The Bolshevik firing squad killed a lot of the Romanov family.
The war that began with the invasion of Russia could go on for a long time, Putin said. Despite its length, he showed no signs of letting up, vowing to “consistently fight for our interests” and to “protect ourselves using all means available.” He stated that he had no other choice than to send in troops, and that the West had responded to Russia’s security demands with “only spit in the face.”
Freedman writes that Putin is “a tragic example of how the delusions and illusions of one individual can be allowed to shape events without any critical challenge. The autocrats who put their cronies into key positions and control the media are able to order their subordinates to follow foolish orders.
If Russia is allowed to win, Putin’s war would mark the beginning of a new era of global instability, with less freedom, less peace and less prosperity for the world.
Russia launched 36 missiles across Ukraine in one day, and 16 of them were shot down. Most hit critical infrastructure, but Ukraine’s power grid operator said there were no electricity shortages.
The barrage continued on a day when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to human rights activists in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, an implicit rebuke to Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, for his invasion of Ukraine.
The head of the regional military administration said at least 10 homes and several apartment blocks were damaged by Russian rockets in the early hours of Monday. He said that further shelling on Friday evening killed one man and wounded another.
Unverified video on social media showed hits near the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and close to Maidan Square, just a short stroll from the Presidential Office Building. Five people were killed as a result of strikes on the capital, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ukraine’s top brass released a statement that said that the country’s air defenses took down at least 40 incoming air attacks, but several dozen more got through. Ukrainian officials blamed Iranian-made suicide drones launched from Belarus and the Black sea for many of the attacks. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has allowed Russia to use his country as a staging ground for attacks on Ukraine, and after today’s attacks requested further assistance from the Russian government in anticipation of Ukrainian retaliation.
Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa were particularly hard hit, and experiencing emergency power outages – when the electricity is protectively turned off to diminish damage from the grid shorting out.
Explosions hit Kyiv and other cities during the February 24 terrorist attack: a human-rights defender’s lawyer in Dnipro
In the video Zelenskyy said it was difficult to deal with terrorists when Russia invaded in February. “They’re choosing targets to harm as many people as possible.”
In Kyiv, Ukraine Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko says that at least two museums and the National Philharmonic concert halls sustained heavy damage. A nearby strike damaged the country’s main passenger terminal, delaying trains during this morning’s rush hour, according to Ukraine’s National Railway.
Explosions rocked civilian areas of Dnipro, a major southern city. The bus stop is nestled between high rise apartment buildings. A missile slammed just a few feet in front of a bus on its morning route to pick up commuters, destroying the bus and blowing out the windows in the nearby apartments.
“This happened at rush hour, as lots of public transport was operating in the city,” said Ihor Makovtsev, the head of the department of transport for the Dnipro city council, as he stood by the wreckage. He said that the driver and four passengers had to be taken to the hospital.
“It’s difficult for me to understand their work because our transportation is only for civilian purposes, and it’s not clear what logic they have for it,” Makovtsev said.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/10/1127794708/explosions-hit-kyiv-and-other-cities
Viktor Shevchenko and the Ukraine crisis: What happened in Odesa and Zaporizhzhia after the Kerch bridge bombing
81-year-old Viktor Shevchenko looked out from what once were the windows of his first floor balcony, just next to the bus stop. Shattered glass covered the ground below. He went to his kitchen just before the blast to make breakfast, but had been watering the plants on his balcony.
“The explosion blew open all of my cabinets, and nearly knocked me to the ground,” he said. “Only five minutes before, and I would have been on the balcony, full of glass.”
Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov wrote that Russia hadn’t really started yet and that he warned Zelenskyy.
Editor’s Note: Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) is a global affairs analyst. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and was a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He contributes to CNN Opinion. The opinions in this commentary are of his own. CNN has more opinion.
The past few days proved that the current theater of ground fighting is not immune to attacks. It remains unclear exactly how the Kerch bridge bombing was carried out – and Kyiv has not claimed responsibility – but the fact that a target so deep in Russian-held territory could be successfully hit hinted at a serious Ukrainian threat towards key Russian assets.
The area around my office in Odesa remained quiet during the daytime despite reports that missiles and drones were shot down. (Normally at this time of the day, nearby restaurants would be heaving with customers, and chatter of plans for upcoming weddings and parties).
On Monday, there were attacks in Zaporizhzhia again after a number of strikes on apartment buildings while people slept. Several dozens of people were injured and at least 17 were killed.
In Ukrainian cities that are not part of the conflict, the sound of the air raid sirens and the Russian attacks broke the relative calm.
Indeed, millions of people in cities across Ukraine will be spending most of the day in bomb shelters, at the urging of officials, while businesses have been asked to shift work online as much as possible.
Just as many regions of Ukraine were starting to roar back to life, and with countless asylum seekers returning home, the attacks risk causing another blow to business confidence.
For Putin, the symbolism of the only bridge linking mainland Russia and Crimea cannot be overstated. That the attack took place a day after his 70th birthday (the timing prompted creative social media denizens to create a split-screen video of Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President”) can be taken as an added blow to an aging autocrat whose ability to withstand shame and humiliation is probably nil.
Hardwiring newly claimed territory with expensive, record-breaking infrastructure projects seems to be a penchant of dictators. Putin opened the bridge by driving a truck across it. That same year, one of the first things Chinese President Xi Jinping did after Beijing reclaimed Macau and Hong Kong was to connect the former Portuguese and British territories with the world’s longest sea crossing bridge. The $20 billion, 34-mile road bridge opened after about two years of delays.
The Birth of Putin & The End of Putin: On the Challenge of Russia’s Cold War and the Problem of Security and Security in the Middle East
The explosion created a humorous meme that lit up social media channels. Many shared their sense of jubilation via text messages.
For Putin, consumed by pride and self-interest, sitting still was never an option. The only way he knew how to respond was by unleashing more death and destruction.
It was a selfish act of desperation that Putin was placed on thin ice because of the increased criticism at home.
Faced with growing setbacks, the Kremlin appointed a new overall commander of Russia’s invasion. The pace and cost of the Ukrainian counter-offensives mean there is not much hope of Gen. Sergey Srvoykin being able to lead his troops back onto the front foot before the end of the year.
There are strikes on central Kyiv close to the government quarter. It should be seen as a red line by Western governments because of the 229th day of the war.
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.
