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The escalation of war in the Middle East and the stagnation of the Ukrainian counteroffensive have left many leaders in the West, who once supported Ukraine unequivocally, to look toward ceasefire talks with Russia. For Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, Piotr Andrusieczko argues that Ukraine simply cannot afford this.
In Ukraine, kamikaze drones have gradually overtaken artillery as the main threat to soldiers — on both sides of the frontline. Meanwhile, a bitter winter is taking over life in the trenches.
International support for Kyiv is waning and calls for negotiations are growing louder. But Ukraine has now managed to establish a bridgehead on the other side of the Dnipro River. From there, its troops could advance to Crimea — and turn the tide of the war.
The invasion of Russia has forced Ukraine to confront a domestic enemy: corruption and economic control by an insular and unethical elite.
Hydrocarbons continue to drive nations’ economies and politics around the world, creating both corruption, stagnation and — sadly as we’ve seen again — all-out war.
As long as there are criminal regimes with technological, military, and financial capabilities, defeating them militarily is the only route to lasting peace.
Authorities in Moscow continue to struggle to stem the tide of data breaches from hackers inside and outside Ukraine, who have been one of the unsung heroes in the resistance to the Russian invasion.
Some of the Ukrainian Armed Forces units are at only 70% of their intended strength. But President Zelensky is unwilling to raise the question of mass mobilization. The result is a parallel reality, with more recruitment coming from rural areas and lower classes, and some urbanites feeling victory is not too far, and their sacrifice is not needed.
Last winter, many Ukrainians believed the only factor delaying the war’s end was the weather. A year later, the country faces a very different situation, with a stalled counteroffensive ahead of the coming cold days creating fertile ground to lose precious national unity.
The state of the Ukraine War was growing fragile even before Oct. 7, but the conflict in the Middle East has changed the equation in Moscow’s favor. It’s not just a shift in attention and resources, but an undermining of the values and rationale behind Kyiv’s cause.
After the postponement of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s planned trip to Israel, there are voices now saying it should be cancelled outright. What’s the price of Ukraine publicly declaring its support for the current actions of the Israeli government and military?
The country is scrambling to shore up production and distribution amid the inevitability of continued Russian attacks, questions around the pace of restoration of damaged facilities, and the possibility of a harsher winter than last year’s.
For the future of our world, neither the stakes in Ukraine nor Gaza should be underestimated. But understanding the limits of the comparison is important to trying to find a way out of each, says veteran French political scientist Dominique Moïsi.
With the Middle East burning and domestic politics splintering, Ukraine is now just one of multiple priorities for the West. For President Zelensky, it’s time to move past the narrative of the past two years.
Russia has introduced new history textbooks criticized for replacing facts with propaganda. Students preparing to teach history are torn between “patriotic” and “liberal” narratives, even as they refuse to accept the state’s version without debate.
As Russian casualties in Ukraine mount, a Ministry of Defense-supervised mercenary company is recruiting women for combat roles, for the first time ever.
No significant breakthroughs, growing skepticism about optimistic claims, and a war with no end in sight add to the psychological struggles of Ukrainians already facing the prospect of energy and heat shortages.
Among the victims of the recent conflict in Israel are many Ukrainian citizens who fled the Russian invasion and are now finding themselves at the center of another war.
The war is far from over, but on the other side of the Atlantic, preparations are already underway to ensure American businesses access to this promising market. In Europe, no one is making such necessary preparations, worries Jacques Attali.
Western leaders must take a more resolute stance in addressing terrorism and its hybrid forms, and see the connection with the tactics and strategy of Putin’s Russia.
Leading Austrian daily Der Standard has been following Ukrainian teams braving constant danger to clear the largest minefield in the world.
The EU must find a way to negotiate uncomfortable disagreements within its ranks. Ukraine can’t be seen as taking an unequivocal stand in support of any one side either.
Oleksandr Solonko, a military trooper and aerial scout, played an active role in combat operations in Bakhmut and later on the Zaporizhzhia front near Robotyne, where Ukraine is securing its breach of Russian defenses.
From preparing for the complexity of urban warfare to addressing technological vulnerabilities and gaining self-reliance in military production, the unfolding crisis in Israel has a number of critical messages for Ukraine.
Russia has become the most sanctioned country in the world since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, but data show that the country has mobilized a fleet of off-the-books ships to continue selling oil around the world.
Melitopol, Ukraine has been occupied by Russian forces since Feb. 2022, and the occupiers have set up prisons where residents are routinely tortured. Russian independent news site Vazhnyye Istorii/Important Stories spoke with people who have escaped these nightmarish prisons.
An investigation by the Russian publication Agents Media finds that a number of Russian criminals who were granted amnesty in exchange for fighting in Ukraine have returned home and have been implicated in violent crimes — including more than a dozen murders.
A year has passed since Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a partial mobilization of military reservists on Sept. 21, 2022. As rumors of a second wave of mobilization continue to circulate on social media, the independent Russian news site Vazhnyye Istorii (Important Stories) and the Conflict Intelligence Team found how the Russian draftees were largely treated as cannon fodder for the Ukraine war.
This is a tale of a Ukrainian special forces operator who wound up surviving 14 hours at sea, staying afloat and dodging Russian air and sea patrols.
They were offered high salaries, promises of honor, and state welfare. But Wagner Group fighters say Russia treated them like pariahs after they returned from the war in Ukraine.
The history of war shows that the losing side tend to lose ground as they are cut off from supply lines to replenish troops with weapons, food and material. Independent Russian publication Important Stories reports why this appears to be the dynamic at play right now for Russian troops in southern regions of Ukraine.
Europe’s foreign ministers traveled together to Kyiv yesterday to reaffirm their support for Ukraine. It is necessary after the first signs of “fatigue” in Western support, from a Polish about-face to the victory of a pro-Russian prime minister in Slovakia.
The area around Robotyne, in southeastern Ukraine, has been the centre of a fierce two-month battle. Ukrainian publication Livy Bereg breaks down how Ukrainian forces were able to exploit gaps in Russian defenses and push the counteroffensive forward.
Congress and President Biden averted a shutdown, but thanks to a temporary deal that doesn’t include new aid for Ukraine’s war effort. An analysis from Kyiv about what it means, in both the short and long-term.
After a sighting by a Ukrainian drone operator, details emerge of how the Russian mercenary group has been redeployed in the strategic Ukrainian city of Bakhmut it had helped conquer earlier this year. That was followed by the dramatic coup and departure from Ukraine led by Wagner’s now late leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on the occupied Crimean peninsula, and Russia is doing all within its power to deny how vulnerable it has become.
With multilateral diplomacy in tatters, the fighting gumption of weaker states against aggression by bigger powers is helping end the age of empires.
Poland’s decision to stop sending weapons to Ukraine is being driven by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party’s short-term electoral calculus. Yet the long-term effects on the world stage could deeply undermine the united NATO front against Russia, and the entire Western coalition.
Russia is hoping that the West’s support for Ukraine will begin to falter. Kyiv knows this, and is therefore trying to obtain long-term aid agreements — which have the potential to determine their future. But the current Poland-Ukraine row is a troubling sign.
Poland has taken President Zelensky’s criticism at the UN very badly, and has decided to not supply new arms to Ukraine. One man in the Kremlin couldn’t be more pleased.