Few see reason right now for holiday optimism, though Christmas ceasefires have happened multiple times since the conflict in Donbas started in 2014. A new call by religious leaders has raised hope for at least a pause in the fighting.
Author: Cameron Manley
Cameron holds a master’s degree in Comparative Literature from Cambridge University. He joined Worldcrunch in 2022, whilst reporting from Moscow. He is especially interested in Russian and Ukrainian politics and culture and has previously written for The Moscow Times, The i Paper and Meduza, among others.
There’s been no shortage of boasting in Russia after the return of arms dealer Viktor Bout, in exchange for U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner. But even if Vladimir Putin showed his negotiating muscle, it’s a pyrrhic victory as too many other compatriots haven’t made it home alive..
The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to negotiations, adding that the possibility of talks would be hampered by the United States’ refusal to acknowledge annexed Ukrainian regions as being part of Russia. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] “The United States still does not recognize new territories as part of the Russian Federation, and this complicates the […]
European Council Chief Charles Michel used much of his face-to-face meeting Thursday in Beijing with Xi Jinping to urge the Chinese President to use his sway over Russian President Vladimir Putin “to end the war and to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine.” [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] Michel’s visit was the first official trip to Beijing by a top […]
Fears of European discord over energy prices, as Ukraine is facing what the UN calls “appalling conditions of life” amid Russia’s onslaught timed with the arrival of winter.
The French President leads a growing chorus of outrage against Russia, including the strongest condemnation to date from Pope Francis.
Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that Russia has no choice to continue the war because of Ukraine’s “unwillingness to negotiate.” [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] “First they negotiate, then they refuse to negotiate, then they pass a law that prohibits any kind of negotiations, then they say they want negotiations, but public ones,” Peskov told reporters. The comments come […]
This is among the most important signs of how the war has turned against Russia in the past three months.
After several weeks of mixed messages, the announcement of Russia’s withdrawal from the strategic city of Kherson caught many off guard. It is in many respects a momentous turn, with Ukraine poised to retake a city captured by Russian forces in the very first days after the Feb. 24 invasion. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] The pullout is not […]
Representatives for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, detained in Russia since February, have confirmed they do not know her current whereabouts. This comes after her attorneys said the courts had ordered her transferred to a Russian penal colony on Wednesday. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] “Our primary concern continues to be Brittney Griner’s health and well-being,” the WNBA player’s […]
The mixed messages Friday may be part of a Kremlin strategy to fight for the southern city even harder.
Moscow has been forced to turn to rogue regimes for military supplies for its stalled invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin told the world yesterday “don’t worry” about a nuclear attack, even as he’s setting up a scenario that makes it more likely.
Vladimir Putin gave a major speech in Moscow on Thursday, outlining his view of the current stay of geopolitics, declaring that the world has the “prerequisites for a revolution.”
Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Chechnya, is one of the most recognizable (and hawkish) figures in the orbit of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But beyond his online bluster, he is keeping his options open as Moscow loses ground in the war in Ukraine.
A missile attack early Friday kills four, as civilians try to evacuate the largest Ukrainian city under Russian occupation.
Russia’s martial law for the occupied territories of Ukraine is a “pseudo-legalization of looting of Ukrainians’ property,” said another official in Kyiv.
We may never know the exact cause of the explosion that damaged the strategic Kerch bridge. But it is quite plausible that it was carried out by a Ukrainian suicide bomber. Yes, it’s come this far — and for a very simple reason.
For Vladimir Putin, there are “four new regions of Russia.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign the annexation Friday of four occupied regions of Ukraine to become part of Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced this morning. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] The Kremlin will host a ceremony on Friday where agreements will be signed on the annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Peskov said the ceremony would […]
Russia’s proxies in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions announced that referendums on joining Russia had begun that Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced as shams. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Ukraine-daily-box] For four days, “voting” will be held at people’s homes “for security reasons,” Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti wrote. On the last day of the “referendums,” on […]
In response to Vladimir Putin’s announcement of partial mobilization, protesters flocked to the streets in outrage across Russia. By Thursday morning, Russian independent monitoring group OVD, puts the number of arrests as a result of the protests at 1,300. [shortcode-Subscribe-to-Worldcrunch-Today-box] Perhaps more telling for both public opinion and the potential effectiveness of the mobilization are […]
Negotiate? Stall? Double down? The Russian leader suddenly finds himself in front of a situation that offers no obvious good choices. Doing nothing, however, is not an option.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces reclaimed 1,000 square kilometers (385 square miles) of territory in the south and east since launching their counter-offensive on Sept. 1. The troops continue to advance in both the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage. […]
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced trip to Ukraine on Thursday, his second visit to the country since the start of the war on February 24, annoucing that the U.S. intends to provide an additional $2 billion aid package to Ukraine and 18 other countries in and around the region. This new […]
The state-owned Ukrainian energy operator and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have cast doubt on the visit of IAEA international inspectors assessing the risks near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant occupied by Russia. Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage. Sign up to our free daily newsletter. Energy provider […]
Ravil Maganov, chairman of the Russian oil company Lukoil, died on Thursday after “he fell out of the window of a Moscow hospital,” according to Russian media reports. Meanwhile TASS news agency reported his death as a suicide. The 67 year-old was hospitalized after suffering from a heart attack. Stay up-to-date with the latest on […]
The transmission line connecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant with the power system in Ukraine was disconnected due to Russian shelling. Three other transmission lines had also been damaged during Russian shelling earlier in the conflict. As a result, two operating units of the power plant were disconnected from the grid, causing the complete disconnection of […]
Ukraine’s Independence Day was marred by a deadly Russian attack on a train station in Chaplyne, in the east of the country, late in the day. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned that Moscow could try “something particularly ugly” to coincide with the occasion, and in response to the looming threats of an attack, Kyiv […]
With fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia power plant on the world’s mind, three men met on Thursday in Lviv, to discuss nuclear security in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres — and once again vowing to play a part in finding a solution […]
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan are due in Lviv today for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage. Sign up to our free daily newsletter. The three will discuss grain and nuclear safety, while Erdogan is also […]
Still, both foreign ministers had tough words for the other country….
In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has focused his diplomatic efforts on Germany and China, two nations that remain key to the balance of power in the war in Ukraine. In different ways the two powerhouse countries have been less than clear where they stand in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Stay up-to-date with […]
Russia and authorities in the occupied region of Donetsk say that more than 40 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been killed as well as at least 130 injured, after Ukrainian forces shelled a prison where they were being held. The prison located in Olenivka was housing Ukrainian soldiers taken into custody after the fall of […]
The Kremlin has been less than transparent about its battlefield casualties in Ukraine, as
Categories
What Is Putin’s Endgame In Odessa?
The timing and location of Russia’s latest attacks shows that the southern Ukrainian city is more important than ever to the Russian leader, for symbolic and strategic reasons.
The accord between Kyiv and Moscow has been in the works all week, signing today in Istanbul.
Russia’s territorial goals in Ukraine are no longer limited to the eastern Donbas region, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Instead the Kremlin’s objectives in Ukraine are likely to extend into the country’s south toward the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, and “a number of other territories,” Lavrov said in an interview with Russian state […]
Vladimir Putin has spent much of the past five months hunkered down with his generals and bankers, managing the military and economic upheaval he triggered by invading Ukraine. Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage. Sign up to our free daily newsletter. Aside from a few quick visits […]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has qualified yesterday’s deadly attack in Vinnytsia as an “open act of terrorism”. On Thursday morning, missiles hit the car park of a nine-story office block in the small city south-west of Kyiv, far away from the heart of the fighting happening in the Donbas region. Residential buildings were also hit […]