What to Expect as the Russian War with Ukraine Approaches December 1st: A Tale of Two Cities, One Baby and Three Flares
Furthermore, high tech defense systems are needed to protect Kyiv and crucial energy infrastructure around the country. The need to protect heating systems is urgent as winter approaches.
Turkey and the Gulf states that receive many Russian tourists need to be pressured to join the West’s efforts to isolation Russia with trade and travel restrictions.
There will be a humanitarian crisis that will spread throughout Europe if these measures aren’t put in place. The weak reaction will be seen as a sign that the Kremlin can continue to weaponize energy, migration and food.
State television showed the suffering on Monday, but also reported on 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.
The war is going towards an unpredictable new phase not 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.
Here are a few things to keep an eye out for as Russia’s invasion ofUkraine approaches the 10-month mark.
“What seemed a distant prospect for anything that could be convincingly described as a Ukraine victory is now very much more plausible,” Giles said. The response from Russia is most likely to get worse.
Ukrainian troops hoist the country’s flag above a building in Vysokopillya, in the southern Kherson region, last month. The counter-offensive began and Ukrainian officials claim to have liberated hundreds of settlements.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Friday that remaining troops have been transferred out of Kherson to the east bank of the Dnipro River early Friday with “not a single piece of military equipment or weapons” left on the other side.
There was a suggestion built up by the West and Russia in the summer that while Ukraine could defend territory, it didn’t have the ability to seize ground.
“The Russians are playing for the whistle – (hoping to) avoid a collapse in their frontline before the winter sets in,” Samir Puri, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the author of “Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine,” told CNN.
If the Russians can get Christmas with the frontline looking as it is, that will be a huge success.
The Institute for the Study of War (I SW) says Ukrainian troops are primarily focused on pushing Russian forces eastward, having crossed the Oskil River in late September.
If the Ukrainians win a big prize in Donbas, then they will be eager to improve upon their gains before the battlefield begins to turn cold, and the impact on Europe of rising energy prices will be felt.
“There are so many reasons why there is an incentive for Ukraine to get things done quickly,” Giles said. “The winter energy crisis in Europe, and energy infrastructure and power being destroyed in Ukraine itself, is always going to be a test of resilience for Ukraine and its Western backers.”
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.
As Russia begins a new offensive in eastern Ukraine, the US and its allies are skeptical Moscow has amassed the manpower and resources to make significant gains, US, UK and Ukrainian officials tell CNN. “It’s likely more aspirational than realistic,” said a senior US military official.
“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.”
The success rates of Ukrainian intercepts of Russian missiles have risen since the start of the invasion in February, according to a military expert with the Royal United Services Institute.
“The barrage of missile strikes is going to be an occasional feature reserved for shows of extreme outrage, because the Russians don’t have the stocks of precision munitions to maintain that kind of high-tempo missile assault into the future,” Puri said.
Alexander Lukashenko said there was no way that his country would send troops into Europe unless it was attacked.
“The reopening of a northern front would be another new challenge for Ukraine,” Giles said. He said that if Putin tried to take back the Kharkiv oblast, it would provide Russia with a new route.
Twelve months into the war, Ukraine and its people have changed. There are believed to be thousands of dead people. Millions have been driven from their homes.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that Ukraine needed “more” systems to better halt missile attacks, ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
The IRIS-T arrived this week from Germany, and the NASAMS is expected from the United States. , Bronk said.
Russian Federation’s response to a “terrorist attack” on Saturday in Kherson, the southern occupied area of the Ukrainian border: RIA Novosti reports
That’s not to say mobilized forces will be of no use. The burden on Russia’s exhausted professional army might be relieved if drivers and refuelers were used in support roles. Along the line of contact they could also fill out units and even have man checkpoint in the rear. They are, however, unlikely to become a capable fighting force. There are signs of discipline problems among soldiers in Russian garrisons.
Russian-backed rebels accused Ukranian authorities of carrying out many strikes on targets in the occupied regions using U.S.-supplied long-range rockets.
The main hot spots on the front line areneighboring towns. The Ukrainian president said in a video address that fighting continues in Soledar and Bakhmut.
Western intelligence officials said that Russia included convicts “with long sentences for serious crimes” in order to get its troops to give up their weapons.
Zelenskyy’s office said Moscow was shelling towns and villages along the front line in the east Sunday, and that “active hostilities” continued in the southern Kherson region.
At least 11 people were killed and 15 were wounded in a shooting at a military firing range on Saturday, which two men from a former Soviet republic killed before turning their guns on themselves. The Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation called the incident a terrorist attack.
France is committing to provide air- defense missiles and military training to Ukraine. Up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers will be embedded with military units in France, rotating through for several weeks of combat training, specialized training in logistics and other needs, and training on equipment supplied by France, the French defense minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said in an interview published in Le Parisien.
— The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, accused Moscow late Saturday of conducting “massive, forced deportations of Ukrainians,” which it said likely amount to ethnic cleansing.
It referenced statements made this week by Russian authorities that claimed that “several thousand” children from a southern region occupied by Moscow had been placed in rest homes and children’s camps amid the Ukrainian counteroffensive. On Friday the RIA Novosti reported on the original remarks by Russia’s deputy prime minister.
The Russian government is operating a systematic network of at least 40 child custody centers for thousands of Ukrainian children, a potential war crime, a Yale University team reported.
The Ukrainian military accused pro-Kremlin fighters of violating international humanitarian law by evicting civilians from occupied territories to put officers in their homes. There are evictions happening in the eastern Luhansk region. It had no evidence to support its claim.
The question is when the blame for the current situation will be shifted to Putin himself, because he has seemed ill-prepared to change the leadership at the top. The last change was the appointment of Sergei Surovikin as the first person to be placed in overall command of all Russian forces on the Ukraine front — an army general formerly in charge of the brutal Russian bombardment of Aleppo in Syria.
Moscow’s Nuclear Warfare and Counteroffensives in the Netherlands: the case of the Kuala Lumpur-bound man
The man has been on a wanted list over his alleged involvement in the downing of the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight. He’s the most notable suspect in a Dutch murder trial that’s expected to conclude in November.
Recently, Girkin’s social media posts have lashed out at Moscow’s battlefield failures. Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency said Sunday it would offer a $100,000 reward to anyone who captures him.
