Russia is losing its edge on the old soviet sphere

The Ukrainian peninsula of Crimean was not forcibly annexed by Moscow, as declared by the president of the Kremlin Palace

Moscow’s problems have been underscored by the annexation of four territories of Ukraine, which it has not been able to establish full control over.

After the process is done, Luhansk and Donetsk will be recognized as Russian territory, along with Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, both in southern Ukraine.

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.

Now, a year later, “Kyiv stands, and Ukraine stands. He said the world stood with him and that the Americans stood with him.

The annexation was meant to fix the historical mistake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to the Russian president.

Kortunov says that Putin could either declare victory or leave on his own terms. But for this he needs a significant achievement on the ground. “Russia cannot simply get to where it was, on the 24 February of this year, say, okay, you know, that’s fine. Our mission is accomplished. We’re going home and there should be a way to present the victory to the public.

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

The Russian leader spoke in the St. George’s Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace in March of 2014, which was when he declared that the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimean was part of Russia.

Putin was joined by Moscow-backed separatist leaders and Kremlin-appointed officials from the four regions, as senior Russian lawmakers and dignitaries looked on.

Europe has to deal withrussia in a state of chaotic denial and hope that it turns into a state of managed decline One abiding comfort may be that, after underestimating Moscow’s potential for malice, the risk for Europe would be to overstate its potential as a threat.

The Kremlin is Fighting against a Terrorist State: From Russian Operation on the Crimean Peninsula to Russian Counteroffensive

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

The threat of nuclear war is growing, President Putin said, and suggested that his country could abandon its no-first use nuclear weapons doctrine. The drones hit military infrastructure deep inside Russia. Russia’s military blamed Ukraine for the strikes.

Russia’s practice of carrying out missile and artillery strikes on civilian targets has already become notorious, from the Mariupol theater airstrike in May that killed 600 people to the bombings of multiple sites in central Kyiv that Russia carried out in October in retaliation for the destruction of the Kerch bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to Russia. The repeated failures of Russia’s military to take or hold territory in the face of the Ukrainian counteroffensive seems only to have amplified the Kremlin’s preference for softer, nonmilitary targets. We are fighting against a terrorist state.

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

Vladimir Putin: The Battle for a “Disagreement” between the Russian Federation and its Occupied Territoires during a Cold War

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.

Russia could cement its hold over the two eastern regions at a time when hawks in Russia are not happy with how Russian forces have responded to recent gains by the Ukrainians.

The battle for control of the war is being fought by Mr. Putin, who has faced opposition in Russia over the recent draft of hundreds of thousands of civilians into military service.

Putin has once again taken to making speeches offering his distorted view of history, as hundreds of thousands of citizens fled partial mobilization and even his allies expressed concern.

“The people chose to vote,” Putin said in a ceremony at the St. George hall. He said that the choice wouldn’t be betrayed by Russia.

Russian President Putin has said that he wants to end the war, and he also stressed that Russia was open for diplomatic solutions. The claim that Putin is willing to negotiate was dismissed by the West as a ruse.

The Kremlin was being prepared for a concert and a rally to show that Russia and the newly integrated territories are indeed together forever.

Sept. 27: Russia claimed that staged referendums in four occupied regions of Ukraine showed the people chose to join the Russian Federation. United Nations leaders and many countries called the process a sham and a violation of international law.

The US will not recognize the claims of Russia on the sovereignty of Ukraine, according to Biden. The results of the referenda were manufactured in Moscow, and they were a sham.

Putin, however, framed the decision as a historical justice following the breakup of the Soviet Union that had left Russian speakers separated from their homeland — and the West dictating world affairs according to its own rules.

Western officials pointed out the timing as proof that Kremlin desperation was at work to solidify their gains. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of seeking to mobilize Ukrainians in annexed areas for the military campaign as well.

Legislative approval of the annexation is going to take a couple of days, but it is expected to be a formality. The Russian legislature is effectively controlled by Putin and his allies, and the space for political dissent in the country has dwindled in recent years.

The Russian government’s annexation has unfolded as it works to deploy an additional 300,000 troops to bolster its military campaign amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive that has retaken territory in the south and northeast of Ukraine.

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

Kurt Volker, the US ambassador to NATO and the US special representative to Turkey under Donald Trump, thinks Putin might be getting ready for peace. “I think what he must be striving for, is to brandish the nuclear weapons, make all kinds of threats to Europe, and then say, okay, so let’s negotiate a settlement. And let me keep what I have already taken.”

It goes without saying that for one of the poorest countries in Europe, sheltering so many refugees likely won’t be sustainable for a long period of time without assistance. Russia may hope that Moldova will break under this influx of refugees and bring more instability to Eastern Europe.

CNN is unable to verify the figures, but the traffic jams at the border with Georgia are indicative of a growing backlash and belief that Putin might be losing his touch at reading Russia.

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. “Many people would start asking questions, why did we get into this mess? Why, you know, we lost so many people.”

He used the same approach as in the past when annexing Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula, now threatening nuclear strikes should the government attempt to take it back.

The special case of negotiation with few parameters and a narrow range of outcomes is a category error if used to apply a complex, fluid and much broader geopolitical rivalry. There is no specific category of actions the West or Ukrainians could take that would automatically cause a Russian nuclear crisis. Russia only has a range of options and perceptions of their relative risks and benefits, so there is no red line. The West should continually aim, through its diplomacy, to shape these perceptions so that Russia chooses the options that the West prefers.

Detection of Explosive Shock Waves and Environmental Leakages in the Northern Stream: Moscow’s December 25 statement as a campaign to push Ukraine out of war

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

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.

So far, at least four leaks in Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines 1 and 2 have been discovered, each at the surface resembling a boiling cauldron, the largest one kilometer across, and together spewing industrial quantities of toxic greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Western intelligence sources say European security officials saw Russian naval vessels in the area in the days preceding. NATO’s North Atlantic Council has described the damage as a “deliberate, reckless and irresponsible act of sabotage.”

Putin kept the lights out for the second and third sections of theNord Stream, while Europe battled to replenish gas reserves in time for winter and searched for replacements for the first section.

“Putin’s December 25 statement is a part of a deliberate information campaign aimed at misleading the West to push Ukraine into making preliminary concessions,” the ISW said, adding that Moscow has stepped up those efforts in December.

The Kremlin is unlikely to see peace negotiations as a genuine path out of war in the near future – but it may bode well for Putin if Russia is able to get the West talking about that topic, experts say.

Putin expects France and Germany to be the first ones to say they need to end this war and protect their territories at all costs, with pressure on the Ukrainians to settle.

It is very worrying that Putin doesn’t realize how small of a space he has, and would he make good on his nuclear threats?

Zelensky, Putin, and the West: The “Lihansk massacre” in Ukraine vs. “military actions” in Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that the country had taken back Lyman, while the military reported it had taken back two villages in Luhansk region.

It enraged the pro- military and ultranationalist circles in Russia, as it upstaged Putin on the eve of a major address in which the Russian president is expected to tout what he calls a special military operation.

The losses have sparked an unusual amount of criticism from pro-Russian propagandists. According to a Russian pro-government tabloid, Russian forces had to retreat in the crucial city of Lyman due to the lack of manpower and communication issues that their commanding officers made.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Putin lost Lyman just as he was publicly declaring that the Donetsk region – in which Lyman sits – was now annexed by Russia.

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

These are no longer toys for children to play with. They are part of a systematic and clear offensive by the army and NATO forces,” the unnamed deputy commander of one Russian battalion told the show’s war correspondent, Evgeny Poddubny. The soldier insisted that his unit had been intercepting discussions by Romanian and Polish soldiers, not Ukrainians, on their radios.

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

The idea that Russia is fighting a broader campaign was repeated in an interview with Aleksandr Dugin, a far-right thinker whose daughter, also a prominent nationalist commentator, was killed by a car bomb in August.

Giles said that Russia could try to make the war personal, not just for people of Ukraine but around Europe, and force the governments to remove their support for the country.

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

“The West already accuses us of blowing up the gas pipeline ourselves,” he said. The war on the scale and extent of which is unfolding must be understood by us. In other words, we must fight with a mortal enemy who will use whatever means is necessary to destroy us.

The nonstop messaging campaign may be working, at least for now. A senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said that there are many Russians who feel threatened by the West.

The United States and its major allies have been steadfast in their resolve to support Ukraine in its fight, and their people have largely accepted the enormous cost. The political resistance in the United States has been limited to some people on the far right and far left. But questions will become only more common as the war drags on. Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House and a strong supporter ofUkraine, has warned that there should be no blank check on anything.

