Biden Rules Out Sending Ukraine Long-Range Rocket Systems That Can Reach Russia
The Ukrainian government has urged the West to provide it with more longer-range weapons in order to turn the tide of the war […]
» Read moreThe Ukrainian government has urged the West to provide it with more longer-range weapons in order to turn the tide of the war […]
» Read more“… The Ukraine threat got red-hot in October, when the United States gathered intelligence about a renewed Russian buildup on the border …. This operational detail ‘was really the eye opener.’ The Group of 20 … were meeting at the end of October … and [the U.S. gave] … Britain, France and Germany … a detailed readout on … top-secret […]
» Read more“Advancing Russian forces came closer to surrounding Ukrainian troops in the east, briefly seizing positions on the last highway out of a crucial pair of Ukrainian-held cities before being beaten back, a Ukrainian official said on Thursday. … Three months into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has abandoned its assault on the capital Kyiv and is trying to consolidate control […]
» Read more“In Ukraine’s only region fully controlled by Russian troops, Moscow-backed officials are pushing for formal annexation while those still living there say they are apprehensive …. Russian forces swiftly moved in from neighbouring Crimea … in early March. … [when] Ukrainian troops were focused on defending … Kyiv. … By taking control of Kherson and partially occupying the neighbouring region […]
» Read more“… [Zelenskyy] said Wednesday that Russia must pull back to … pre-war positions as a first step before diplomatic talks, a negotiating line … [the Kremlin] is unlikely to agree to anytime soon. … He expressed a willingness to negotiate with … Putin directly, but stressed that Moscow needs to make clear its willingness to engage in serious talks. … […]
» Read more“… Putin’s atrocities … grow[] [daily]. In addition to … the blood of Ukrainians on his hands from his completely unjustified war, [Putin] is … responsible for … growing starvation … around the world. Ukraine is the breadbasket for much of the Middle East and North Africa. … Putin is preventing Ukrainian grain from leaving … Odessa and [blocking] other […]
» Read more“Zelensky says Ukrainian forces have ‘broken’ Russia’s troops ‘psychologically’.” “The [UN] and [ICRC] have directed … Putin to remove his ‘mountain of corpses,’ … Zelenskyy said Saturday. ‘They abandoned their military,’ Zelenskyy said …. ‘They were dying, but they didn’t care. Recently I was told that they are only now thinking about taking the corpses.’ ‘When the war started…they used […]
» Read more“Ukraine on Saturday ruled out … a ceasefire with Russia and said Kyiv would not accept any deal … ceding territory. Acknowledging that Kyiv’s stance … was becoming more uncompromising, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said … concessions would backfire on Ukraine because Russia would hit back harder after any break in fighting. … Podolyak dismissed as ‘very strange’ [Western] calls […]
» Read more“Patriarch Kirill I has provided spiritual cover for the invasion of Ukraine, reaping vast resources for his church in return. Now, in an extraordinary step, the E.U. is threatening him with sanctions.” “… Kirill … has staked the fortunes of his branch of Orthodox Christianity on a close and mutually beneficial alliance with [] Putin …. To his critics, the […]
» Read more“Kyiv must reclaim territory in Crimea and the east effectively seized by Russia in 2014, Maj. Gen. Budanov says.” “Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said the country would keep fighting until it evicts Russian forces from all of its territory … and called for deliveries of longer-range heavy weapons and warplanes from the West …. [P]eace negotiations … stalled, Ukrainian forces […]
» Read more(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff – May 18, 2022) Can the war in Ukraine be ended through diplomacy? If so, how and when? RM staff have combed through recent commentary by experts on both sides of the geopolitical divide in search of answers. Even before Russian and Ukrainian officials said this week that peace talks were “on pause,” […]
» Read more(Moscow Times – Yanina Sorokina – May 19, 2022) Timofei Voronov, 21, a cultural studies student at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE), was summoned to see the prestigious university’s deputy head in March after being detained at an anti-war rally. Along with several other students, Voronov was shown a list of new laws at the March meeting, including those […]
» Read more(Moscow Times – May 18, 2022) Talks aimed at ending hostilities in Russia’s nearly three-month attack on Ukraine have come to a standstill because of a “lack of willingness” on Kyiv’s part, the Kremlin said Wednesday. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have held several rounds of peace talks since the start of the invasion in February. But the talks have lost […]