Nuclear deterrence exercises will be held by NATO. NATO has warned Russia not to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine but says the “Steadfast Noon” drills are a routine, annual training activity.
Russian agents detained eight people on Oct. 12 suspected of carrying out a large explosion on a bridge to Crimea, including Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian citizens.
In its two counteroffensives in the northeast and the south, the Ukrainian military has reported step-by-step gains in cutting supply lines and targeting Russian ammunition and fuel depots with long-range rockets and artillery.
Understanding the French and German Wars That Might Still Happen: David A. Andelman, Vice President of the European Parliament, and a Contributor to CNN
Editor’s Note: David A. Andelman, a contributor to CNN, twice winner of the Deadline Club Award, is a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, author of “A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Might Still Happen” and blogs at Andelman Unleashed. He formerly was a correspondent for The New York Times and CBS News in Europe and Asia. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinion.
He wants to distract his nation from the obvious fact that he is losing on the battlefield and unable to achieve any of his objectives.
In short, there is every incentive for Putin to prolong the conflict as long as possible to allow many of these forces in the West to kick in. A long, cold winter in Europe, persistently high inflation, and higher interest rates could lead to irresistible pressure for leaders to dial back on military and financial support.
This ability to keep going depends on a host of variables – ranging from the availability of critical and affordable energy supplies for the coming winter, to the popular will across a broad range of nations with often conflicting priorities.
The European Union came to an agreement early Friday that will control energy prices that have been going up due to sanctions on Russia and a shortage of natural gas.
The Dutch Title Transfer Facility is a benchmark for European gas trading, as well as permission for EU gas companies to join forces to BUY gas on the international market.
While the French President said that the European Commission had a clear mandate to start work on a gas cap mechanism, he conceded that there was only one reason for him to be ecstatic while leaving the summit.
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. Manifold forces in Europe could prove central to achieving success from the Kremlin’s viewpoint, which amounts to the continent failing to agree on essentials.
Germany and France are already at odds on a lot of these issues. The French and German leaders will hold a conference call Wednesday, in an effort to reach some agreement.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/25/opinions/putin-prolonge-war-ukraine-winter-andelman/index.html
Italy’s New Prime Minister and Left Behind: The War in the War of the Cold War with Russia, Russia, and the U.S.
A new government took over 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 partners in her far- right coalition has a deep appreciation for Putin.
At a gathering of his party loyalists, Berlusconi said he received 20 bottles of vodka from Putin and that it was a very sweet letter on his birthday.
The other leading member of the ruling Italian coalition, Matteo Salvini, named Saturday as deputy prime minister, said during the campaign, “I would not want the sanctions [on Russia] to harm those who impose them more than those who are hit by them.”
At the same time, Poland and Hungary, longtime ultra-right-wing soulmates united against liberal policies of the EU that seemed calculated to reduce their influence, have now disagreed over Ukraine. Poland was upset by the views of Hungary’s populist leader, Viktor Orban.
Kevin McCarthy, expected to become Speaker of the House if Republicans take control, said that people would not write a blank check if there were a recession. They will not do it.
Meanwhile on Monday, the influential 30-member Congressional progressive caucus called on Biden to open talks with Russia on ending the conflict while its troops are still occupying vast stretches of the country and its missiles and drones are striking deep into the interior.
Mia Jacob email reporters with a clarification of her remarks in support of Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba to renew America’s support.
Since Biden became president, the US has offered more than $60 billion in aid, but only Republicans voted against the latest aid package.
At the same time, the West is turning up the pressure on Russia. Last Thursday, the State Department released a detailed report on the impact of sanctions and export controls strangling the Russian military-industrial complex.
Russian production of hypersonic missiles has all but ceased “due to the lack of necessary semi-conductors,” said the report. Plants that produce anti-aircraft systems have stopped production, and aircraft are being cannibalized for spare parts. The Soviet era ended more than 30 years ago.
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 charged individuals and companies with violating sanctions for attempting to smuggle high-tech equipment into Russia.
Why Russia is pursuing a nuclear war: NPR’s L.E.G. Harari, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Ukraine, NATO and the West
Hardliners, such as Russian puppet leader in Donetsk, Pavel Gubarev, aren’t going to kill you but are trying to convince you. If you aren’t convinced, we’ll kill you. We will either kill 1 million, 5 million, or all of you.
Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis) a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a columnist for The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The commentary is her own, and she makes her own choices. View more opinion on CNN.
We don’t currently see Russia massing its aircraft for an aerial attack. We do know that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory and a lot of capability left,” he said. “That’s why we’ve emphasized that we need to do everything that we can to get Ukraine as much air defense capability as we possibly can.”
The 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 human cost of Russia’s ambitions, the effects of the war on other countries, and diplomatic and military efforts to stop the war are explored in a special report by NPR’s Leila Fadel.
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 to everything that happens far away from the battlefields. When oil-producing nations, led by Saudi Arabia, decided last month to slash production, the US accused the Saudis of helping Russia fund the war by boosting its oil revenues. (An accusation the Saudis deny).
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz recently reiterated that “Israel supports and stands with Ukraine, NATO and the West,” but will not move those systems to Ukraine, because, “We have to share our airspace in the North with Russia.”
The UN brokered an agreement that allowed the reopening of the maritime corridors between Ukraine and Russia after the naval vessels of the Russian navy were struck at the port in the Crimean peninsula. The announcement by Putin resulted in a jump in wheat prices on global commodity markets. Those prices partly determine how much people pay for bread in Africa and across the planet.
Family budgets and individual lives are affected by higher prices. When they come with such powerful momentum, they pack a political punch. Political leaders have been put on the defensive in many countries because of inflation.
The U.S. is Bringing a Big Smile to Putin: Reports of Multiple Operationes on the Front Line of Kherson
It is not only on the fringes. After next week’s elections, the leader of the House suggested Republicans might reduce aid to Ukraine. There was a letter called for negotiations released by the Progressives. Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official during the Obama administration, said they’re all bringing “a big smile to Putin’s face.”
The reports from Russian news media of soldiers telling their families about high casualty rates are supported by the fact that the videos were filmed by Ukrainian drones. The location of the front line cannot be determined due to the fact that the videos were not independently verified.
Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander of the Ukrainian military, said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday that Russian forces had tripled the intensity of attacks along some parts of the front. He didn’t give a time frame or location for the attacks.