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.

Pro-Russian leaders inUkraine have been installed by Putin. Huge street protests were held by the Ukrainians in 2004. And then again a decade later, leading Ukraine’s president to flee to Russia in 2014.

The West led by the United States supported Ukraine for that reason. 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.

You can read past recaps here. For context and more in-depth stories, 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.

Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense for the US, said in an interview on CNN on Sunday that he believes that Kherson is making progress thanks to weapons supplied by Washington.

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

A CNN Perspective on the 2016 European Referendum “David v. Goliath: What has the world learned from the London and London referendums?”

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 voting took place at gun point.

Putin said he was “pleased” and “surprised” by the referendums’ results and claimed that the regions will now be stabilized and developed while “helping strengthen the country as a whole.”

EU member states summoned the Russian ambassador in a coordinated manner on Friday to express strong condemnation of the actions taken by the Russian government, and demanded an immediate halt to the actions taken in violation of the UN Charter and international law.

A former CNN producer and correspondent, Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist. She is a contributor to CNN, columnist for The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. The thoughts that are expressed in this commentary are her own. CNN has more opinion on it.

On Sunday, almost by accident, two groups of demonstrators came together in London. One of them waved Iranian and Ukrainian flags. They cheered and chanted, “All together we will win” when they met.

The conflict in Iran is not the only one that has become the pivot point for many of the world’s tensions.

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

The anniversary of the March 22 killing in Iran: what has the Russian public learnt about transnational repression and the consequences for their countries

The death of 22-year-old Amini last month occurred in Iran. She died in the custody of morality police who were called in to detain her for breaking rules that required women to dress modestly.

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

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

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

Zelensky is in Washington to remind Republicans of how much it would hurt the US if a victory for Ukrainians meant Russia was able to attack NATO and then drag the U.S. into a war.

The anniversary of the war brings a range of emotions including deep admiration for the Ukrainian people and disbelief over the Russian offensive. But another feeling comes up, too, that doesn’t get talked about enough: awe at the breathtaking waste of war.

There is a growing list of “non-desirable” organizations that are added weekly to the Russian public’s “foreign agents” list.

Is it any wonder that Putin made his first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the beginning of his war in Ukraine to Iran? It is thought that Iran trained Russian forces to kill Ukrainians, and that Russia used 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.

Multiple Putin critics have suffered mysterious deaths. Many have fallen out of windows. And both Iran and Russia have become leading practitioners of transnational repression, killing critics on foreign soil, according to Freedom House and other democracy research and advocacy groups.

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. Iran’s constitution calls for spreading its revolution.

Vladimir Putin and the annexation of the Ukrainian war-torn territories: a joint news message from Moscow and the working class in the Donbas

But everyone experienced the shock of war differently. Putin destroyed the history of Russia for millions of people, even though he had already ruined many of the achievements of previous life.

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.

While Russian state television hailed Putin’s inking of the annexation process, pro-Kremlin pundits delivered rare dispatches on the growing setbacks faced by Moscow’s troops on the ground.

Russian forces appear to be buckling under growing pressure as Ukraine continues to regain territory in the south, where Russian soldiers have been forced to retreat from previously-held settlements as Kyiv progresses with its counteroffensive towards the Russian-occupied city of Kherson.

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.

Our work, our future, and our homes are with the people of Ukraine. We’ll continue to work in line with Ukrainian legislation. Don’t doubt it! Petro Kotin said in a video address to the plant’s employees.

Part of the difficulty of making wartime assessments is that the war has gone through different phases, with one side and then the other having an advantage. The Russians were defeated in the battle for Kyiv by the Ukrainians, only to see Russia fight back during the fighting in the Donbas.

The President of the Ukranian praised the military for their advancement on Tuesday evening, and said that a number of settlements had already been liberated this week.

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.

The law that Putin signed states that the borders of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions were the territory of the Russian Federation on the day it was adopted.

Russian leaders wanted to take action sooner than the US military thought, despite the fact that it would be a long time before the Russian military regenerated enough power. The senior US military official told CNN that the US believes that Russia is preparing to move before they are ready due to political pressure from the Kremlin.

In mid-September, the Russian Defense Ministry used the term “regrouping” to describe the Russian military retreat from the key city of Izium in the Kharkiv region.

“In the Kherson region, we have lost 17 settlements,” Alexander Sladkov, a leading Russian war correspondent, conceded on state TV Tuesday, before placing the blame on “fat” US weapons deliveries and “intelligence gathered via satellite reconnaissance.”

Alexander Kots, a reporter for the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid, told his Telegram followers Wednesday that the military does not have the manpower to hold off furtherUkrainian advances into the Luhan.

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

What Do We Have to Know About the Russian Forces in the Age of the War? An Analysis based on Bergen’s View on the Trump Administration and the World

They do not have problems with intelligence data or high-precision weapons. We’re waiting for our reserves to join the battle and be fighting fit.

On Tuesday, the state media reporter for Russia 24 said they were going through the hardest time on the frontline and that it would get even harder.

We did not collapse like a house of cards. These mistakes are not giant strategic failures. We are learning. I think it’s hard to hear this in the eighth month of the special operation. We are reporters. We are currently waiting for reinforcements.

It feels as if you got thumped on your melon. We have suffered losses. But it’s war. And these kinds of things happen in war. They are getting reinforcements along with their equipment. I don’t lie or engage in propaganda. I am a reporter who is describing 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.”

“In terms of whether or not Russia is massing its aircraft for some massive aerial attack, we don’t currently see that. 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.”

Peter Bergen is a CNN national security analyst, a vice president at New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. The Trump Administration and the World is a book written by Bergen. His views are his own in this commentary. You can give your opinion on CNN.

Vladimir Putin’s Revolution in the Cold War Against Russia: The Case Against the Soviet Union and the Czar Nicholas II Invasion of Ukraine

(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.)

In the book “Afghan Crucible”, author Elisabeth Leake reveals how the Soviets planned to install a puppet government in Afghanistan as soon as possible after invading the country in 1979.

The US was reluctant to escalate its support for the Afghan resistance in the war against the Soviets, fearing a bigger conflict with the Soviet Union. The soviets withdrew from Afghanistan three years later after the CIA gave them anti-aircraft Stinger missiles to use.

If more progress is not demonstrated with billions of dollars in military kit, Western backers will be uneasy. But capitulation to Russia would be a political death sentence.

But the US put those fears to rest relatively quickly, and American-supplied anti-tank Javelin missiles and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), GPS-guided missiles, have helped the Ukrainians to push back against the Russians.

Putin is also surely aware that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was hastened by the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan two years earlier.

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

On February 22 – just two days before Russia’s invasion – former US President Donald Trump, who has always fawned over Putin, publicly said that the Russian autocrat was “genius” and “savvy” for declaring two regions of eastern Ukraine independent and moving his troops there in a prelude to full-blown invasion.

Meanwhile thousands of innocent Ukrainians have died in Putin’s egotistical and misguided bid to revive a Tsarist empire. A disastrous system with which to wage wars of choice has been exposed by authoritarianism.

Putin’s reputation for providing stability has been put in danger by economic damage, because it used to be a big reason for his support among Russians who were mourning the collapse of the USSR.

Incompetence of the Russian commanders: confronting the Kremlin and Solovyov in a recent interview with ISW

In a recent interview with Russian arch-propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, the head of the defense committee in Russia’s State Duma demanded that officials cease lying and level with the Russian public.

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

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

“There is no need to somehow cast a shadow over the entire Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation because of some, I do not say traitors, but incompetent commanders, who did not bother, and were not accountable, for the processes and gaps that exist today,” Stremousov said. “Indeed, many say that the Minister of Defense [Sergei Shoigu], who allowed this situation to happen, could, as an officer, shoot himself. You know, officer is a word many don’t know about.

When it comes to accusing Russian commanders, Kadyrov has been a lot more open about naming names.

Kadyrov blamed Lapin, the commander of Russia’s Central Military District, for failing to adequately provide for his troops and moving his headquarters away from his subordinates.

“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.

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

Kadyrov claimed that he would declare martial law and use weapons if he could, because he said that NATO is at war with Russia.

Ukrainian attacks on a bridge in Kyrgyzstan as a reminder of the first day of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine

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

The worst violence to hit the area since the collapse of the Soviet Union last month was caused by a brief, but bloody, border conflict between the nations of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan which neither Russia nor the Russian military alliance were able to stop.

