Worldcrunch
Russia’s invasion pushed some 8 million Ukrainians to leave the country. While some are starting to return — for their families, education or other reasons — the total number of Ukrainians who return home depends on the duration of the war. And some demographers warn that only one-third or one half of emigrants may come back.
Plovdiv and the surrounding region have become a second home to nearly 12,000 Ukrainians who fled the war, around 4,000 of them children. This places the city among the leading Bulgarian communities in terms of the number of refugees received and turns it into a model of social solidarity and successful integration on a European scale.
Most are working and paying taxes. Yet hundreds of thousands of women given refuge in Czechia must deal with public distrust and a shrinking pool of state aid.
Refugees face challenges integrating into Portugal’s labor market, ranked as the 4th most precarious in Europe for foreign workers.
While Vladimir Putin describes Volodymyr Zelensky’s authority as “illegitimate,” the French foreign minister asserts that he has “every right to lead his country toward peace.” The weakened Ukrainian president is in Paris at a decisive moment in the conflict.
In the language of math or geography: two thousand kilometers and three and a half years — that’s five settlements. Bucha. Hostomel. Narovlya, Belarus. Novozybkov, Russia. Pakino, Russia. Udarnoye, Russia.
Ukraine’s president must confront demands to concede occupied territories while navigating red lines set in Kyiv and mounting pressure from both Washington and the Kremlin.
Exclusive reports by Bloomberg show transcripts of two secret phone calls involving the Trump administration’s apparent collusion with the Kremlin on the 28-point Ukraine plan Donald Trump seeks to impose on Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Peace won’t be made by failed diplomats or politicians living in a fantasy land” tweeted Vice President Vance to explain why professionals are being dismissed, both on Gaza and Ukraine. The delegitimization of expertise is a major trend of our time.
To Kyiv and the Europeans, the American 28-point plan for Ukraine looks like a demand for surrender, but Sunday’s negotiations in Geneva with the Americans attempted to amend it, at the risk of making it unacceptable to the Russians. The Trump method is once again in question.
France has promised to deliver 100 Rafale fighter jets to Ukraine, but the planes won’t be appearing in Ukrainian skies for a long while. The real issue is Ukraine’s long-term military alignment within European defense cooperation. But the funding for such a program remains an open question.
By resurrecting the “Anglo-Saxon threat,” Putin’s Russia is using history as a weapon — turning old myths into modern geopolitics.
A former defense industry insider, once praised for exposing corruption, stands accused of the same abuses. His accuser was recently murdered.
👋 Bonghjornu!* Welcome to Tuesday, where Ukraine’s army remains locked in an intense battle to hold back a Russian push on the key city of Pokrovsk, Peru severs its diplomatic ties with Mexico and today’s quiz question is about breaking a world record. Meanwhile, Olivia Carballar for Spain’s La Marea’s – Climática examines the data […]
The strategically important city of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, is the scene of intense fighting between Russian attackers and Ukrainian defenders. This is an important test as Vladimir Putin seeks to assert his dominance on the ground, not only over Ukraine but also over Europe.
Donald Trump has ordered renewed testing of nuclear weapons, while Vladimir Putin is touting the power of his nuclear-capable missiles and underwater drones. Why all this noise about nuclear weapons?
At a cultural diplomacy forum in Kyiv, Nobel laureate and human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk urged the world to see culture as a force for justice and freedom — and as essential to building a lasting peace.
Ukrainian intelligence reports reveal that Cuban women are among the foreign and female recruits serving in Russia’s war in Ukraine, raising new questions about recruitment networks and human trafficking.
Since the Russian border was closed, people in the far east of Finland have been living with a new Iron Curtain that is reshaping daily life and upending the regional economy.
After a series of intrusions by unidentified drones, Denmark is hosting a two-day European summit focused on the Russian threat. The Danish prime minister has denounced Russia’s “hybrid warfare,” saying, “This is only the beginning.” But the EU must be careful not to overreact.
President Maia Sandu’s pro-European party is leading the vote count in Moldova’s parliamentary elections, pulling ahead of the pro-Russian party. The elections are seen as a test in the wider struggle between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s supporters along the European Union’s borders.
Donald Trump changed his tone toward Russia after his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, even saying he was ready to shoot down Russian planes that enter NATO airspace. Is this a real shift in favor of Ukraine, or just hurt feelings about his would-be pal Vladimir Putin.
As Russia faces a shortage of law enforcement agents — which some observers blame on the war in Ukraine —- Russkaya Obshchina is filling the gaps. The group is increasingly involved in public order maintenance, but its far-right ideology risks being legitimized by institutions.
Russia carried out on Sunday its largest aerial bombardment since the start of the war more than three years ago. Ukraine remains vulnerable due to insufficient air defense systems, despite advances in its defense industry. Meanwhile, international aid is falling short.
With strikes on Russia’s oil industry, Ukraine is showing just how effectively it can defend itself. A new missile could soon spell further trouble for Moscow.
Europeans are preparing their plan to “reassure” Ukraine after a peace agreement that never materialized. Their goal is above all to convince Donald Trump to sanction Moscow, and to help Ukraine. But that will mean increasing the Continent’s dependence on the United States.
Ten days after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, the hopes for peace negotiations that it had raised have faded: Russia has set conditions that are difficult to accept. There is no meeting between Zelensky and Putin planned, Russian Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed yesterday. What will Trump do?
The looming possibility of a Putin-Zelensky summit is forcing Russia’s power brokers to confront which camp they truly belong to — and what will happen if the unthinkable occurs.
The Kremlin is shutting off access to crucial data on its population and economy. What did those figures reveal — and why is the government afraid of them?
Central Asian presidents have been fixtures at Moscow’s Victory Day parades since 2022, but this year, their visits were preceded by a wave of diplomatic tensions.
👋 Manao ahoana!* Welcome to Wednesday, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls for “complete” defeat of Hamas as Israel considers total Gaza occupation, the world marks 80 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and today’s quiz question highlights a Parisian mishap. Meanwhile, La Marea’s Amador Iranzo looks at the worrying gentrification at play […]
More than three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country, life in Ukraine is still marked by strikes and fear. But Ukrainians are also seeking getaways to catch a break and find relief.
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.
👋 Ha’u!* Welcome to Tuesday, where the WHO condemns Israel’s ground offensive in central Gaza, Bangladesh mourns the victims of a crash of an air force training jet on a school and our daily quiz question is about a deliciously disappearing artwork. Meanwhile, An Flores for independent Latin American online Volcánicas looks at how discussions […]
👋 Alò!* Welcome to Friday, where the EU imposes new sanctions on Russia, Donald Trump struggles to tamp down the Jeffrey Epstein uproar, and a famed Austrian daredevil dies in a paragliding accident. We also feature an article on the rise of the “Instagram Sheikhs” — a diverse group of digital-savvy Muslims who fuse Islamic […]
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?
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.
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.
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.