“We discussed the situation at the front,” General Zaluzhnyi wrote. Ukrainian forces, he said he had told his U.S. colleague, were beating back the attacks, “thanks to the courage and skills of our warriors.”
The institute for the Study of War said that the rise in infantry in the east had not resulted in Russia 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.
The Ukrainian military reported Russian return fire into its positions in the south, where Ukrainian troops are moving toward the city of Kherson.
With Russian and Ukrainian forces apparently preparing for battle in Kherson, and conflicting signals over what may be coming, the remaining residents of the city have been stocking up on food and fuel to survive combat.
And Ukraine will be watching America’s midterm election results this week, especially after some Republicans warned that the party could limit funding for Ukraine if it wins control of the House of Representatives, as forecast.
U.S. Defence Mission to the Dnipro River: The Threat of Russian-Dominated Nuclear Forces on the Area of Kherson
Turkish President has invited the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson. Erdogan insists Sweden must meet certain conditions before it can join NATO.
The United Nations General Assembly holds a meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday. The Security Council discusses an issue related to Russia. Russia’s parliament will have extraordinary meetings.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accuses Russia of energy terrorism because of the aerial bombardments that left many people without heat. The Ukrainian officials say that Moscow is demoralizing the Ukrainian resistance.
On November 2, Russia returned to a deal brokered by the UN to safely export grain and other agricultural goods fromUkraine. The deal was suspended by Moscow after they said that Ukraine attacked their ships in the Black Sea.
The US has provided other armored vehicles to Ukraine in the past, including Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and armored utility vehicles. The US also paid for the refurbishment of Soviet-era T-72 tanks.
Russian soldiers abandoned by their military leadership and still in Kherson are being urged by the agency to surrender under the “I Want to Live” program.
“Your commanders ordered you to dress in civilian clothes and try to flee Kherson independently. Obviously, you won’t succeed,” the Ukrainian statement said.
Since early Friday morning, unconfirmed videos and photos have surfaced online of the Ukrainian flag being raised atop the Kherson city administration building and police headquarters, as well as jubilant locals in nearby villages celebrating liberation. Several videos show Ukrainians tearing down Russian billboards.
There were reports that the only bridge across the Dnipro had been destroyed. Videos shared online appeared to show a large section of the bridge sheared off completely. There were accusations between Russian and Ukrainian officials about who was responsible for the damage.
He said that it was difficult to abandon the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, but that it would allow Russia to save the lives of military personnel.
Ukrainian officials are concerned about new Russian attacks but there is also skepticism on the Ukrainian side about the ability of the Russian forces.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Reuters in an interview on Thursday he believed it would take “as a minimum, one week” for Russian forces to leave the city and that Moscow still has some 40,000 troops in the region.
The Kremlin maintained a hold over the territory despite Kherson being abandoned to Ukrainian forces. “Here there can be no changes,” Peskov said.
The Russia-Ukraine War and the U.N. Secretary of State – Preparing for the Bali G20 Summit – President Biden, the UK Prime Minister and the Ambassador to the United Nations
The Russia-Ukraine war is a main topic at the G-20 summit in Indonesia. On the sidelines on Monday, President Biden discussed issues with both the Chinese president and Ukrainian leader. Biden is scheduled to meet the British Prime Minister.
The Ambassador of the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield talked about hunger and the need for a renewal of the grain deal when she visited Ukranian. The week before Karen Donfried, the assistant secretary of state, went to Africa, she went to Ukraine.
Fans and family of the basketball player are celebrating after her release from a Russian prison. Some Republicans are complaining about the prisoner swap and other Americans being held by Russia.
The attacks have left Poland facing repercussions in the other countries that border it. Russian rockets have also knocked out power across neighboring Moldova, which is not a NATO member, and therefore attracted considerably less attention than the Polish incident.
Putin claimed he had no choice but to send troops in order to protect the security of his country, an assertion condemned by the West.
The forces planted mines in a lot of territory in Kherson from which they have recently withdrawn, just like in Cambodia during the 1970s. Cambodian de-mining experts have even been called in to help out with the daunting task of cleaning up the country’s mined land. Evidence of torture and atrocities have been left behind by the Russian armies, which is similar to the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.
That said, a growing number of Russian soldiers have rebelled at what they have been asked to do and refused to fight. Amid plummeting morale, the UK’s Defense Ministry believes Russian troops may be prepared to shoot retreating or deserting soldiers.
The hotline and Telegram channel were started by a Ukrainian military intelligence project called “I want to live,” which was designed to assist Russian soldiers who wanted to defect.
Diplomatically, Putin finds himself increasingly isolated on the world stage. Zelensky dubbed the G20 “G19”, because he was the only head of state to stay away. Although Putin once had a desire to rejoin the G7 after the fall of the Soviet Union, he seems to have forgotten about it. Russia’s sudden ban on 100 Canadians, including Canadian-American Jim Carrey, from entering the country only made the comparison with North Korea more striking.
It was a good way to clean up Russian society from spies and traitors. Russian officials want people that left the country of their passports stripped. Russia has many of its best and brightest, can it thrive without them?
I spoke with a leading Russian journalist last week who said he was prepared to accept the reality that he may never be able to return to his homeland, after fleeing in March.
Putin’s nuclear weapons comments on the war in the Balkans: The case of the Sea of Azov, a sea of water for the future combat air system
The West is attempting to decrease its dependence on Russian oil and natural gas in an attempt to free up material resources for this war. “We have understood and learnt our lesson that it was an unhealthy and unsustainable dependency, and we want reliable and forward-looking connections,” Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission told the G20 on Tuesday.
The burden it has on Western countries and the dream that it would drive further wedges into the Western alliance is proving to be unfulfilled by Putin. On Monday, word began circulating in aerospace circles that the long-stalled joint French-German project for a next-generation jet fighter at the heart of the Future Combat Air System – Europe’s largest weapons program – was beginning to move forward.
Speaking in a televised meeting with members of his Human Rights Council, Putin said that the land gains were a significant result for Russia, and the Sea of Azov was 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.
Putin said that his previous nuclear weapons comments were not a factor provoking an increase in conflicts, but a factor of deterrence.
If it doesn’t use it first, that means that it will not be the second to use it, because the possible threat of a nuclear strike on our territory will be very low,” he said.