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.

Russian retaliation – an onslaught of missile attacks – has expanded as Ukrainian forces have continued to push back Russian units and reclaim territory seized in the early days of the war.

For several hours on Monday morning Kyiv’s subway system was suspended, with underground stations serving as bunkers. But the air raid alert in the city was lifted at midday, as rescue workers sought to pull people from the rubble caused by the strikes.

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

In western Ukraine, the Mayor warned that the city might be without water if the electricity went out.

On Monday, Putin chaired an operational meeting of the Security Council, a day after calling the explosions on the bridge a terrorist attack.

These attacks began at the outset of the war and have only increased in scope and virulence since Ukrainian forces last month attacked a bridge – one particularly close to Putin’s heart – between mainland Russia and Crimea, which the Russians annexed in 2014.

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.

The leader of the puppet government of Russia in eastern Ukraine, Pavel Gubarev, voiced his intention to get Ukrainians to agree to his version of events. But if you don’t want to be convinced, we’ll kill you. We’ll kill as many as we have to: 1 million, 5 million, or exterminate all of you.”

The EU Foreign Policy Chief stated that there would be more military support from the EU following the strikes.

“Again, Putin is massively terrorizing innocent civilians in Kyiv and other cities,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. The Netherlands condemns the heinous acts. The will of the Ukrainian people is not negotiable.

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

Unveiling the jubilation of Ukraine in the wake of the Kerch-Strange-Bridge-Breaking Attack on Monday

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. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He is a contributor to CNN. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinion.

Even amid irrepressible jubilation here in Ukraine in the aftermath of a massive explosion that hit the hugely strategic and symbolic Kerch Straight bridge over the weekend, fears of retaliation by the Kremlin were never far away.

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. Ukrainian officials said that five people were killed as a result of strikes on the capital.

As of midday local time, the area around my office in Odesa remained eerily quiet with reports of missiles and drones being 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).

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. Several people were killed and many more were injured.

In a video filmed outside his office Monday, a defiant President Volodymyr Zelensky said it appeared many of the 100 or so missile strikes across Ukraine were aimed at the country’s energy infrastructure. At least 11 important infrastructure facilities in eight regions and the capital have been damaged; some provinces are without power, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

The early days of the war when Russian troops were near the capital resembled those scenes when some of the media outlets moved their operations underground. A group of people singing patriotic Ukrainian songs and taking cover in a metro station as it was used as a shelter.

Millions of people are going to spend most of the day in bomb shelters, as businesses are being asked to shift workers online as much as possible.

While the regions of Ukraine were starting to roar back to life, the attacks risk causing another blow to business confidence, as many asylum seekers return home.

The symbolism of the only bridge linking mainland Russia and the Black Sea region cannot be overstated for Putin. The fact that he had a 70th birthday the day after the attack can be seen as a blow to his ability to survive shame and humiliation, as evidenced by the creation of a split-screen video of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday, Mr President.

The tendency of dictators to hardwire newly claimed territory with expensive infrastructure projects seems to be. Putin opened the longest bridge in Europe by driving a truck. The world’s longest sea crossing bridge was connected to Portuguese and British territories by Beijing after it regained control of Hong Kong. The $20 billion, 34-mile road bridge opened after about two years of delays.

U.S. Response to Putin’s Decay to the February 21st Explosion: An Unusual Prime Minister Tells Us What He Means

The reaction among Ukrainians to the explosion was instantaneous: humorous memes lit up social media channels like a Christmas tree. Many shared their sense of jubilation via text messages.

Putin was so consumed with self-interest that he never considered sitting still. 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.

It was also an act of selfish desperation: facing increasing criticism at home, including on state-controlled television, has placed Putin on unusually thin ice.

The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation was instructed to impose a ceasefire from January 6th, 2023 to January 7th, 2023 by the President of the Russian Federation.

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.

One of the first reasons is the moral and ethical obligation of the world’s democracies to help a nation that is threatened by an authoritarian power. A guiding principle for American foreign policy has been national self-determination. It has been honored imperfectly by various U.S. administrations. 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.

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 with winter just weeks away.

Russian troops in the war of Ukraine: how much do they need to stay in the West? Comment on Vladimir Lukashenko’s comments on the Ukrainian crisis?

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.

Lukashenko said that there’s no way he’s going to send troops to Ukraine unless they commit aggression against Belarus. Russia is our ally, legally, morally and politically.

The military and security officials in the capital of the country were told by Mr Lukashenko that this wouldn’t be just a few hundred troops.

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

There have been fears throughout the conflict that Belarus will again be used as a launching ground for another offensive, or that Lukashenko’s own troops will join the conflict, citing such episodes as provocation against its sovereignty. Tensions have been mounting at the border again in recent days as Ukraine braces for a renewed attack.

Any further Belarusian involvement in the war could also have a psychological impact, Puri suggested. “Everyone’s mind in Ukraine and in the West has been oriented towards fighting one army,” he said. Inside Russia, Belarus joining the invasion “would play into Putin’s narrative that this war is about reuniting the lands of ancient Rus states.”

Mr. Lukashenko was caught between Russia’s efforts to aid the demoralized forces inUkraine and his desire to stay in power, according to Mr. Sannikov.

The Story of Ukraine: A New War in a Cold World, And Its Implications for Russia and Its Geometries

On Monday, state television not only reported on the suffering, but also flaunted it. It showed smoke and destruction in central Kyiv, empty store shelves, and a long-range forecast of frigid temperatures there for months to come.

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

Not for the first time, the war is teetering towards an unpredictable new phase. Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme, said that this is the third, fourth, or fifth different war they have been observing.

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

In a southern Kherson region last month, Ukrainian troops hoisted the country’s flag above a building. Ukrainian officials say they have liberated hundreds of settlements since their counter-offensive began.

Ukrainians have learned that they are stronger than was expected of them. Do those who underestimated them learn from their mistakes? Military aid has been enough for Ukraine to survive but not to crush the enemy.

The Russians have been playing for the whistle, trying to avoid a fall in their frontline before winter sets in, according to a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“If they can get to Christmas with the frontline looking roughly as it is, that’s a huge success for the Russians given how botched this has been since February.”

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.

There are many reasons why things in Ukraine can be done quickly. “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.”

Much of the electricity supply in the country was disrupted on Monday and Tuesday due to Russian missiles, but the national electricity company says it was able to keep the supply stable. 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.

Experts believe it remains unlikely that Russia’s aerial bombardment will form a recurrent pattern; while estimating the military reserves of either army is a murky endeavor, Western assessments suggest Moscow may not have the capacity to keep it up.

Russian commanders on the ground know that their supplies are running low, according to Jeremy Fleming, the UK’s spy chief.

The IWE claimed in its daily update on the conflict Monday that the strikes wasted some of Russia’s dwindling precision weapons against civilians, as opposed to militarily significant targets.

According to a military expert with the London-based Royal United Services Institute, the success rate against Russian cruise missiles has increased since the start of the invasion.

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

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

“The reopening of a northern front would be another new challenge for Ukraine,” Giles said. It would provide Russia a new route into the Kharkiv oblast (region), which has been recaptured by Ukraine, should Putin prioritize an effort to reclaim that territory, he said.

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

Ahead of a NATO defense ministers meeting in Belgium, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that more missile systems were needed for Ukraine to stop missile attacks.

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.

Russian troops in Belarus and Ukraine are in danger: The attacks of 11 people on Sunday night in Minsk and a Russian soldier on a convoy

It is not to say that mobilized forces will not be utilized in some way. They could be used as support roles, like drivers or refuelers, to ease the burden on Russia’s exhausted professional army. They could also fill out depleted units along the line of contact, cordon some areas and man checkpoints in the rear. They are, however, unlikely to become a capable fighting force. There are signs of discipline problems among mobilized soldiers in Russian garrisons.

In that case, he could go after Ukraine in a bolder way. The attacks of the past week — particularly striking critical civilian infrastructure — could be expanded across Ukraine if missile supplies hold out, while Russia could directly target the Ukrainian leadership with strikes or special operations.

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

Nuclear deterrence exercises will be held by NATO on Monday. 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 are suspected of carrying out an explosion on a bridge in the middle of the day and detaining people.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said two men shot at Russian troops preparing to go to Ukraine, killing 11 people and wounding 15 before killing themselves.

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.