» Read more“… Russian columnist [Mikhail Kodaryonok] … appear[ing] on [Russian-state-owned] television … gave a damning assessment of the situation in Ukraine from Russia’s perspective. … Khodaryonok’s comments come after Russian military forces have suffered a series of setbacks …. Khodaryonok … painted an even grimmer situation [ahead] for Russia … [anticipating] the vast supply of arms … soon likely … available […]
» Read more(Moscow Times – May 17, 2022) Russia said Tuesday that 265 Ukrainian soldiers holed up in Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steel plant had “surrendered,” contradicting Kyiv’s account that the evacuated soldiers would be exchanged later. “The surrender of fighters from the Azov nationalist unit and Ukrainian servicemen blocked in the Azovstal plant in Mariupol began yesterday,” the Russian Defense Ministry said […]
» Read more“… Moscow’s military is bogged down and has taken heavy losses. Russia’s international isolation is getting worse … Finland and Sweden are planning to join Nato. … [E]ven a war against a smaller, weaker neighbour can go badly wrong. Larger conflicts invite disaster. Even nominal victory can leave your economy and society in a ruinous condition. … [H]istorian AJP Taylor […]
» Read more“Russian forces also face ‘low morale and reduced combat effectiveness,’ the report said.” “… [Russian] forces who remain [in Ukraine] are depleted and have been unable to make any territorial progress in recent weeks, British intelligence … said …. Russia ‘has now likely suffered losses of one-third of the ground combat force it committed in February,’ the [UK] Ministry of […]
» Read more“Russia’s nearly three-month-old invasion of … Ukraine has been punctuated by flawed planning, poor intelligence, barbarity and wanton destruction. … [O]bscured in the daily fighting is the geographic reality that Russia has made gains …. The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its forces … had advanced to the border between Donetsk and Luhansk, … Russian-speaking [eastern Ukrainian] provinces where […]
» Read more“Strikes and explosions — some attributed to Ukrainian forces — have hit infrastructure vital to Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine.” “… [A]ttacks inside Russian territory and unexplained explosions at Russian targets near the border … have expanded the scope of the conflict … underscoring Russian vulnerabilities in regions … crucial to Moscow’s renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. … Ukraine has […]
» Read more“The strikes have been one of the most intriguing, and opaque, new elements of the recent fighting. But when it comes to confirming their origins, “we don’t say yes and we don’t say no,’’ said the official.” “…. If carried out by Ukraine, they represent acts of once nearly unimaginable audacity … Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out the […]
» Read more“Governments see Ukrainian success offering chance of curbing Russian expansionism.” “Ukraine’s military successes against Russia have transformed [Western] calculations … leading to a sharp increase in military help for Kyiv as a war that started with Western efforts at damage control … [now] offers a strategic opportunity to constrain Russia[n] expansionis[m] …. [Western] allies are now shipping large volumes of […]
» Read more“… nearly 400 … in the Kharkiv region alone … have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted … after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion[] … [imposing] up to 15 years in prison for collaborating with Russian forces, making public denials about Russian aggression or supporting [the Kremlin]. Anyone whose actions result in deaths could face life in prison. … Political analysts […]
» Read more(Russia Matters – russiamatters.org – RM Staff – April 28, 2022) This blog post is part of a new “Clues from Russian Views” series, in which we share what newsmakers in/from Russia are saying on Russia-related issues that impact key U.S. national interests so that RM readers can glean clues about their thinking.The words in the news: Speaking about the war in […]
» Read more“… [There are] eerie — and alarming — parallels [between the Russian Federation’s leadup to its massive invasion of Ukraine] and … what has been happening … in … Moldova. … [B]etween Romania and Ukraine, this poor, militarily weak former Soviet republic has been partially occupied since 1992 by Russian troops. They intervened during a brief civil war, purportedly to […]