We have not gone mad. We are fully aware of what nuclear weapons are,” Putin said. He said that they were more advanced and state-of-the-art than what other nuclear power had.
The Russian leader did not address the setbacks Russia has suffered on the battlefield, but he did acknowledge problems with supplies, treatment of wounded soldiers and limited desertions.
In the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, the governor posted photos of new concrete anti-tank barriers — known as “dragon’s teeth” — in open fields. On Tuesday, the governor had said a fire broke out at an airport in the region after a drone strike. In neighboring Belgorod, workers were expanding anti-tank barriers and officials were organizing “self-defense units.” The governor of Belgorod reported Wednesday that Russia’s air defenses have shot down incoming rockets, apparently from cross-border attacks.
Vladimir Putin tells us the Ukrainians aren’t worried about the attacks on their airfields in Ukraine, citing “Heroes of Russia”
Speaking after an awards ceremony for “Heroes of Russia” at the Kremlin, he addressed a group of soldiers receiving the awards, clutching a glass of champagne.
He blamed the Ukrainians for several events, including who hit the bridge. Who blew up the power lines?
The reference to Kursk appears to reference Russia’s announcement that an airfield in the Kursk region, which neighbors Ukraine, was targeted in a drone attack. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry didn’t make any comment on the recent explosions in Russia. The targets are beyond the range of the country’s declared drones.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-12-08-22/h_aea9d9149a72232d60137554cc312f1e
What does Putin tell us about the situation in the Donbass region of Ukraine, after a recent Russian invasion of Bakhmut last year?
He ended his apparent off-the-cuff comments by claiming there is no mention of the water situation. No one has said anything about it. At all! Absolutely no sound. ,” he said.
There were reports of frequent shelling of the city this week, which the Russian authorities said was defiance of international law.
Ukrainian authorities have been stepping up raids on churches accused of links with Moscow, and many are watching to see if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosts European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store for a working dinner Monday in Paris.
A video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to be broadcast in France on Tuesday as part of an effort to support Ukrainians through the winter.
The measures to target Russian oil revenue took effect. They include a price cap and embargo on Russian oil imports by the European Union.
Russian forces turned the city of Bakhmut into burned ruins, Zelenskyy said. Fighting has been fierce there as Russia attempts to advance in the city in the eastern Donbas region.
The building of the House of Teachers in Kyiv (Slovenia) during the February 24 Russian invasion reopens after 40 years of independence
On Monday, President Biden made a brief, unannounced visit to Kyiv, aimed at expressing solidarity with Ukrainians as Russia’s invasion of their country heads into a second year. Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and announced new aid as Russian forces make a new push to take control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which Russia illegally annexed last September.
The Russian empire started to get bigger. Russia’s empire could not exist withoutUkraine, according to many Russians. That’s why they keep coming back,” said Volodymyr Viatrovych, a member of Ukraine’s parliament and a prominent historian.
The suburb of Bucha was destroyed by the Russians in the first days of the war. When the Russians invaded Ukraine before dawn on Feb. 24, Viatrovych says he immediately sent his wife and 6-year-old son to western Ukraine for their safety.
He then drove to Kyiv for an emergency session of parliament, which declared martial law. By 2 p.m. that day, he received a rifle so he could join the security forces defending the capital.
The office of the Kyiv House of Teachers can be found in an elegant whitewashed building in the center of city, which was the site where independence from Russia was declared in 1918.
The explosion tore the windows off the hall where independence was declared in 1918. The windows are in a certain position. Shards of glass still cover the floor.
“There are, of course, parallels to a century ago,” said Steshuk Oleh, the director of the House of Teachers. This building was damaged during the fighting. It has been damaged again. But don’t worry. We will rebuild everything.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/16/1142176312/ukraine-ongoing-fight-to-free-itself-from-russia
Is Putin’s era in charge? “It’s time for the empire to go,” Kremlin told a Ukrainian citizen
Andrew Weiss, with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, notes that during the Soviet era, Kremlin leaders repeatedly crushed Ukrainian protests and rebellions — which helps explain why Ukrainians are fighting so fiercely today.
“If you look back over the last 100 years, it is obvious that there have been many wrongs and unfortunate occurrences in regards to the Ukrainian people,” he said.
Russia can be the only real guarantor of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Putin said earlier this month.
“I believe our generation has an opportunity to put an end to this. Ukrainians are more united, more mobilized, more ready to fight than in 1918,” he said.
He said that if he’s losing a war and it’s his own making he doesn’t survive. The end may be marked by more than Putin’s era, but the era of the empire. It’s not the old century. It’s time for empires to go.”
Kasparov was still living in Russia 15 years ago when he entered politics and challenged Putin’s hold on power. When it became clear his safety was at risk, he left Russia, and now lives in New York.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/16/1142176312/ukraine-ongoing-fight-to-free-itself-from-russia
Do we want to see Ukraine go? Military analysts warn against a step towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine and a European Union cap on gas prices
The war is unlikely to produce a clear resolution on the battlefield according to many military analysts. They say it’s likely to require negotiations and compromises.
That’s not a popular opinion in Ukraine. Many citizens want Russian troops out of the country, according to President Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy recently told Time magazine, “We are dealing with a powerful state that is pathologically unwilling to let Ukraine go.”
Valeriy Chaly, Ukraine’s former ambassador to the United States, said the region would be more stable if Ukraine wins the war and joins NATO. Though joining the alliance is unlikely in the next few years,Ukraine’s government wants this.
“Being a buffer zone or gray zone is not good from a geopolitical point of view,” he said. “If you are a gray zone between two security blocs, two military blocs, everybody wants to make a step. This has happened with Ukraine.”
An official announcement is expected on a European Union cap on natural gas prices, the most recent measure to tackle an energy crisis spurred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Joint Commons Liaison Committee Report on Ukrainian Invasion of the Kremlin and the Nuclear Security Arrangements with the European Military Force
The Commons Liaison Committee is where the Ukranian war and other global issues are discussed and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is scheduled to speak on Tuesday. On Monday, Sunak met with U.K.-led European military force members.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will hold virtual talks sometime this month, according to Russian news reports.
Ukrainians and Russians have not celebrated Christmas or Hanukkah in a long time due to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The agency said that it had an agreement with the government of Ukraine to send nuclear safety and security experts to its nuclear power plants.
