RUSSIALINK: “Kremlin Seeks to ‘Legitimize’ Authority With Elections in Occupied Ukraine” – Moscow Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Moscow Times – Anastasia Tenisheva, Pyotr Kozlov – Sept. 8, 2023) The Kremlin is working to solidify its control — both militarily and politically — over the four Moscow-occupied regions of Ukraine with this month’s regional elections there, experts and officials told The Moscow Times. Nearly a year after Moscow staged widely disputed referendums to annex Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia […]

» Read more

VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “Blinken Focuses on Mine Clearing in Ukraine as U.S. Lays Groundwork for Life After War” – WSJ

Russian Landmine TM-62, adapted from image at army.mil

“Mines have hindered Kyiv’s counteroffensive and threaten civilians living in reclaimed areas; as much as a third of the country affected.” “[In] painstakingly slow [work,] [t]wo explosives specialists armed with metal detectors can take over a month to clear a plot of Ukrainian farmland around half the size of a football field riddled with mortars, artillery shells and unexploded fuses. […]

» Read more

Breakthrough. Bridgehead. Salient. Glimmers Of Progress, And Hope, In Ukraine’s Advances.

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

(Article text Copyright © 2023 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. – rferl.org – Mike Eckel – Sept. 6, 2023 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/ukraine-counteroffensive-hope-advances-breakthroughs/32581270.html) The landscape between the Ukrainian villages of Robotyne and Verbove, in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhya region, is open and flat, […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Zelensky: Despite what ‘anyone says’ counteroffensive is pushing forward” – CNN

Screenshot file photo of Volodymyr Zelensky Gesturing, from Congressional Teleconference, adapted from image at doggett.house.gov

“… Zelensky said on Saturday[] ‘Ukrainian forces are moving forward. Despite everything and no matter what anyone says, we are advancing, and that is the most important thing. We are on the move’ …. By the end of [July], Ukraine had committed more troops to the southeast … a sign that it had identified potential weaknesses in Russian defensive lines. […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Pushing Ukraine to negotiate now would be disastrous” – Chatham House

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“More than 500 days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there are signs that some of Ukraine’s supporters in the West want to prepare the ground for negotiations. Such a shift in policy would be catastrophic.” “… The counteroffensive has not stalled … but Ukraine would have made more progress had the U.S. not displayed … timidity over supplying … […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Return of History; Ukrainian scholar Serhii Plokhy on the war in his home country” – Harvard Magazine

File Photo of Library at Harvard University with Banners and Persons Walking on Quad, from image at state.gov

“… He adds, ‘The collapse of the Soviet Union was not an event, but a process.’ For the Russian Federation, the process is already under way. He points to the cascade of poor decisions that have characterized Russia’s military campaign. ‘This war has produced absolutely the opposite results from what Putin imagined’: not only Ukraine’s forceful resistance, but renewed unity […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “How Russia Globalized the War in Ukraine; The Kremlin’s Pressure-Point Strategy to Undermine the West” – Foreign Affairs/ Michael Kimmage, Hanna Notte

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

“… Ukraine’s well-being runs through global networks, which Russia … seeks to disrupt and damage. The Kremlin’s ultimate goal is clear: strangling the Ukrainian economy, society, and state by whatever means necessary. … [I] it is essential to preserve Ukraine’s integration into the global economy, which Russia is deliberately attempting to degrade. The United States’ most immediate challenge is food […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine Defense Ministry asks for ‘ammunition, not advice’ in new video” – The Hill

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“The Ukraine Defense Ministry asked for ‘ammunition, not advice’ in a new video … following recent criticism from U.S. officials over Kyiv’s strategy amid a slow-moving counteroffensive. ‘It seems like everyone is now an expert on Ukrainian warfare,” the Defense Ministry [stated] …. The White House [recently] announced another $250 million security package for Kyiv … bringing total U.S. assistance […]

» Read more

Russians Don’t Oppose Putin on Ukraine Because He has Ensured that Large Swaths of Them View Themselves as Winners over Last Two Decades, Busygina Says

Aerial View of Kremlin and Environs

(Paul Goble – Window On Eurasia – Staunton, Aug. 29, 2023) Many observers blame the failure of Russians to oppose Putin on the war as the result either of the historical subservience of the people there to their rulers and to the related sense they have that nothing depends on them and therefore there is no need for them to […]

» Read more

Books To Boots: Critics Say New Russian History Textbook Is Propaganda, Preparation For War

Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

(Article text Copyright © 2023 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – Aug. 31, 2023 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/russia-history-textbook-propaganda/32572916.html) As schools across Russia and the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine prepare for the start of the school year on […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “How Can Ukraine Induce More Russian Soldiers To Quit?” – Forbes/ Craig Hooper

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

“… Russia’s army is at the end of its tether. With Russia’s modern tanks and armored vehicles largely gone or inoperative, Russia is pulling late 1940’s vintage T-10 tanks and other mechanized relics out of storage. Russian leaders are virtually begging North Korea, Iran, China and other former client states for help. Russian conscripts are arriving on the front under-equipped […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Godfather in the Kremlin”- WSJ

Kremlin and River

“The very public death of Putin henchman Yevgeny Prigozhin highlights the evolution of Russia into a mafia state held together by violence and incapable of global leadership.” “… Prigozhin had come to symbolize the criminal trajectory of the Russian state[,] [i]n the 1980s, … imprisoned in the Soviet Union, … [then] a rags-to-riches transformation from [post-Soviet] street vendor … to […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “An evacuation order finds few followers in northeastern Ukraine despite Russia’s push in the region” – AP

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… Citing a Russian attempt to push back into the area, the Kupiansk district military administration told roughly 12,000 residents to seek safety elsewhere. Only a few hundred have heeded …. Among the thousands who haven’t, some are paralyzed by the daunting task of relocating. Others said they had considered the hardships of displacement and decided to brave … renewed […]

» Read more

VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia expert Fiona Hill says Prigozhin’s death in a plane crash is ‘par for the course'” – Face the Nation

Yevgeny Prigozhin file photos, adapted from images at fbi.gov

“NANCY CORDES: … So, … Putin claims he had nothing to do with this. Is there anyone in the diplomatic community who believes that? FIONA HILL: I doubt it. … I think what we can certainly say is he didn’t order it not to happen because there are plenty of people who were painting a target on Prigozhin’s back. The […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Why We Should Not Bet on a Peaceful Russia” – Foreign Policy

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

“The idea that a deal with Moscow will bring peace in Ukraine is based on very flimsy assumptions.” “… Those calling for an immediate negotiated settlement are … making an extremely risky bet. History, comparison, and much of theory isn’t on their side. … [T]hey are advising Ukraine to put its survival on the line [] in exchange for the […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “‘He Has Blood on His Hands'” – New York Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“In a Ukraine village, there are no tears for Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner private militia, whose presumed death in a plane crash was reported this week.” “Mykola Honchar lives in a crumbling stone house in what is left of a tiny hamlet of eastern Ukraine. … attacked by Russian forces … last year, as … Wagner […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “How the suspected death of Prigozhin could impact Russia’s stability [Angela Stent]” – PBS

Yevgeny Prigozhin file photos, adapted from images at fbi.gov

“Angela Stent …: Oh, I think Putin would have enough reason to [want] Prigozhin dead. After all, Prigozhin challenged the Kremlin. He challenged the conduct of the war. He had a populist message to Russians that, while their children were dying and their husbands dying in Ukraine, the children of the elite were in the South of France enjoying themselves. […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “As Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Grinds On, Russia Seeks to Advance in the North” – WSJ

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Russia is trying to retake some of the territory that it lost to Ukraine in the region of Kharkiv.” “Russia is on the attack in northeastern Ukraine … seek[ing] to take back territory … Kyiv recaptured last fall and … divert Ukrainian forces from their counteroffensive in the south and east. The main fighting is taking place around the village […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s Appeals to Europe Can Alienate Others; Rhetoric about ‘European civilization’ clashes with anti-colonial ideals.” – Foreign Policy

Europe Map

“… Ukrainian pleas for military aid, financial support, and eventual membership in the European Union and NATO have often used the language of Europe and of European civilization. … Zelensky stressed that Ukraine is fighting for the ‘European way of life,’ founded upon ‘rules, values, equality, and fairness.’ This is a powerful idea for Ukrainians, but one that can be […]

» Read more

Press Gaggle by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan [Excerpt re: Ukraine]

File Photo of Jake Sullivan Gesturing While Speaking Next to U.S. Flag, with White House Logo in Background

(The White House – Aug. 22, 2023) … MODERATOR: Thank you. Our first question who go to Aamer with the AP. Q Hi, Jake. So, I had just two questions, Ukraine-related. Russia has reported success in its push in Northeast Ukraine. Just going forward, what do you see as complications presented to Ukraine by Russia’s reported gains? And many of […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: Ukraine defies odds by advancing in counteroffensive – senior official” – Reuters