» Read more“The Russian army’s strangely stumble-footed invasion of Ukraine is only the latest reminder of the pervasive and long-standing ‘human resource’ woes that frustrate … Putin’s aspirations for superpower status. … Russia is depopulating — even after Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, its total numbers are lower today than when the Soviet Union collapsed. Russia’s working-age population and its pool […]
» Read more(Moscow Times – Alexandra Vladimirova – April 29, 2022) Two days after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a group of hackers managed to get access to several Russian state-owned television channels and broadcast anti-war videos. But the attack ended after a few minutes and regular programming resumed. This type of fleeting hacking operation has been repeated many times […]
» Read more“Russia’s military is gradually seizing more territory in Ukraine’s east … apparent[ly] aim [ing] … [to] cut[] off Ukrainian forces. But Ukrainian and Western officials and analysts say Moscow’s progress is slow and yet to achieve a decisive breakthrough. … [A]ny success in severing Ukrainian units’ supply lines may not be decisive … as Russian forces would be vulnerable to […]
» Read more“Russian tanks were rolling over the border and Kyiv … was in … fear and panic. Street fighting broke out … [A] Russian armored column … advanced to within two miles of the office of … Zelensky. In those tense first days of the war, almost everyone … expected the Ukrainian leadership to fracture. Instead, [] Zelensky decided to personally […]
» Read more(Article text Copyright © 2022 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. – rferl.org – Todd Prince – April 24, 2022 – article text also appeared at rferl.org/a/medvedev-liberal-to-bellicose/31818941.html) Former President Dmitry Medvedev’s opinion article in the daily Kommersant in October 2021, ahead of Russia’s massive military buildup […]
» Read more“Russia … warned the West that there would be a tough military response to any further attack on Russian territory, accusing the United States and its key allies of undermining European security by openly inciting Ukraine to assault Russia. Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands … displaced millions more and raised fears of the most serious confrontation […]
» Read more“As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has transformed into a grinding war of attrition with no meaningful peace deal in sight, the U.S. and its allies have begun to convey a new, longer-term goal … to defeat Russia so decisively on the battlefield that it will be deterred from launching such an attack ever again. … [O]n Monday … Secretary of […]
» Read more“Russia told the United States to stop sending more arms to Ukraine, warning that large Western deliveries of weapons were inflaming the conflict and would lead to more losses …. Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands … displaced millions … and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States …. The United States […]
» Read more“… The present U.S. position might be summarized thus: As U.S. forces fighting and killing Russians in Ukraine would ignite a U.S.-Russia war, which could escalate to nuclear war, we are not going to take that first step and risk the security and survival of our country, even if our staying out … means the defeat of Ukraine. Call it […]
» Read more“… All this points to a long war. … mostly in Ukraine’s east and south …. The elements of a strategy for a long-term, open-ended war …: provide Ukraine with … weapons, ammunition, training, and intelligence … to defend itself …; make sure … NATO remains strong enough to discourage Russia from escalating the conflict or … [blocking Ukrainian] supplies […]
» Read more“Soldiers, plus military brass and overseers in parliament, have been transformed from a rigid Soviet-style force into a modern army that thinks on the move.” “… [There has been] a little-publicized effort by [NATO] countries … that transformed Ukraine’s military up and down the ranks, from foot soldiers to the defense ministry to overseers in parliament. It is one big […]
» Read more(Moscow Times – April 20, 2022) Natalia Poklonskaya has issued a harsh criticism of the pro-war Z symbol that has spread across Russia, the latest anti-war comments from the former Crimean prosecutor and onetime Russian lawmaker. The Latin letter — first seen displayed on Russian military vehicles entering Poklonskaya’s country of birth — has come to symbolize the public’s support […]
» Read more“Russian forces Wednesday made incremental gains … in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas … as Western nations rushed more weapons to … Ukrain[e]…. In … Mariupol … Russia … insisted on … unconditional surrender and kept pounding … Ukrainian forces — … mostly holed up in the sprawling Azovstal steel plant — with artillery and airstrikes. Ukraine[] … said … that Russian […]