An American was freed from Russian-controlled territory as part of a 65-person prisoner exchange. Suei Murekezi told ABC News he was imprisoned in eastern Ukraine for months and spent weeks in a basement.
EU lawmakers approved about $19 billion in financing for Ukraine, Dec. 14, and more sanctions on Russia. Dozens of countries and global institutions have pledged more than $1 billion in winter relief for Ukraine, and the package of aid that was just announced is part of that support.
Ukrainian officials have asked for more powerful weapons from the west to battle the Russian offensive, which they warned of for some time.
After US President Joe Biden promised more military support to Ukraine at Zelensky’s summit at the White House, the foreign ministry of Russia condemned the “monstrous crimes” of the regime in Kyiv.
Maria Zakharova said that military support from the West won’t mean anything to the Ukrainian government.
Russia is ready for a large increase in military power. It is gathering everything possible, doing drills and training. When it comes to an offensive from different directions, as of now, I can say that we are not excluding any scenario in the next two to three weeks.”
Her comments came after Zelensky delivered a historic speech from the US Capitol, expressing gratitude for American aid in fighting Russian aggression since the war began – and asking for more.
Kyiv has repeatedly asked for the US Army’s Patriot – an acronym for Phased Array Tracking Radar for intercept on Target – system, as it is considered one of the most capable long-range air defense systems on the market.
Is there a ‘no-end’ of peace in Ukraine, as defined by the U.S. response to the September 11 attacks?
Peskov added that “there were no real calls for peace.” Zelensky reiterated the 10-point plan devised by Ukrainian officials during his address to the US Congress on Wednesday.
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.”
A director of the Defense Priorities think tank said that if Russia messes with the system, it will put all sorts of systems out of whack. It’s an enormous cost and an inconvenient one. It’s an effort to create pain for the civilian population, to show that the government can’t protect them adequately.”
Menon points out that every single one of his comments could be used to apply Russia’s earlier waves of cyberattacks, in which hundreds of digital networks were destroyed. He says that the goal is the same even though it’s different in the details. “Demoralizing and punishing civilians.”
At least three people were killed when missiles fired from Moscow hit villages and cities in Ukraine, officials said, as the conflict entered its second month.
Russia’s onslaught on Thursday was aimed at the country’s electrical infrastructure, and knocked out power in several regions. Engineering crews were racing to restore services as the New Year’s holiday approaches this weekend.
Halyna Hladka in the capital made breakfast for her family so they would have something to eat after the sirens sounded. After more than two hours, they heard the sound of explosions. “It seemed to me that they were really close to our area but it turned out to be air defense,” she told CNN. Not a single attack will stop us from celebrating the new year with our family.
Hryn said life in the capital went back to normal after the all clear, after he met his neighbors with their child who were in a hurry to go to the cinema. Parents took their children to school and people went to work, while others continued with holiday plans in defiance.
Moscow Will Not Object to Kyiv’s Proposed 10-Point Framework for the End of the War and Ukraine’s Emergency Power Outages
As the war looks set to stretch into another year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that Moscow will not negotiate with Kyiv on the basis of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposed 10-point peace formula, which includes Russia’s withdrawal from all Ukrainian territory, a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes, and a final peace treaty with Moscow.
He said that Russia was open to diplomatic solutions, just as recently as when Putin said he wanted an end to the war. Putin’s claim that he is open to negotiating was roundly dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a ruse.
A young person was injured and two other people were pulled from a damaged home on the same day, according to Klitschko. The city military administration says that homes, an industrial facility and a playground were damaged in the capital.
The Mayor of the city warned that the waterworks could also stop working if the electricity went out, as they were all without power.
Authorities in Odesa, in southern Ukraine, said that emergency power outages had been rolled out amid the missile attacks. If the enemy manages to hit energy facilities, they are introduced because of the threat of missile attacks.
Senseless barbarism. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister said that there could be no neutral stance in the face of aggression as Moscow prepares to launch a wave of attacks on Ukrainian cities.
At the time, Putin insisted his forces were embarking on a “special military operation” — a term suggesting a limited campaign that would be over in a matter of weeks.
War against Ukraine Has Left Russia Isolated and Stuck with More Torturbative Ahelion: How Russians have Done Their Politics
The war grew into Europe’s biggest land war since World War II and forced millions of Ukrainians from their homes.
Yet the war has also fundamentally upended Russian life — rupturing a post-Soviet period in which the country pursued, if not always democratic reforms, then at least financial integration and dialogue with the West.
Draconian laws passed since February have outlawed criticism of the military or leadership. A leading independent monitoring group says 45% of people who have been arrested for demonstrating against the war are women.
There is a growing list of “foreign agents” and “non-desirable” organizations that attempt to damage the reputation of the Russian public.
The most revered human Rights Group in Russia was forced to stop its activities over alleged violations of the foreign agents law.
Russia’s anti-gay laws have been vastly expanded in order to argue that the war in Ukraine reflects a broader attack on traditional values.
For now, repressions remain targeted. The new laws are not always enforced. But few doubt the measures are intended to crush wider dissent — should the moment arise.
Leading independent media outlets and a bunch of vibrant, online investigative startups were forced to shut down or relocate abroad because of the new fake news laws.
Restrictions extend to internet users as well. In March, American social media giants were banned. Roskomnadzor, the Kremlin’s internet regulator, has blocked more than 100,000 websites since the start of the conflict.
Technical workarounds such as VPNs and Telegram still offer access to Russians seeking independent sources of information. Older Russians like state media’s propaganda, and watch TV talk shows to spread rumors.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/31/1145981036/war-against-ukraine-has-left-russia-isolated-and-struggling-with-more-tumult-ahe
War against Ukraine has Left Russia Isolated and Struturing with More Tortuft Ahelvy: The Case of Russia’s Military Campaign
Many perceived government opponents left the war’s early days due to fears of persecution.
Hundreds of thousands of Russian men fled to borders such as Georgia and China in an effort to avoid the draft after Putin’s order to mobilize 300,000 additional troops in September.
Meanwhile, some countries that have absorbed the Russian exodus predict their economies will grow, even as the swelling presence of Russians remains a sensitive issue to former Soviet republics in particular.
In the initial days of the invasion, Russia’s ruble currency cratered and its banking and trading markets looked shaky. Some of the world’s biggest corporations, such as McDonald’s and ExxonMobil, cut back or shut down their operations in Russia.