The Russian Invasion of Kherson and the War in the War of the Balkans: Prime Minister Sergey Sobyanin, the General Staff of Moscow, and the Mission to the Middle East

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

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.

But many Russians are sure to see a warning message in the martial law imposed in Ukraine, the first time that Moscow has declared martial law since World War II, analysts say.

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

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

Russia redeployed critical military hardware and troops from Syria in order to strengthen its influence in the Middle East, three senior officials based in the region said.

This support in terms of arms, materiel, and now training for Ukrainian forces has been the basis of their remarkable battlefield successes against a weak and ill-prepared Russian military.

Emmanuel Macron, the European Union and the War on the War: Donald Trump’s Challenges to Macron and the German Kremlin

David A.Andelman is the author of the book “A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Might Still happen”, which was a winner of the French Legion of Honor. He worked for The New York Times in Europe and Asia. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. CNN has more opinion.

First, he’s seeking to distract his nation from the blindingly obvious, namely that he is losing badly on the battlefield and utterly failing to achieve even the vastly scaled back objectives of his invasion.

A variety of variables, ranging from availability of critical and affordable energy supplies for the coming winter, to the popular will across a broad range of nations, can affect the ability to keep going.

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.

The Dutch Title Transfer Facility is the benchmark for European gas trading, and there is an emergency cap on it.

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

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy is skeptical of 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.

Putin has his own dream of division and it is part of it. Europe could prove central to achieving success because it is failing to agree on essentials which the Kremlin sees as a sign of failure.

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

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

Italian Prime Minister Michele Berlusconi: After six years in office, Russia has not broken the post-fascist aura

And now a new government has taken power in Italy. In her first day in office, Italy’s first female prime minister tried to downplay the post-fascist aura of her party. One of her allies in the coalition expressed deep admiration for Putin.

In an audio clip, Berlusconi states that he returned Putin’s gesture with bottles of Lambrusco wine.

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. Hungary’s populist leader Viktor Orban has pro-Putin sentiments.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who was poised to become Speaker if Republicans take control of the House, told an interviewer that he believes people will be sitting in a recession, and they won’t write a blank check. They just won’t do it.”

On Monday, the influential 30 member Congressional progressive caucus called on Biden to open talks with Russia in order to end the conflict because its troops are still occupying vast swaths of the country and its missiles and Drones are hitting deep into the interior.

Hours later, caucus chair Mia Jacob, facing a firestorm of criticism, emailed reporters with a statement “clarifying” their remarks in support of Ukraine. The secretary of state called the Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, to discuss renewing America’s support.

Biden promised continuing support from the US, which is what most Americans want though backing has weakened somewhat. Michael McCaul told CNN that bipartisan support for Ukraine is still strong.

The West continues to try and crimp Russian energy profits, by capping the amount countries will pay for Russian oil and limiting seaborne oil imports. There are signs the efforts are already cutting into profits.

The report said that Russian production of hypersonic missiles has stopped due to the lack of necessary semi-conductors. Plants producing anti-aircraft systems have stopped production and Russia has reverted to Soviet-era defense stocks for replenishment. The Soviet era ended more than 30 years ago.

A day before the report, the US announced the seizure of Yury Orekhov’s property, which was used to procure US-origin technologies for Russian users.

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

The relationship between Russia and Iran has brought attention to Irans rivals and foes, as well as NATO members which are interested in restoring the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran which was 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 to what happens far away from the battlefields. The US accused Saudi Arabia of helping Russia fund the war when they decided to slash production. (An accusation the Saudis deny).

Separately, weapons supplies to Ukraine have become a point of tension with Israel, which has developed highly effective defense systems against incoming missiles. Israel is unwilling to provide the systems of Iron Dome and David’s Sling because of its own strategic concerns.

Russia attacked on Ukrainian ports and patrols of the Black Sea and caused food prices to go up after the war started. The head of the World Food Program, David Beasley, warned in May that the world was “marching toward starvation.”

Everyone is already affected by the war inUkraine. Fuel prices have gone up, contributing to a global explosion of inflation.

Family budgets and individual lives are affected by higher prices. They pack a political punch when they have the power that they do. Inflation, worsened by the war, has put incumbent political leaders on the defensive in countless countries.

The State of War in the Cold War with the Kremlin Obstruction Regime and a Cold War Letter from Evelyn Farkas

And it’s not all on the fringes. Kevin McCarthy, if he becomes Speaker of the House, said the GOP might reduce aid to Ukraine. Progressive Democrats released and withdrew a letter calling for negotiations. Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official during the Obama administration, said they were 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.

“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.”

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 the Russians and Ukrainians apparently preparing for a battle in Kherson, the remaining residents of the city have been stocking up on food and fuel.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg: “I want to live” and “i want to know what I want to do”

Now Poland is facing the repercussions from these attacks – and it’s not the only bordering country. Russian rockets knocked out power across neighboring Moldova that is not a member of NATO, which attracted less attention than the Polish incident.

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

More and more Russian soldiers have rebelled at what they are being told to do and refuse 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, launched as a Ukrainian military intelligence project called “I want to live”, is booking more calls than the first two months of activity.

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. The European Commission President said on Tuesday that it was an unsustainable dependency and they wanted reliable and forward-looking connections.

Putin was hoping that the conflict would drive wedges into the western alliance, which is proving not to be the case. The French-German project for a jet fighter at the heart of the Future Combat Air System was beginning to move forward on Monday, after word got around that it was starting to move forward.

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

The Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine and its relations with Russia — the latest on Ukraineraine a weekly recap and look-ahead at Russias war-dec-12

Many are watching to see if Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of banning the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine after the Ukrainian authorities increased their raids on churches accused of links with Moscow.

The President of France is hosting the President of the European Commission and the Prime Minister of Norway for a dinner.

On Tuesday, France and Ukraine are set to co-hosting a conference in France in support of Ukrainians through the winter, with a video address by the Ukrainian President.

Fans, friends and family are celebrating the basketball player’s return to the US after her release from a Russian prison. Some Republican politicians have complained about the prisoner swap and other citizens still held by Russia.

Russian oil revenue has been targeted by new measures. They include a price cap and a European Union embargo on most Russian oil imports and a Russian oil price cap.

Ukraine hit targets in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, including a church reported to be used as a Russian military base. Officials said Ukrainian forces used long-range artillery to reach targets in the city in southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

Zelenskyy said that the city of Bakhmut had been turned into burned ruins. Russia is trying to take over the city in the eastern Donbas region.

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

Russian warnings that the Patriot system is “provocative” are offensive, and Russian military response to a Ukrainian invasion video of the Donetsk region

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

The White House said the transaction is in compliance with federal law, but the Kremlin said the US will prolong the Ukrainian people’s suffering.

Zakharova said at a Moscow briefing that many experts questioned the rationality of a step that would lead to an increase of conflict and a possible US involvement in combat.

The US Army’s Phased Array Tracking Radar for intercept on Target system is considered to be one of the most capable long-range air defense systems on the market.

Asked Thursday about Russian warnings that the Patriot system would be “provocative,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said those comments would not influence US aid to Ukraine.

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

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

Appearing this week on Russian state TV, Commander Alexander Khodakovsky of the Russian militia in the Donetsk region suggested Russia could not defeat the NATO alliance in a conventional war.

Old Gun: The U.S. Army in the Face of Russian Attacks on the Patriot Miscellaneous Missile Battery – An Old Gun?

Unlike smaller air defense systems, Patriot missile batteries need much larger crews, requiring dozens of personnel to properly operate them. The training for missile batteries is usually more than a yearlong process and the United States will now have to do it in the face of daily attacks from Russia.

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 its long-range and high altitude capability, it can shoot down Russian missiles and aircraft far from their intended targets.

In an interview with The Economist, Zelensky rejected the idea that the US Secretary of State was suggesting when he stated that the only way for Ukraine to regain control of land seized by Russia was by taking it back from Russia.

The region will be more stable if the war in Ukraine is won, said Valeriy Chaly, the former ambassador to the United States. This is what the government ofUkraine wants, though it is unlikely that they will join the alliance in the near term.

Old gun. CNN’s Ellie Kaufman and Liebermann reported earlier this week on a US military official who says Russian forces have had to resort to 40-year-old artillery ammunition as their supplies of new ammo are “rapidly dwindling.”

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

Wall Crossing in the Trunks: Victor Petrovich Viatrovych during the First Battle of the Russian Communist Party in Kyiv

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 talks to a sewing machine repairman turned 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. The troops of the Communists went to Ukraine and defeated the independence of that country.