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Ukraine has made progress in its counteroffensive … proving it can push back a better-armed and numerically superior enemy, [Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar] said … Tuesday. Ukrainian troops have faced vast Russian minefields and trenches …. Maliar brushed aside any suggestion that Kyiv’s progress was too slow …. ‘It’s incorrect to measure this advance by metres or kilometres,’ Maliar […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin conquers Russia’s history textbooks” – Washington Post

Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

“What will Russia look like after … Putin’s ruinous war against Ukraine? [] Putin has used the war to drive the Russian state and society deeper into dictatorship. This legacy will be long-lasting, and now [] Putin is rewriting high school history textbooks to convey his many lies and fabrications to a new generation. Schoolbooks have long been a battleground […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “As Ukraine counteroffensive gets bogged down, it’s back to the drawing board” – Politico EU

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“There’s a feeling we’re back in a war of attrition that risks stretching the patience of impatient allies, who only have themselves to blame for the slow progress.” “… [I]t feels as though we’re back in … a war of attrition that risks stretching the patience of impatient allies — something the Kremlin is no doubt hoping for. … Ukrainian […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin, Pushkin and the decline of the Russian empire” – Financial Times

Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin file image, adapted from image at loc.gov

“Behind Ukraine’s rejection of Russia’s revered poet is a much bigger story of imperial decay.” “… For Ukrainians … engaged in an existential struggle for their independence against Russia’s war of recolonisation, Pushkin is a symbol of the Russian imperialism that has long denied Ukraine’s right to a separate national existence. Pushkin was a great poet, but also a poet […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “‘Milley had a point'” – Politico

Mark Milley file photo, adapted from image at defense.gov

“… ‘If the end state is Ukraine is a free, independent, sovereign country with its territory intact, that will take a considerable level of effort yet to come,’ [Gen. Mark Milley said last week]. ‘That’s gonna take a long, long time, but you can also achieve those objectives — maybe, possibly — through some sort of diplomatic means.’… [T]he administration’s […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s sluggish counter-offensive is souring the public mood; The government is worried” – The Economist

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“…. Having once promised a march to Crimea … the political leadership in Kyiv now emphasises more realistic expectations. … Ukraine’s leadership is particularly frustrated that Western equipment has not yet arrived in its promised numbers. … Lack of air cover is another difficulty. …  In recent days Ukraine’s armed forces have made important advances in the crucial southern theatre, […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Why Russia’s War in Ukraine Could Run for Years” – WSJ

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“From Moscow to Washington, a lack of clear and achievable strategic goals points to a long conflict.” “Russia’s war on Ukraine is in danger of becoming a protracted struggle … last[ing] several more years. … [F]ront-line combat is a slow-moving slog… [and] none of the main actors have political goals … both clear and attainable. Ukraine’s central war aim — […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Troop Deaths and Injuries in Ukraine War Near 500,000, U.S. Officials Say” – New York Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Ukraine and Russia have lost a staggering number of troops as Kyiv’s counteroffensive drags on. A lack of rapid medical care has added to the toll.” “… [T]otal … Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded since … [the wholesale invasion] 18 months ago is nearing 500,000, U.S. officials said …. caution[ing] that casualty figures remained difficult to estimate … […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “A disastrous strategic failure has Ukrainians discussing politics again” – Washington Post/ Anna Nemtsova

Maidan Square in Kiev, Ukraine

“… Ukrainians have buried their political disputes in the name of national unity. But some are starting to believe that the tacit ban on discussion of controversial topics has outlived its usefulness. … Ukraine is fighting this war to maintain not only its statehood but also its democracy. … [S]urely the freedom to ask uncomfortable questions of those in power […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia will struggle to cope with a sinking rouble” – The Economist

File photo of Russian paper currency, adapted from image at csce.house.gov

“What does the currency’s collapse mean for Vladimir Putin’s ability to wage war?” On Aug. 14, 2023, the value of the ruble fell below 1 cent in U.S. currency, more than 100 rubles per U.S. dollar.  That was the ruble’s worst exchange value against the U.S. dollar since the immediate aftermath of the early 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. “… […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin chokes on the Ukrainian ‘porcupine'” – Washington Post