Europe will blink first when it comes to sanctions, because of the Europeans’ anger over soaring energy costs at home. The ban on oil exports to countries that abide by the price cap was announced by him, which is likely to cause more pain in Europe.
When it comes to Russia’s military campaign, there’s no outward change in the government’s tone. The Defense Ministry of Russia gives daily briefings on their successes. Putin 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 put the figure much higher.
The invasion of Russia by NATO has backfired, as the alliance looks to expand towards Russia’s borders.
Russia’s actions are being criticized by allies in Central Asia because they are concerned about their own sovereignty, which 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.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/31/1145981036/war-against-ukraine-has-left-russia-isolated-and-struggling-with-more-tumult-ahe
Twenty Years of Russia: CNN Digital Observation of the Big War, Land War, School Shootings, Uvalde, Texas, and Natural Disasters
A state of the nation address, originally scheduled for April, was repeatedly delayed and won’t happen until next year. The “direct line” which is a media event in which Putin fields questions from ordinary Russians was canceled.
The annual December “big press conference” that allows the Russian leader to handle questions from the pro-Kremlin media was tabled until 2023.
The Kremlin has no explanation for the delays. Many suspect it might be that, after 10 months of war and no sign of victory in sight, the Russian leader has finally run out of good news to share.
This year was historic and deadly, it was just another year that tried patience and nerves. Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the biggest land war since World War II in Europe. In Uvalde, Texas, and in countless other mass shootings in the US, all too common horrors were unleashed. And, inevitably, luminaries who brought light to our lives were extinguished.
CNN has been with the world for more than 40 years and has been on television for 25 years. On average, more than 165 million of you came to CNN Digital from around the globe every month in 2022, according to Comscore.
The other stories among our top 10 most read, watched or listened to were the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, our election night streaming of CNN’s TV coverage of the midterms and our digital pages of up-to-the-second results from hundreds of races.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade and its impact on women’s lives and US politics were a recurring top story, as were the numerous mass shootings and natural disasters.
The Covid-19 Season in Ukraine and the Ukraine’s Armed Forces, the Kyiv Emergency Services and the Power Grids in the Metropolis
Interest and fear in Covid-19 waned, but the last weeks of the year brought new worries to China. History has taught us that pandemic developments know no borders.
Entertainment news brought millions of you to CNN. Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, the amiable DJ for ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ died of a rare disease. There were bright moments too: like the Good Samaritans that made a difference in the lives of strangers.
For those playing along at home, every piece on our Top 100 Stories list this year received more than 3 million visits, according to our internal data.
Thank you for being here with us through it all. We promise we will be here for you in 2023, for every breaking news story and for every piece of joy, delight and triumph.
The commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, said his air defenses successfully intercepted a total of 12 incoming attacks, six of which were in Kyiv. The number of incoming attacks was not clear.
Kyiv’s emergency services were dispatched to several locations around the city. Videos published to social media and geo-located by NPR show several apparent injuries, including partially severed limbs and bloodied faces on one residential street.
A top emergency adviser to the Ukrainian presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said that Russian missiles also hit a four-star hotel in Kyiv’s entertainment district. Ukraine’s power grid operator said it preventatively shut off electricity to several areas of the capital region, but did not report any damage to their infrastructure.
“The West lied about (wanting) peace,” Putin said. “It was preparing for aggression…and now they are cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and split Russia.”
Vladimir Zelensky’s Year in the Life and Death of the Ukraine During the First Year of World War II. His Memories with the Operation “Brazil’s New Year”
The Russian leader later bestowed the country’s highest military honor – the Order of Saint George – on the commander of its forces in Ukraine, Gen. Sergei Surovikin.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also announced the return of 82 Russian prisoners of war following what it said were negotiations with “territories under the control of the Kyiv regime.”
While speaking on New Years Eve, Ukrainian President Zelensky said the year began on Feb. 24 with fear over Russia’s invasion but ended with his country hopeful for victory.
Standing in darkness with a Ukrainian flag rippling gently in the breeze behind him, Mr. Zelensky recounted in a videotaped speech many notable moments from the war — including the attack on a maternity hospital, the intense fighting at the Azovstal steel plant, the destruction of a Russian bridge to Crimea, the retaking of Kherson, the sinking of a Russian flagship — as the video cut to footage that underscored his words.
“This year has struck our hearts,” he said, according to a translated transcript posted on his official website. We cried out all the tears. The prayers have been said. 311 days. Every minute, we have something to say.
Ukrainian-Armed Forces in Ukraine’s Operation and Defense. VI: A Strike on a Vocational School Building in Makiivka
All Ukrainians — those working, attending schools or “just learning to walk” — are participating in Ukraine’s defense, Mr. Zelensky said. And although 2022 could be called a year of losses, he said that was not the right way to think of it.
Mr. Zelensky said the world has come together as a united force around Ukranian issues, from the halls of government in foreign cities to the main squares of foreign cities.
Russian officials said that a large arms depot was the location where four Ukrainian-launched HIMARS rockets hit the Vocational school where the forces were housed. (Another two HIMARS rockets were shot down by Russian air defenses).
The strike, using a U.S.-supplied precision weapon that has proven critical in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, delivered a new setback for Russia which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The Ukrainian military has not directly confirmed the strike, but seemed to acknowledge what appeared to be the same attack that Russian authorities reported.
The Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s Armed Forces claimed Sunday that some 400 mobilized Russian soldiers were killed in a vocational school building in Makiivka and about 300 more were wounded. That claim could not be independently verified. The statement didn’t mention the school or the area where the strike occurred.
Five people were wounded in the shelling of a Ukrainian-occupied area of the southern Kherson region.
The Russian forces attacked the city of Beryslav, the official said, firing at a local market, likely from a tank. Three of the wounded are in a serious condition and will be taken to Kherson.
Ukraine’s Bryansk region is under attack, according to a Ukrainian air force report and a fourth victim killed by a blistering assault
The Ukrainian air force reported Monday that 39 Iranian Shahed drones and two Russian Orlan drones were shot down over the weekend.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a missile was also destroyed, according to Reznichenko. He said that energy infrastructure in the region was being targeted.
A blistering New Year’s Eve assault killed at least four civilians across the country, Ukrainian authorities reported, and wounded dozens. The fourth victim, a 46-year-old resident of Kyiv, died in a hospital on Monday morning, Klitschko said.