He lives near the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which the Russians pulverized in the first days of the war. After the Russians invaded Ukraine at dawn on February 24, Viatrovych flew his wife and son to western Ukraine for their safety.

He then drove to Kyiv for an emergency session of parliament, which declared martial law. He was ready to defend the capital when he received a rifle that afternoon.

The offices for the Kyiv House of Teachers were in the elegant, whitewashed building that was built in the center of the city in 1918 when Ukraine first declared independence from Russia.

Since February 24, 2022, what has changed? The fear felt by Ukrainians has been replaced with anger as they stand up to barrages of rockets and drones.

Ukrainian Parliament During the War of Independence: 1991 November Referendum to “Free the Soviet Union” (As an Alternative to Putin’s Era)

Parts of the ceiling and windows in the hall where independence was proclaimed in 1918 were destroyed by the blast. The windows have been boarded. There are shards of glass on the floor.

“Obviously, there are parallels with a century ago,” said the director of the House of Teachers. “This building was also damaged in the fighting back then. It has been damaged again. But don’t worry. We will fix everything.

This is the moment where the wrongs of the last hundred years need to be fixed, if you look at the hardships that Ukraine experienced in the 20th century.

In December 1991, the Ukrainians held a referendum on independence. Ninety-two percent voted in favor of going their own way. The Soviet Union collapsed after a 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.

Because “if he’s losing a war, especially a war of his own making, he doesn’t survive,” he said. “The outcome may signal the end of Putin’s era, and also the era of the empire.” It’s 21st century. It’s time for empires to go.”

When he entered politics, Kasparov was still living in Russia. After it was clear his safety was at risk, he moved to New York.

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

Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin: The Case of Zelensky During the French-Russian Invasion of Ukraine, in March 2019

Military analysts think the war will produce no clear resolution on the battlefield. They think it will require negotiations and compromises.

That’s not a popular opinion in Ukraine. Many citizens and the President want Russian troops out of the country. Zelenskyy stated in a recent Time magazine article that they were dealing with a powerful state that was unwilling to let Ukraine go.

Being in a buffer zone or gray zone is not helpful from a strategic 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 another country.

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

Zelensky had said at the time it was the first step towards ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which claimed the lives of over 15000 people, that the prisoner swap with Russia would favor him.

Mikhail Zygar is a journalist and former editor in chief of the independent TV news channel Dozhd. He wrote “All the Kremlin’s Men”. Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin” and upcoming book “War and Punishment. The path to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was led by Putin and Zelensky.

“After the full-scale invasion, once he got into a position of being bullied by someone like Vladimir Putin he knew exactly what he needed to do because it was just his gut feeling,” Yevhen Hlibovytsky, former political journalist and founder of the Kyiv-based think tank and consultancy, pro.mova, told me.

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

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

Amid the fog of war, it all seems a long, long way since the heady campaign celebration in a repurposed Kyiv nightclub where a fresh-faced Zelensky thanked his supporters for a landslide victory. Standing on stage, he looked in disbelief that he had beat Petro Poroshenko.

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

Zelensky is a good man, but not a threat to the Security of the World: from the Russian Embassy in Kiev to the Pentagon and the United Nations

His previous career as a TV comedian in the theater group Kvartal 95 contributed to his current bubble. Even in the midst of the war, a press conference held on the platform of a Kyiv metro station in April featured perfect lighting and curated camera angles to emphasize a wartime setting.

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.

Beyond the man himself, there is Zelensky the brand. It’s almost impossible these days to dissociate the Ukrainian leader from his olive green t-shirts; worn when meeting everyone from Vogue journalists to military commanders and world leaders.

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

Zelenska has shown herself to be an effective public speaker, as she has traveled to where her husband can’t. She met King Charles during his visit to the refugee assistance center at the Holy Family Cathedral in London. Zelenska wasn’t included on the cover of TIME magazine and they did not give a reference 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.”

The first item on the list is the PATRIOT missile systems. Complex, accurate, and expensive, they have been described as the US’s “gold standard” of air defense. NATO preciously guards them, and they require the personnel who operate them – almost 100 in a battalion for each weapon – to be properly trained.

It is vital that Ukraine hits its targets, and that no civilians are left nearby. And it means Ukraine does not go through the hundreds or thousands of shells Russia appears to burn through as it blanket bombards areas it wants to capture.

The United States has committed $2 billion for security in the country, which includes new funding for contracts such as 155-mm cannon, drones and mine clearing.

Whatever the truth is, Biden wants Putin to hear that billions of dollars were spent on military aid, that Russian resolve was not good, and that Europe had to help more in order to make Ukraine look good.

There are doubts about how much aid the US should really provide to eastern Europe according to elements of the Trumpist “America First” party.

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

Zelensky, Peskov, Putin, Putin and the Kremlin: CNN Observations of the Russian-American War in Ukraine

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.

She said Zelensky’s historic address “strengthened both Democrats and Republicans who understand what is at stake in this fight against Putin and Russian aggression and now with their ally, Iran, as well.”

Clinton thinks that Putin is looking at how to throw more bodies into the fight in Ukraine, and that is what the Russians will do.

I hope they will send more than one. She said that the US and NATO have been reluctant to provide advanced equipment to the Ukrainian military, but that they have seen how effective it is.

Clinton previously met Putin as the US Secretary of state and said the leader was impossible to predict because the war was turning in the favor of Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western allies are “set for a long confrontation with Russia” following President Volodymyr Zelensky’s momentous visit to Washington, Moscow said as the war in Ukraine approaches 10 months.

Russia’s foreign ministry condemned what it called the “monstrous crimes” of the “regime in Kyiv,” after US President Joe Biden promised more military support to Ukraine during Zelensky’s summit at the White House on Wednesday.

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

Zakharova said the tasks set within the framework of the special military operation would be fulfilled, taking into account the situation on the ground.

Peskov added that “there were no real calls for peace.” Zelensky told the US Congress that they need peace, repeating the plan put together by the Ukrainians.

The US is having a proxy war with Russia because it is against last Ukrainian, according to Peskov.

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.

The Kremlin has also been selling that line to the Russian public, who is largely buying it, says Sergey Radchenko, a Russian history professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

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.

Last week, Moscow warned that the reported delivery of missile to Ukraine was ” another provocative move by the U.S.” and that could cause a Russian retaliation.

She said that the defensive weapons system called fascists would help Ukraine defend itself against Russian missiles and drones, which would destroyUkrainian infrastructure and kill civilians. “If Russia doesn’t want their missiles shot down, Russia should stop sending them into Ukraine.”

The term war was used by the Russian president for the first time in his description of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, deviating from his carefully crafted description 10 months after it began.

The purpose of the war is not to spin the military conflict, but to end it, Putin said. “We have been and will continue to strive for this.”

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

“There was no decree to end the special military operation, no war was declared,” Yuferev wrote on Twitter. Several thousand people have been reprimanded for saying something bad about the war.

According to CNN, a US official stated that the initial assessment was that Putin’s remark was a slip of the tongue. However, officials will be watching closely to see what figures inside the Kremlin say about it in the coming days.

We never refused, it was the Ukrainian leadership that refused to negotiate with us, so sooner or later any party to the conflict will sit down and negotiate.

Kremlin and the armed forces during the recent G8-Binary War: Moscow tries to sell time, but cannot make a deal

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 armed forces, accelerating weapons programs, and using a new generation of hypersonic missiles, among other initiatives, are all being put into motion by Putin.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stated that the talks with the West were more focused on discussing them rather than with the Ukrainians.

As has often been the case throughout the conflict, the vaguely conciliatory tone from Putin was quickly contradicted by a heavy-handed message from one of his key officials.

Russia’s foreign minister said Monday thatUkraine must fulfill Russia’s demands for the destruction of Ukrainian-controlled territories, repeating a false accusation of Nazism against it.

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.

“The blitzkrieg has gone terribly wrong for them and they know that, so they need more time to regroup and rebuild their troops,” Rodnyansky said, adding that it was also Kremlin’s strategy to dissuade the world from sending more military aid to Ukraine. We cannot fall into that trap.

Any hypothetical momentum towards a deal could result in a reduction of Western military aid to Kyiv. It could be used as a face-saving exit route for Putin, whose reputation at home would be badly hurt if he returned from the war without any gains.

But Zelensky and his officials have said throughout that they will continue to sound out the possibility of negotiations, without raising any hopes that they would achieve a truce.

“Every war ends in a diplomatic way,” Kuleba told the AP on Monday. The actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiation table can end a war.

