The United States faces a lack of practical alternatives to sustaining Ukraine’s defense. With missile production lagging and diplomacy stalled, Washington is struggling to deliver the air defenses Kyiv needs to slow Russia’s advance.
country: Russia
Stay updated with comprehensive news on Russia from Worldcrunch. Discover insights on Russian politics, economic strategies, societal issues, and cultural landmarks with translations from top international sources. Highlights include Moscow, Russian history, and events like the Moscow International Film Festival.
This small but strategically located Russian exclave is the most militarized area in Europe. Much of the continent remains within range of Kaliningrad’s Iskander missiles which allows Russia to keep NATO in check. What is the real potential of the Russian military forces stationed just beyond our northern border?
Despite promises of Patriot missiles and steep tariffs, Trump’s latest overtures give Russia time to press its offensive—and the Moscow stock market is celebrating.
Vladimir Putin is convinced his country is strong enough to secure total victory in Ukraine. But the Russian leader is forgetting two crucial things about the current geographic dynamic.
On July 3, Russia recognized the Taliban-led Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a decision that will have a significant effect on the positions of other nations, particularly those in Central Asia.
As official data vanishes from Russian state reports, independent experts warn that losses from Putin’s war in Ukraine are becoming too large to hide.
Once dismissed as a tragic anomaly of the post–Cold War era, the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims now echoes through today’s wars and ideologies. From Gaza to Ukraine, the logic of ethnic violence is back, and the world is once again looking away.
The Kremlin accuses Ukraine of persecuting the Russian language as propaganda to justify the Ukraine War. But on the home front, Vladimir Putin uses language oppression as a power play — endangering Russia’s diverse native languages as a means of consolidating his rule.
In Putin’s Russia, dissent is silenced. Yet pro-war “Z” bloggers and influencers insult and lambast military failures constantly, and go unpunished. The state tolerates them because without these defiant voices knitting the war machine’s lifelines, Russia’s offensive would stall.
Russia has carried out its largest missile and drone bombardment since launching its invasion of Ukraine. And it is preparing its summer offensive, while Donald Trump remains ambivalent about the continuation of his military aid, when the contracts signed by Joe Biden expire over the summer.
Putin is happy to go around the Europeans, and just needs Trump to stay out of the way.
Donald Trump has scored a number of domestic and international victories. But his failure to reign in either Vladimir Putin or Benjamin Netanyahu does not bode well for the future.
Chancellor Merz and Foreign Minister Wadephul warn of direct threats from Moscow on the lives of people in Germany, and yet hesitate to back their words with the kind of support Ukraine urgently needs to avoid that Putin goes further.
A report from Oxford University lists the 32 countries – 16% of the world’s nations – with the infrastructure needed to develop artificial intelligence. The gap is widening with the rest of the world, in the key technological sector of the 21st century.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky courts and convinces (at least for now) U.S. President Donald Trump. Meanwhile Russia’s leader has failed to enter the negotiations with Tehran to gain on Ukraine.
Some 49,000 soldiers have deserted from the Russian army. But to avoid the harshest charges or being sent forcibly back to the front, some are surrendering promptly in the hopes of being sent simply to prison.
At the NATO Summit in The Hague, European leaders are focused on appeasing Donald Trump by heeding his call for increased defense spending, while carefully avoiding any mention of Ukraine. By sidelining the ongoing war on its eastern border, the alliance errs in favor of political caution.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, which Israel has been battering with increasing intensity, were inevitably a prime target after decades of violent subversion often enacted with the aid of that other enemy of the West: Russia. The IRGC may be in its final throes.
With remarkable shots from Stockholm, Tehran, and Leipzig, among other places.
Public support for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine is growing in Russia, with new polling showing record levels of backing for diplomacy. But the majority still insists on conditions that Ukraine — and its Western allies — are unlikely to accept. As the Kremlin plays the long game, a clear path to peace remains elusive.
Some Russians who have gone to war are making big money: for signing a contract, monthly pay, injury insurance, and benefits in case of death. Unsurprisingly, many are eager to illegally get their hands on that money — from frontline commanders to women marrying the most vulnerable.
The days of talking about ceasefires feel like a distant memory. Each side is now intent on making the other pay for not giving in. Donald Trump didn’t back up his promise with any pressure on Moscow.
June 6 – June 12, 2025
With Russian troops slowly but steadily advancing, and Western support wavering, we should be well aware that a Ukrainian defeat would trigger mass displacement, destabilize Europe, and hand Putin a historic opportunity. We risk sleepwalking into a historic disaster.
With a long-range drone strike deep inside Russia, Ukraine sends a clear message ahead of Istanbul peace talks: we are ready to keep fighting if Moscow insists on total victory.
With photographs from Gaza City, Madrid, Guwahati and Paris, among other places.
Donald Trump called Putin crazy, but he’d never use his favorite insult against the Russian president: Loser. But that’s what Trump is beginning to look like after five months of promising to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours.
Once again, there’s talk of peace in Ukraine — a lasting, just peace. But the West has all the clues it needs in 25 years of Putin’s actions, and much of Russian history.
TikTok videos and promises of big paydays have lured Nepali men to Ukraine’s front lines — but many haven’t come home. Now, their families are crossing continents to learn their fates.
From Pope Leo XIV and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin to Italian Prime Minister Meloni and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, intense maneuverings are underway to see if the peace process can be relaunched in Rome. There are both religious and judicial hurdles to overcome.
Despite heavy international sanctions from the West, Russia has taken a lighter economic hit than expected. Rather than suffering from war, it’s become dependent on it — like Germany in the 1930s.
Amid growing tensions between NATO and Russia, the Baltic becomes a battlefield of hidden threats beneath the waves.
Following his call with Vladimir Putin on Monday, Donald Trump seemed to wash his hands of the rest. His ultimate agenda seems to be about inking business deals, just like he’s done on his recent visit to the Gulf states.
As the war in Ukraine has continued for years now, reports have surfaced of international soldiers, including those from China and North Korea, fighting for the Russian side. Less known but perhaps no less significant is the example of Nepalese soldiers, some of whom don’t even know a war is ongoing when they make the decision to leave for Russia in search of a better life.
New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz talks about his private exchanges with U.S. President Donald Trump, his own lack of government experience, and why it’s not so clear how to handle the far right AfD.
By challenging Putin to face-to-face talks in Istanbul, Ukraine’s president has reshaped the diplomatic game and forced Moscow into a high-stakes dilemma.
Here are the latest headlines.
Here are the latest headlines.
The 80th anniversary of victory in World War II shines a light on the world’s current fractures, because in addition to the war in Ukraine, which pits the allies of 1945 against each other, there’s Donald Trump wild card.
Ukraine’s tragic geography has long made it the target of imperial ambitions, epitomized by the prize of Crimea. As the war drags on, the battle for Ukrainian sovereignty exposes not just Russia’s hunger for power — but also the West’s uneasy past and present complicity.