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“As the Ukrainian military grinds forward in a costly summer offensive that hasn’t … produced a breakthrough, there’s … palpable frustration in Kyiv and … Washington. … Whatever else you might say about the Ukraine war, …. Ukraine has proved utterly indigestible for the Russian military. Putin’s assault on Kyiv in the early months was a disastrous failure. The porcupine […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Backdoor Negotiations Over Ukraine Would Be a Disaster” – Foreign Policy/ Ben Lefkowitz

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“Mediation offers from China aren’t made in good faith.” “Skyrocketing costs for fuel and food in the global south due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are spurring mediation offers … from China, the African Union, and even Saudi Arabia. … Secretary of State Antony Blinken has welcomed these initiatives … to woo support from countries that have not condemned Russia […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. Troops Should be Sent to Ukraine, Third of Americans Say” – Newsweek

Aerial Photo of Pentagon and Environs

“… 31 percent of eligible [U.S.] voters … support or strongly support American military forces heading to the battlefields of Ukraine, [according to] polling conducted exclusively for Newsweek by Redfield & Wilton Strategies …. A quarter of respondents neither supported nor opposed the idea … with 34 percent against …. Just under one in ten … did not know. … […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ready for the long haul: Ukraine’s backers must hold firm; The war will not end soon” – The Economist

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… As long as Russian troops squat in a swathe of some 18% of Ukrainian territory, Ukraine cannot be a properly functional state. It has lost access to most of its shoreline. … [T]he seas are not safe for its vessels, even those transporting food …. No commercial aircraft can fly in or out … for fear of a Russian […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “C.I.A. Chief Says Wagner Mutiny Revived Questions About Putin’s Rule” – New York Times

William Burns file photo, adapted from image at cia.gov

“William J. Burns gave the most detailed public account yet by a U.S. official of the damage done to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia by last month’s uprising by the mercenary group” “… [C.I.A. Director] Burns … said that for much of the 36 hours of the [Wagner] rebellion last month, Russian security services, the military and decision makers […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “U.S. says Russia is laying the groundwork to attack civilian ships and blame Ukraine” – NPR

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“The National Security Council says … Russia is attempting a ‘false flag operation’ to ‘justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and … … blame them on Ukraine.’ The declaration comes days after Russia backed out of a deal that helped move grain from Ukrainian ports, threatening global food supply. … [NSC spokesperson John Kirby said] Black […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “All Sides in the Ukraine War Have Been Using Cluster Bombs Since 2014” – The Nation/ Lev Golinkin

File Image of DCIPM artillery shell artist's rendition, adapted from image at army.mil

“… Biden’s decision to give cluster munitions to Ukraine triggered widespread concern and protests, given that … the bombs … break up into smaller-sized bomblets … indiscriminately blanket[ing] the target area … result[ing] in the slaughter of civilians …. Even close allies like Canada and the UK bristled at the move to provide Kyiv with arms … banned by over […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russian Forces Are Doing ‘Everything They Can’ to Stop Counteroffensive, Zelensky Says” – New York Times

Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, European Portion

“The Ukrainian leader has secured new weapons pledges, but it was not clear when the aid would arrive, or how consequential it would be on the battlefield.” “… Zelensky … said … Russian forces were throwing ‘everything they can’ at Kyiv’s troops fighting to retake land in the south and east … emphasizing the grueling nature of a counteroffensive … […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s spymaster comes out of the shadows” – Reuters

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… For an intelligence chief running Ukraine’s spy operations during war with Russia, Kyrylo Budanov, 37, has built up an unusually public profile … to get his message out and … menace Russia from afar. These days, a spy boss cannot stay in the shadows, he says. … In parts of his interview … he said … mutinying Russian mercenaries […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Should Ukraine Negotiate With Russia? The Debate Over How to End the War” – Foreign Affairs

Vladimir Putin file photo, adapted from screenshot of video at shareamerica.gov

“Russia Can Be Stopped Only on the Battlefield – Angela Stent” “… [T]here is a huge problem in trying to negotiate with … Putin’s Russia, … Russia itself. Moscow has broken every security-related agreement it has signed with Ukraine in the past 30 years. These include the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, whereby Ukraine renounced its nuclear arsenal — […]

» Read more

VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “Trump describes how he could solve Russia-Ukraine conflict in 24 hours” – Fox

Cropped Photo of Donald Trump Seated In Front of U.S. and Russian Flags, Part of Larger Photo at Summit with Vladimir Putin, adapted from White House photo