The UN would be a natural broker, according to the Foreign Minister. “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. Everyone will be brought on board.

A path to nuclear safety, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes, and a peace treaty with Moscow are included in the steps. 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.

The Dark Side of Kyiv: How Russians Killed the Black Holes in Kiev during the First Year of the Cold War and How they Could Have Solved Their Troubles

It’s possible a swing on the battlefield in the New Year could force a change in the equation but both sides are locked into what is certain to be a long and grinding conflict.

Zelensky was in the US for the first time in ten months and it shows his desire to keep his allies focused on the conflict.

In the past two months Russian bombs have bombarded the power grid in the country, and at times left the majority of the country in the dark. In Kyiv, more than 200 miles west of the ongoing fighting in the region known as Donbas, Ukrainians are reduced to hunting for generators, storing food outside to prevent it from spoiling, charging their phones and computers during the few hours a day of reliable power, and keeping backup food and water supplies in apartment building elevators in case someone is trapped inside during a blackout. Water supplies have been cut off, as well as parts of the country’s rail system. The winter season is still ahead despite only a fraction of the country’s heating systems being operational.

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. Demoralizing and punishing civilians.

Anna Kovalchuk said that she was determined not to let the Russians ruin her celebrations. “I’m more worried that most likely there will be no electricity on New Year’s Eve and the holiday will have to be spent in the dark. She told CNN she stocked up on garlands, power banks, and different things so the power would not be cut off and she would not lose her job.

While air-raid sirens are a daily fixture in Kyiv, there hasn’t been a major attack on the city in a few weeks, which means that whenever the alarms are activated, people are left gauging the level of risk.

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

The Crimes of March 22 — a Moscow-based war-torsion activist’s revolt against Russian government and the Kremlin

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

Two people were killed in an attack in the northeastern region of Ukraine. The head of the military administration of the region in the area said that critical infrastructure was the intended target after four rockets hit the city.

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.

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.

Since February, the military or leadership have been banned from being criticized. Nearly 20,000 people have been detained for demonstrating against the war — 45% of them women — according to a leading independent monitoring group.

Long prison sentences have been meted out to opposition voices who questioned the Russian army’s conduct or strategy.

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

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

Repressives are targeted for the time being. Some of the new laws aren’t enforced. It is certain that the measures are intended to crush wider dissent.

When “fake news” laws were passed, leading independent media outlets were forced to shut down and relocate abroad, because they violated the official government line.

There are restrictions for internet users as well. American social media giants were banned in March. Since the start of the conflict, more than 100,000 websites have been blocked by the Kremlin’s internet regulator.

Technical workarounds such as VPNs and Telegram still offer access to Russians seeking independent sources of information. State media propaganda is favored by older Russians who watch TV talk shows to spread conspiracy theories.

Ruling Down the Ruin: Putin’s Military Campaign vs. Russia’s Ruin On The Bale Of The Cold Cold War

Many perceived government opponents were left in the war’s early days due to fears of persecution.

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.

The ruble regained its value thanks to Russian price controls. McDonald’s and several other brands were reborn under Russian ownership. By year’s end, the government reported the economy had declined by 2.5%, far less than most economists predicted.

President Putin is betting that Europe will blink first when it comes to sanctions because they’re upset about 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. daily briefings from Russia’s Defense Ministry recount endless successes. Putin, too, repeatedly assures that everything is “going according to plan.”

Russia underestimated the Ukrainians’ willingness to resist because of the length of the war.

At home, the true number of Russian losses remains a taboo topic. Western estimates place those figures much higher.

“The fear of Russia going into NATO countries and all that, and steamrolling, that has not even come close to happening,” DeSantis said on Fox. They have shown they can be a third-rate military power.

In Soviet times, it would have been unacceptable for Central Asian allies to criticize Russia for its actions out of concern for their own sovereignty. India and China bought discounted Russian oil, but they have not supported Russia’s military campaign.

Russia’s State of the Nation Address and the Kremlin’s Failure to Become More Respectful: A Critical Reflection from a European Viewpoint

A state of the nation address, originally scheduled for April, was repeatedly delayed and won’t happen until next year. The annual “direct line” is a media event in which Putin fields questions from ordinary Russians.

The December big press conference, a semi-staged affair, that allows the Russian leader to handle questions from the media, was tabled until at least 2023.

There is no reason why the delays happened. 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.

It was an oxymoron for nuclear saber-rattling to be an option in 2022, as the destruction they brought was complete for everyone on the planet.

Europe is not welcoming in a world of greater security. Calls for greater defense spending are louder, and heeded, even if they come at a time when Russia, for decades the defining issue of European security, is revealing itself to be less threatening.

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 be surprised by the constantly changing red lines from Russia, as Moscow knows how limited its non-nuclear options are. None of this was supposed to happen. Europe should prepare for, now that it has.

The Russian could lose against an inferior foe, but it did not win quickly. The mouths on state TV talked about taking the gloves off after Kharkiv, as if they wouldn’t show anyone what a damaged fist was like. Revealed almost as a paper-tiger, the Russian military will struggle for decades to regain even a semblance of peer status with NATO. That is perhaps the wider damage for the Kremlin: the years of effort spent rebuilding Moscow’s reputation as a smart, asymmetrical foe with conventional forces to back it up have evaporated in about six months of mismanagement.

If Moscow’s supply chains for diesel fuel for tanks 40 miles from its border do not function, how can they be sure that The Button will work, if Putin presses it? Nuclear power is no riskier than to reveal its strategic missiles and retaliatory ability, it does not function.

America has done this before. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the most dangerous nuclear confrontation so far, the Soviet Union’s position shifted in a matter of days, ultimately accepting an outcome that favored the West. Had America thought of red lines then it could have accepted an inferior compromise that would have weakened its security and credibility.

Orthodox Church Reconciliation in the Light of Kiev’s War on Ukraine: The Case of Podolyak, Zelensky, Biden, Baerbock, Skotarenko

We call on the Ukrainian side to declare a cease fire, so that citizens of Orthodoxy can attend services on Christmas Eve as well as the Day of the Nativity of Christ, since many of them live in the combat areas.

Ukrainian officials said Moscow just wanted a pause to gather reserves and equipment and that they were skeptical about the temporary ceasefire.

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.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak responded to Putin’s move on Twitter by saying that Russia must leave “occupied territories” in Ukraine before any “temporary truce.”

US President Joe Biden told reporters he was hesitant to respond to any comments from Putin. I found it interesting. He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches on the 25th and New Year’s.”

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price described it as “cynical” and that the US had “little faith in the intentions behind” Russia’s proposed ceasefire.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday also warned that the promise of a ceasefire would not bring “either freedom or security” to the people living under Moscow’s brutal war.

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 leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has also been locked in a feud with Pope Francis, who has described the invasion of Ukraine as Russian “expansionism and imperialism.”

The Ukrainian branch of the Orthodox church decided that it would allow churches to celebrate Christmas on December 25 instead of January 7 as is traditional in Orthodox churches.

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.

In the southern region, Pavlo Skotarenko doesn’t think much will change. “They shell us every day, people die in Kherson every day. And this temporary measure won’t change anything,” he said.

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.

The Ukrainian soldier, who goes by the call signArcher, told CNN that he doesn’t think this is done for a military purpose.

This could be done to make the whole of Russia a little more human, because there is so many atrocities happening and people don’t support them.

And in the capital Kyiv, where Russian attacks during New Year soured even the most modest celebrations, Halyna Hladka said she saw the temporary ceasefire as an attempt by Russians to win time.

Russia has shown a lot of use of faith. She said that Russia has not behaved itself in a way that is capable of adhering to promises.

A top Ukrainian national security official says that Russia is ready for a large-scale escalation in the conflict in the country within the next few weeks.

The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, told Sky News in an interview that there will be defining months in the war.

The representative of Ukrainian defense intelligence said on tv that February and March will be very active.

Military teams from the two countries will practice using troops based on their prior experience of armed conflicts, the ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: No Evidence for Russian Forces Using the Fighter Jets of the U.S.

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.

It was the first time in history that a US Vice President had visited, and it gave Kyiv a boost at a crucial juncture in the conflict.

There’s “strong indication” Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the go-ahead to supply anti-aircraft weapons to separatists in Ukraine, according to the international team investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.

Russian forces are unlikely to be better organized and will be less successful, though they are willing to take more troops, said a senior British official.