» Read more“Russia on verge of capturing city; Zelensky warns ‘elimination’ of surrounded troops would endanger peace talks.” “… Ukrainian troops holding out in … Mariupol rejected Moscow’s [Sunday] ultimatum … [to] surrender or face destruction by Russian forces … Zelensky warned an all-out Russian assault on the troops would endanger further peace negotiations. … Russian forces are close to capturing the […]
» Read more“A new strategy would mark a return to containment after years of seeking cooperation and coexistence with Moscow.” “… At NATO and the [EU] … and at the State Department … Pentagon and allied ministries, blueprints are being drawn up … [for] new policies across virtually every aspect of the West’s posture toward Moscow, from defense and finance to trade […]
» Read more“… [T]he original text of some 200 words was replaced with two sentences: ‘Faced with death, silence is the most eloquent of words. Let us all paused in silent prayer and each one pray in their hearts for peace in the world.’ The crowd … then fell silent for about as long as it would have taken to read the […]
» Read more“… [Cluster munitions] have been repeatedly used by the Russian military [in] Ukraine …. [with] their presence [linked] to … war-crimes allegations …. But [one] that landed [in a street in Husarivka in eastern Ukraine] … [was believed] likely to have been launched by … Ukrainian troops …. Nobody died in that strike … though at least two people were […]
» Read more“Moscow-led institution risks alienating independent-minded clergy at home as well as many Ukrainians.” “… the Russian Orthodox Church … has thrown its ideological weight behind the Kremlin’s war. … risk[ing] [the] alienat[ion] [of] not only independently-minded clergy … but also many Ukrainians. … Patriarch Kirill … called on Russians to rally around their government so that the state could ‘repel […]
» Read more“Port city on verge of capture by Russian forces; Ukrainian president describes situation as ‘inhuman,’ urges more talks” “Russia called on the last Ukrainian troops fighting in Mariupol to lay down arms on Sunday … as it closed in on capturing the strategic port city after weeks of heavy bombardment. … There was no indication … that the city’s defenders […]
» Read more“William J. Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, cautioned that he had seen no ‘practical evidence’ that would suggest such a move was imminent.” “[CIA] director [William J. Burns] said … Thursday that ‘potential desperation’ to extract the semblance of a victory in Ukraine could tempt … Putin … to order the use of a tactical or low-yield […]
» Read more“The formal diplomatic note from Moscow, a copy of which was reviewed by The Washington Post, came as President Biden approved a dramatic expansion in the scope of weapons being provided to the government in Kyiv.” “… [The] expansion in … weapons … provided to Ukraine[] [features] an $800 million package including 155 mm howitzers … coastal defense drones … […]
» Read more“Russian strikes pounded a military factory near Kyiv that makes the missiles Ukraine claims it used to sink the Moskva naval flagship, with [the Kremlin] … vowing further such attacks. A workshop and an administrative building at the Vizar plant, which lies near Kyiv’s international Zhuliany airport, were seriously damaged in the overnight strikes …. Russia … announced it had […]
» Read more“… U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released … [a U.N. task force] report saying that … [Russia’s war on Ukraine] is ‘supercharging’ a crisis in food, energy and finance in poorer countries … already struggling to deal with … COVID-19 …, climate change and a lack of access to adequate funding for economic recovery. ‘We are now facing a perfect storm […]
» Read more“… Putin is feeling the sting of failure. Thousands of Russian battlefield deaths. Three front-line retreats by the Russian military. Millions of Ukrainians who will never forgive Moscow. More isolation than ever — and perilously few goals achieved. Putin is now regrouping to focus … on Ukraine’s east … ‘Plan B,’ after his forces failed to topple Ukraine’s government or […]
» Read more“Western governments prepared Wednesday to toughen sanctions against Russia and send more weapons to Ukraine, after … Zelenskyy pointedly accused the world of failing to end Moscow’s invasion of his country and what he said was a campaign of murders, rapes and wanton destruction by Russian forces. In scarred and silent streets of ruined towns around Ukraine’s capital, investigators collected […]
» Read more“A video posted online on Monday and verified by The New York Times appears to show a group of Ukrainian soldiers killing captured Russian troops outside a village west of Kyiv. … The soldiers are lying in the road a few feet from a BMD-2, an infantry fighting vehicle used by Russian airborne units. Some appear to have had their […]
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