“Trump says President Biden isn’t capable of dealing with world leaders.” “… Trump explained his plan to secure peace in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking back the White House on Sunday, saying he would tell … Zelenskyy to make a deal. … The former president said he has a good relationship with both Zelenskyy and … Putin, and added […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Ukraine War Is Tearing Apart the West’s Largest Russian Diaspora”

File Photo of Scenic Historic Town Area in Germany, adapted from image at state.gov

“When Russia marched into Ukraine last year, it sought to rally Russian speakers abroad …. Then the Russian speakers pushed back. … Germany[] [is] home to 3.5 million Russian speakers, the largest such group outside the former Soviet Union and the biggest migrant community in Germany. … [T]he Russlanddeutsche, or ‘Russia Germans,’ ethnic Germans whose ancestors settled in Russia in […]

» Read more

VIDEO: JRL NEWSWATCH: “Brooks and Capehart on cluster munitions for Ukraine” – PBS

File Image of DCIPM artillery shell artist's rendition, adapted from image at army.mil

“This is war. … Zelenskyy[] is fighting or forced to fight a Russian president who’s been ruthless, bombing civilian targets from almost minute one, with Zelenskyy pleading with the United States and the West, please send tanks, please send planes, please send us the most advanced military equipment you can give us, because we need it. … [S]ending cluster munitions […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Western Support for Kyiv: It’s Now or Never For Ukraine” – Der Spiegel/ Thore Schröder

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“… At [the] NATO summit, the West must decide how much a victory over Putin is worth and finally get serious about delivering urgently needed weapons systems. … The Ukrainians have thus far fallen far short of the goals they set for their counteroffensive. They don’t have the equipment they need for a rapid breakthrough in the southeast … lack[ing] […]

» Read more

Russia in Review, June 30-July 7, 2023 – 5 Things to Know

File Photo of Red Square, Kremlin, Environs, adapted from image at state.gov

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org) The U.S. has included cluster munitions in its latest $800 million package of military aid to Ukraine. More than 100 countries have signed onto the Convention on Cluster Munitions, vowing to never use them, but the U.S. is not one of them. A significant percentage of the submunitions often fail to detonate, effectively turning them into […]

» Read more

Post-Mutiny: Trust in Prigozhin Below Margin of Error, Support for Peace Talk Grows

European Portion of Commonwealth of Independent States

(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff – July 7, 2023) What made Yevgeny Prigozhin rebel? We have seen multiple explanations offered, including his outspoken hatred for Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov; his evident reluctance to give up control of his PMC Wagner to the Defense Ministry; unspecified personal financial pressures; and his […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: ‘Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots; Too many European politicians are failing to confront Russia” – The Economist

Europe Map

“… The spectrum of Europe’s Useful Idiots, a cold-war term for unwitting allies of communism, is wide. In politics, parties on both the far right and far left disagree on much; but over Ukraine these extremes have often converged in demanding an instant ‘peace’ that would in effect reward Russian aggression with land. In media and academe, intellectuals still seem […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Ukraine’s counteroffensive hasn’t met expectations. Here’s why progress has been slow” – CNN

Russian Landmine TM-62, adapted from image at army.mil

“… [S]outhern Ukraine [minefields] are so dense… [that] troops trying to liberate the area [reportedly] can only advance ‘tree by tree’ … Ukraine’s Western allies are getting nervous about the fact that … progress … is … measured in meters, rather than kilometers. … [T]he slower than expected pace of the counteroffensive means … support could become increasingly unsustainable if […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “The Prigozhin Affair Is Much Less than Meets the Eye” – Politico

Yevgeny Prigozhin file photos, adapted from images at fbi.gov

“The short-lived mutiny by the Wagner Group rebounded to help solidify Putin’s control.” “… There is no doubt that Prigozhin’s rebellion was unpleasant news for Putin. But is the Russian leader weakened? We know very little about what happened between Putin and Prigozhin … ‘Putin’s chef.’ And what we do know supports very few, if any, of the claims that […]

» Read more

JRL NEWSWATCH: “Donors Are War-Weary, So Ukrainian Soldiers Get Creative for Funds” – New York Times

Map of Ukraine, Including Crimea, and Neighbors, Including Russia

“A robust fund-raising operation has been critical in supplying Ukraine’s military. But as the war drags on, contributions have lagged.” “… [M]any Ukrainian military units have relied heavily on donations and charitable funds to supply … troops with much-needed supplies like first aid kits, body armor, vehicles and even drones. People and groups from around the world rallied to Ukraine’s […]

» Read more
1 2 3 4 5 18