A senior Ukrainian diplomat said that they had enough manpower to take just one or two small cities. “Underwhelming, compared to the sense of panic they were trying to build in Ukraine.”

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday in Brussels that the US is not seeing Russia “massing its aircraft” ahead of an aerial operation against Ukraine.

Moldova: a beacon of stability, security and stability for NATO and EU? Comment on Cristian Gherasim during a NATO summit in November 2013

Central and Eastern Europe is a focus of analyst, consultant and journalist, Cristian Gherasim. Follow him on Twitter @Crstn_Gherasim. The views he expresses are his own. View more opinion at CNN.

In a country of less than 3M people, concerns about Putin’s ambition are centered on a small strip of territory. The conflict in eastern-Moldovan has been stuck in a frozen state for more than two decades with pro-Russia rebels controlling it.

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, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said border police had found missile debris near the village of Larga in Moldova’s north. It isn’t the first incident of this nature which left many wondering what will happen when a stray rocket hits closer to home.

Besides the obvious reason of not wanting to let any independent state fall prey to Russia, thereby setting a precedent, Moldova carries a significant strategic importance. It acts like a buffer zone between NATO and Russia. Any invasion of Moldova – with its western leading government, pro-European aspirations and recently gained EU-candidate status – could bring Putin into direct collision with NATO.

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

Making that a bit clearer, during the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Bucharest in November last year, officials of member countries offered assurances of support to Moldova without saying what that would mean, exactly, the Associated Press reported. NATO members reportedly offered to help with security and defense training in the face of Russian pressure.

UN Secretary General Antnio Guterres mentioned during his visit to Chisinau thatMoldova has been the most populous place where refugees have gone. He mentioned that the country was on the front line of preservation, peace and stability. But what does that mean, exactly?

Since Ukrainian refugees have been able to move freely in Europe, those who chose to stay in Moldova are having a harder time integrating anywhere else. Moldova’s culture does share a lot of similarities with Ukraine. If Moldova refused or was unable to take in so many refugees, the rest of Europe would have to integrate them.

There are internal factors that have to do with Moldova’s troubles. The country’s corruption and oligarchic system are decades-long issues that the current pro-EU government has struggled to curb. 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. Statistics from the World Bank show that Moldova has lost more than 12% of its population since 1991, due to demographic decline in other parts of Europe.

Russia’s missile attacks have caused a cut in Gazprom’s gas exports to Moldova. In November, Russian attacks on Ukraine caused power blackouts in half of Moldova. As a result of all this, Moldova is left with only the 10% of electricity that it manages to produce by itself.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu, plain spoken and charismatic, is leading a charm offensive; Sandu has met with Western leaders and gave an inspiring commencement speech at Harvard, helping to bring attention to Moldova’s plight. She knows that it would be bad for Moldova if they were ignored and forgotten in the world.

“We are peaceful”: Vladimir Lukashenko, the Ukrainian president and the first week of a “provocation” of the February 24 invasion

We are peaceful. 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 Ukrainian side of the border is barricaded with several layers of barbed wire and earth mounds to prevent anyone from entering.

The border crossing from Dyvin to the Ukranian side is still functioning despite the fact that the Ukrainian side has closed it.

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 their invasion on February 24, crossing into Ukraine after months of amassing along the 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. More recently, the two nations have engaged in joint military drills near the Belarus-Ukraine crossing.

I was supposed to be in the city of Kyiv. But a few days before that, my husband broke his shoulder and we had to stay in Moscow. He had surgery at 9:00 a.m that day.

One Year After the First World Wars: Putin Russia Wrap Opinions Ctpr (Zaporizhzhia, February 23, 2020)

In the space of a year, the war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions more. It has unleashed unfathomable atrocities, decimated cities, driven a global food and energy crisis and tested the resolve of western alliances.

Zaporizhzhia, 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 able to run his business on his own. Our daughter had started school and made friends there. We were lucky to have arranged support services and found a special needs nursery for our son. I finally had time to work. I felt happy.

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

The Czech War Between Russia And Ukraine: A Memoir from a Stranger’s Journey in a Foreign Land, When I and My Husband Left

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. I found classes for my boy. He attends an adaptation group forUkrainian children and has a learning support assistant. My daughter is studying in a school in her home country.

That morning we woke up to learn that the invasion started. I wrote an open letter denouncing the war, which was co-signed by 12 Russian writers, directors and cultural figures. Tens of thousands of Russians appended their signatures after it was published.

We left Russia on the third day. 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.

The people moved to Berlin. My husband went to work as a volunteer at the refugee camp, located near the railway station, where thousands of Ukrainians have been arriving every day. I began writing a new book. It starts like this:

This is a confession. I am guilty of not reading the signs earlier. I am responsible for the war between Russia and Ukranian. As are my contemporaries and our forebears. Russian culture is to blame for all of these horrors.

This whole year has been full of tears and worries. I’m reading about people who were killed by Russians – a teammate, the director of a school, or a friend’s parents.

This has been a war of history repeating itself, with the forced deportation of 2.5 million Ukrainians, including 38,000 children, the theft of Ukrainian grain, the destruction of Ukrainian museums, libraries, churches and more.

The eyes of three old men thrust into our van in Posad Pokhrovka, in the early days of the war, desperate to flee shelling that had torn their world apart, still haunt me: Not even the Nazis beat them like that, they said, sobbing. They didn’t expect they’d live to see worse than the 1940s.

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

My classmates from Zaporizhzhia, who I expected to end up with 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.

My capital, which the Kremlin and the West expected to fall in three days, has withstood 12 months of Russia’s terrorist bombings and energy blackouts. These dark winter nights, one sees so many stars over Kyiv which the Russians have only managed to bring closer to eternity.

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.” Origins of Russian Modernization and Egor Gaidar’s Legacy.”

It seems that since February 2022 we have experienced several eras. Putin received almost 80% approval from the population, after a time of stagnant ratings.

He canceled the future by aborting the past. Those who were disoriented, preferred to support Putin: it is easier to live this way when your superiors decide everything for you, and you take for granted everything you are told by propaganda.

I and my family had a catastrophe which it is impossible to adapt to. As an active commentator on the events, I was labeled by the authorities as a “foreign agent,” which increased personal risk and reinforced the impression of living in an Orwellian anti-utopia.

On February 23, I cleaned the house, washed my dog, and took a bath. I have a cozy, one-bedroom apartment in a northern district of Kyiv. I loved caring for it. I enjoyed the life I had. Small routines and struggles, all of it. 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.”

What have we learned about Ukraine during the first 24 months of the Second World War? — A tribute to Andrei Grigoryevich Karavlevich

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. It didn’t matter what cup I used to drink, how I dressed, or whether or not I took a shower. The battle did not matter anymore, it mattered the most.

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 was upset about my boyfriend, but I couldn’t relate. My life didn’t change on February 24, it was stolen from me on that day.

Life values have changed. I enjoy every opportunity to see my family and friends. And like other Ukrainians, I believe in our victory and that all of us will return to our beloved country. But we need the world’s help.

I was no longer concerned with my personal ambitions. To raise a flag is crucial to show that we’re not going to back down under these circumstances.

I didn’t like winning on the track. They could only be done because so many defenders had died. But I got messages from soldiers on the frontline. They were so happy to follow our achievements, and it was my primary motivation to continue my career.

Russian War, Human Pain, and the War on the Warped Front: NPR’s Leila Fadel with the Center for Civil Liberties

In a special report, NPR’s Leila Fadel explores the human cost of Russia’s ambitions, the ripple effects beyond Ukraine’s borders, and the diplomatic and military efforts to stop the war.

“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?” The director of the Center for Civil Liberties told us. “If I’m a human rights lawyer I document human pain in order for all Russians to be brought to justice sooner or later.”

Speaking to NPR’s Leila Fadel, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said his country is learning lessons from the war in Ukraine and keeping a wary eye on China.

“They have expansionist motivation. They wish to expand their sphere of influence. They would like to expand their power. “If they aren’t stopped, they will continue to march on.”

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

Natalia’s story of the first Ukrainian family car killed in the First Days of World War II: Vladimir Putin and the two new republics of Ukraine

Natalia believes that the family car was hit by Russian forces during the first days of the war. Her husband was murdered along with her nephew. Vova survived the attack but was hospitalized for months with seven bullets in his body.

The audio for this story was produced by Danny Hajek; edited by Barrie Hardymon and Natalie Winston. Additional editing and production help from Carol Klinger, Denise Couture and Nina Kravinsky. Hanna Palamarenko and Tanya Ustova provided reporting and translation help.