The Bryansk region has an energy facility that is located along the border withUkraine, according to the governor. He said that a village was without power.
Biden and Scholz made clear on their call that they would provide the needed financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine for as long as necessary.
The Bradley is a vehicle that can hold 10 troops and is used to transport personnel into battle. The White House said the US and Germany would provide training to Ukrainian forces on the respective vehicles being provided to Kyiv.
The Kremlin, the Pentagon, and the Russian Army: The Case for the Makiivka Attack and the Implications for the Forces of Cold War
Zelensky wanted the systems to be able to Target Russian missiles flying at a higher altitude than they were able to do before.
If the Russian account is correct, it’s the cell phones the novice troops were using that allowed the Ukrainians to target them most accurately. Ukraine, however, has not indicated how the attack was executed. But the implications are broader and deeper, especially for how Russia is conducting its war now.
It is telling that days after the deadliest known attack on Russian servicemen, President Vladimir Putin called for a temporary ceasefire, citing the Orthodox Christmas holiday. The move was rightly dismissed by Ukraine and the US as a cynical attempt to seek breathing space amid a very bad start to the year for Russian forces.
Chris Dougherty, a senior fellow for the Defense program at the Center for New American Security in Washington and co-head of the gaming Lab, has told me that the Russian inability to communicate with their forces is the reason they are unable to break up large arms depots.
It is a view shared by others. “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.
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.”
The troops killed in Makiivka seem to have been recent conscripts, as part of a larger picture of Russian soldiers getting shipped to the front lines with little training and sub-standard equipment.
Some of the most recent arrivals are inmates from Russian prisons freed and immediately sent to the Ukrainian front. Inmates used to being isolated with few or no contact with the outside world would find the use of cell phones appealing.
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 underwent a shakeup when Gen. Bulgakov was replaced by Col. Gen. Mikhail Y.Mizintsev. 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.”
Following Danilov’s comments, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said Wednesday that there a signs Russia is preparing for a renewed offensive in southern Ukraine.
The Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council told Sky News that defining months would be the key to the war.
War is Not the Future: a Critical Moment for the War Between the USA and Ukraine in the Early Stage of the February 24 Ukrainian Invasion
The ministry said that military representatives from the two countries would practice planning for the use of troops based on their previous experience of armed conflicts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise Europe tour, meeting leaders in London, Paris and Brussels, and reiterating his call for allies to send fighter jets to Ukraine.
The historic visit came days before the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukrainians by Russia, which gives a symbolic boost to the city of Kyiv.
The senior British official told CNN that it was doubtful that Russian forces would be better organized and more successful.
“They amassed enough manpower to take one or two small cities in Donbas, but that’s it,” a senior Ukrainian diplomat told CNN. “Underwhelming, compared to the sense of panic they were trying to build in Ukraine.”
The US is not watching Russia mass its aircraft ahead of an aerial operation against Ukraine, as Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday.
“We are peaceful people. We know what war is and we don’t want war,” the authoritarian leader Lukashenko, who has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said at a press conference in Minsk on Thursday.
The CNN team were 100 meters (328 feet) away from the Ukrainian side, where they saw the Belarusian government’s fortification of the border area with barbed wire in a carefully orchestrated and tightly controlled press tour.
Belarusian officials told CNN the border crossing from their side in the small town of Dyvin is still functioning but that the Ukrainian side has closed the crossing.
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.”
Russian troops launched the invasion on February 24, crossing into Ukraine from Belarus after months amassing along Ukraine’s 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. The two nations have been holding military drills near the crossing.
“I do think this is a critical moment,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told NPR. “The battlefield, as difficult as it is and as bloody as it is … is something that’s going to play a very major factor in both President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and President [Vladimir] Putin’s calculations as to whether or not to go to the negotiating table … and under what conditions.”
“This is something that leads me to the question – for whom do we document all these crimes?” Oleksandra Matviichuk, the head of the Center for Civil Liberties, told us. “Because I’m not a historian, I’m a human rights lawyer, and we document human pain in order sooner or later to have all these Russians … brought to justice.”
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister and the Ukraine’s War-anniversary with a view towards preserving the Continuum Confinement
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister said that his country is learning from the war in Ukraine and keeping an eye on China.
“They have expansionist motivation. They want to continue to expand their sphere of influence. They would like to increase their power. They will continue to march on, if they are not stopped.
Antony Blinken, the secretary of State, told NPR that “we’ve been able to avoid conflict between great powers.” “This system, for all its imperfections, works. But now, it’s being challenged.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/18/1157820509/ukraine-russia-war-anniversary
The case of a family car shelling in the early stages of World War II: Moscow and the Kremlin, Russia’s Special Military Operation
They tried to flee in the first days of the war, but the family car was shelled, Natalia believes, by Russian forces. Her husband and nephew died in a motorcycle accident. Vova was hospitalized for months after the attack with seven bullets in his body.
The audio for this story was produced by Danny Hajek; edited by Barrie Hardymon and Natalie Winston. Additional production help from Carol Klinger and others. Hanna Palamarenko and Tanya Ustova provided reporting and translation help.
CNN has reached out to the Kremlin, which has not yet publicly commented on Biden’s trip. But Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dismissed the trip, accusing the US of warmongering support for Ukraine.
Biden received security guarantees in advance, and he finally went to Kyiv, according to the statement. “And of course, there were mutual incantations about the victory that would come with new weapons and a courageous people. And here it is important to note that the West already delivers weapons and money to Kyiv quite regularly. In large quantities, the military industrial complex of NATO countries can make money and steal weapons.
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 would think that the grandfather would be brought to Bakhmut as well, because he is not good for anything but simple provocations anyway.”
Some of the hardline military critics, such as Baikin, provide analysis of the conflict for large swaths of the Russian population and they have criticized what they consider a soft approach on the battlefield by Putin’s generals.
Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, is known for making belligerent pronouncements in an apparent bid to shore up his nationalist credentials.
The Kremlin said that participants of Russia’s “special military operation” will be in attendance, but foreign guests won’t be invited.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of the Federation of Ukrainians, spoke via video link to attendees, including the German Chancellor. The vice president told the group about Russia’s crimes against humanity.
NATO defense ministers met in Brussels, where Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged a boost in ammunition to Ukraine, warning that the Kremlin is preparing for new offensives and attacks.