I have to explain. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Chechnya was one of the two autonomous republics of the newly independent Russian Federation that claimed independence. Tatarstan was the other one. The world leaders became so fed up with the discovery that all the union republics of Russia that had been considered administrative units of Russia were actually real things that they withdrew their support for them. The West’s shock at this new geography meant that independent Ichkeria had not the slimmest chance of recognition.

“Biden, having received security guarantees in advance, finally went to Kyiv,” Medvedev said in a statement on Telegram. “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 huge quantities, allowing the military-industrial complex of NATO countries to earn money and steal weapons to sell to terrorists around the world.”

Russian army veteran and former Federal Security Service officer, who is also a military man, suggested that Biden could have escaped unharmed if he had visited the frontlines in eastern Ukraine.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if the grandfather (he is not good for anything but simple provocations anyway) is brought to Bakhmut as well… AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO HIM,” Girkin said.

Girkin is among a number of hardline military bloggers – some of whom have hundreds of thousands of followers and provide analysis of the conflict for large swaths of the Russian population – who have repeatedly criticized what they consider a “soft” approach on the battlefield by Putin’s generals.

Joe Biden, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and the role of Ukraine in the war on Ukraine’s security system, he told the Kremlin

On the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to the capital of the country.

Medvedev is currently the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council and is known for making statements to shore up his nationalist credentials.

The Kremlin told reporters Monday that foreign guests will not be invited to the event in Russia, which is called a special military operation.

The trip on Monday to an active war zone was more than a symbol of American support and was a shot in the arm to the population that has survived Russia’s bombing of civilian infrastructure in the area.

The President of the United States is coming to Kyiv at a time when there are many people dead, according to a Ukrainian service member.

On the day after his visit, Biden will give a major speech which will rally the world to Ukrainians side and vow to continue aiding their defense of their independence and democracy in the global contest between democracy and autocracy.

The Ukrainian government said in the early days of the invasion that it found Russian forces dressed in uniforms expecting a victory parade.

Biden is a man with a stiff walking frame. But he has no shortage of courage (air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv while Biden was there) or, crucially, competence.

Biden overshadowed Putin this week in terms of presidential stagecraft, with a speech in the Polish capital and a daring overnight train journey that took him into the Ukrainian capital. Putin’s address to the Russian parliament was a staider affair, sprinkled with his now familiar nuclear threats and conspiracy theories about the West.

Zelensky said that Biden’s visit will have repercussions on the battlefield, and that it will bring us closer to victory.

The Republicans criticized Biden for going to Ukraine. The trip was described as incredibly insulting by Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene. The congressman who is at the centre of a legal dispute with the Justice Department over his cell phone described how Biden would give aid to Ukraine while not doing the same for America.

Biden’s dramatic visit to Kyiv Monday amid wailing air raid sirens and his soaring speech in Warsaw a day later reinforced the West’s remarkable support for Ukraine’s resistance to Russia and directly repudiated President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Putin welcomed Wang to Moscow and told him his relations with Beijing were going very well.

There are always opportunities in a crisis and that is what Wang told Putin.

The idea of a global contest between democracies and autocracies seemed theoretical and intangible when Biden voiced it while running for president. It’s all too real now.

And this new and complicated foreign policy picture is not just a problem for American diplomats. Rising challenges abroad as well, as the depletion of US and Western weapons stocks as arms are sent to Ukraine, pose questions about military capacity and whether current defense spending is sufficient. 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.

Biden said that theUkrainian people’s love for their country will prevail and that President Putin would fail in his lust for land and power.

The estrangement between the US and Russia is almost complete according to Biden’s trip.

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.

Russia lacks resources to start a new arms race with the United States because of its economy’s struggles, and because of extreme pressure on its conventional forces. The collapse of one of the last building blocks of a thaw between Russia and the US is indicative of the lack of communication between the rivals.

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

The US is trying to reduce tensions with China even as it fights Russia in Ukraine over what it views as a Chinese espionage balloon that flew over the US. This week the US warned China against supplying Russia with weapons it could use in the war in Ukranian, as Wang headed to Moscow.

The US ambassador to the UN warned on CNN Sunday that such a step would likely cross a red line but did not say what consequences might come from it.

War is Death in a Muddy Foxhole: Why Russia is Wrong and Why the West Shouldn’t Warn

China, which has its own economic problems, may be unwilling to risk US sanctions that could result from sending arms to Moscow. Beijing may want the war to be continued because it hopes that it will distract the US and its military resources from Biden trying to respond to China in Asia.

I remember the stories that I heard on the Ukrainian-Polish border, where people separated after saying their vows so the groom could return to the front. A tax preparer quit her job in Boston and flew toUkraine with suitcases full of medical supplies. The wife of a border guard who travelled from Lviv to the Polish border almost daily dropped off fleeing women and children, and picked up weapons and supplies.

How sad that people who survived the waves of Covid ended up killing other people. It’s not smart to spend millions of dollars on missiles, tanks and other aid when more needs to be done to help with the effects of global warming. Farmers in breadbasket of the world have gone hungry hiding in bomb shelters. Russian soldiers have been accused of raping and murdering civilians after Vladimir Putin declared that they were 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 is a grudge that gets new 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.

It shouldn’t have taken the loss of innocent Ukrainians, the threat of nuclear attack, and the leveling of a country to make this point. It seems like the revulsion to Putin’s war helped the West rediscover a sense of purpose.

What happened to the Soviet Union in the Cold War? Vladimir Zelensky, the dead of Ukraine, said in a press conference in Kiev

The Russian dead I witnessed, sprawled all over the roadside, were scruffy, had sleeping mats and workout gloves, and only their rusting armor at their backs.

Europe was moving away from Moscow one year ago, and that is the most startling thing about the choice Moscow has imposed on the West.

Defense budgets were growing in recognition of Russian malice, but the broad hope was that Putin would be a benign, grumpy neighbor arguing over the border fence, rather than a savage marauder bent on restoring an empire so aged in concept not even he was old enough to have seen it in full.

Is that a bad thing? For the people of Ukraine, that sacrifice should have never happened. I remember being inside at the beginning of the war, near the administration building in Mykolaiv. I don’t know how many people were inside the building when a missile tore it in two.

Responding to a question from CNN’s Christiane Amanpour at a press conference in the capital city, Zelensky said: “Victory will be inevitable. I am certain there will be victory.”

The former Russian President and deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council said on Friday that they aim to push borders of threats to the country even if they are in Poland.

Ukraine’s First Year of War: Zelensky, Belarus, the Continuum, the Cooperation, and the UN Security Council

Zelensky used the first anniversary of the war to rally troops and renew calls for international assistance for his country. After handing out awards to soldiers he went to wounded service members before the press conference.

Earlier on Friday morning, the Ukrainian leader addressed members of the military in Kyiv. He said that they would decide the future of the country.

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

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.

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.

Japan’s prime minister wants to present new sanctions against Russia during a virtual meeting with G7 leaders and Zelensky.

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

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

The main street has their photographs on it. It is a great honor. They died as liberators. So it’s very important for us. She said that it would have been for them.

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

Atamas, the IT worker and the Moldovan President: “It isn’t a threat to the state, but it is a danger to the people”

Olexander Atamas, who had a job as an IT worker before the war, said it was difficult to describe his feelings on Friday.

He told CNN he doesn’t feel fear but that he is confident in his abilities. “One year ago … I felt fear, I was stressed, psychologically it unsettled me. But currently there is no fear at all.”

The President ofMoldova, Maia Sandu, accused Russia of using spies to foment unrest in the country amid a period of political instability.

Although there is no sign he has accepted her invite to visit, the White House did say he reaffirmed support for Moldova’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Sandu also claimed individuals disguised as “the so-called opposition” were going to try forcing a change of power in Chisinau through “violent actions.” CNN is unable to independently verify those claims.

“It was the case before – we have seen constant activities of Russia trying to explore and exploit the information space in Moldova using propaganda,” Groza said.

Poland’s Prime Minister has told CBS that he sees a lot of Russia’s fingerprints. “This is a very weak country, and we all need to help them.”

War with Moldovan forces ensued, and the conflict ended in deadlock in 1992. Transnistria was not recognized internationally, even by Russia, but Moldovan forces left it a de facto breakaway state. That deadlock has left the territory and its estimated 500,000 inhabitants trapped in limbo, with Chisinau holding virtually no control over it to this day.