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Kyiv's troops are facing bitter cold and snow on the frontline, but the coming season also poses longer term political questions for Ukraine's allies. It may be now or never.
-Analysis-
PARIS — Weather is a weapon of war. And one place where that’s undoubtedly true right now is Ukraine. A record cold wave has gripped the country in recent days, with violent winds in the south that have cut off electricity of areas under both Russian and Ukrainian control. It's a nightmare for troops on the frontline, and survival itself is at stake, with supplies and movement cut off.
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
This is the reality of winter warfare in this part of Europe, and important in both tactical and strategic terms. What Ukraine fears most in these circumstances are Russian missile or drone attacks on energy infrastructures, designed to plunge civilian populations into cold and darkness.
The Ukrainian General Staff took advantage of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's visit to Kyiv to ask the West to provide as many air defense systems as possible to protect these vital infrastructures. According to Kyiv, 90% of Russian missile launches are intercepted; but Ukraine claims that Moscow has received new weapon deliveries from North Korea and Iran, and has large amounts of stocks to strike Ukraine in the coming weeks.
No matter the cost
This context is vital to confront in order to maintain Ukrainian morale after a difficult year. Kyiv's long-anticipated offensive has so far failed to produce the expected results, at least not with a decisive breakthrough.
Ukrainian morale is threatened by the fear of disappearing from the West’s radar.
Furthermore, the Ukrainian army has been subjected to repeated assaults by the Russian army in Avdiivka, a town in the Donbas region that has become a symbol of Russian relentlessness. The losses suffered by Moscow’s army are said to be considerable, but this has not stopped Russia from sending waves of troops to this region, which has since become a new symbolic battle after Bakhmut a few months back.
But most of all, the Ukrainian morale is threatened by the fear of disappearing from the West’s radar, too preoccupied by the horrors going on in the Middle East to maintain the motivation to direct aid to Ukraine.
Ukraine soldier in a snowy field getting in a tank
Western leaders swear they will help Ukraine as long as necessary, as Charles Michel, President of the European Council Union, also said on French radio, France Inter, yesterday morning. But there are two very real difficulties: the first being the political clouds looming over Europe and the United States.
In Europe, the 27 EU member states are due to approve a new aid package for Ukraine in the coming weeks, but they need unanimity, which Hungary’s Viktor Orban has prevented in one of his usual haggling matches. And in the United States, the possibility of Donald Trump winning the presidential election 11 months from now is a good reason for Vladimir Putin to keep up the pressure.
The other difficulty lies in the Russia-Ukraine gap on the ground. Russia has adopted a war economy with, according to the Financial Times, a defense budget three times higher than in 2021, the year before the invasion of Ukraine. But the West which supports Kyiv, is not following suit.
For the time being, Ukrainians have to get through this dangerous winter, between the weather and Russian missiles — and the West has to help them get through it, no matter the cost.
Welcome to Tuesday, where Israel is yet to comment on Hamas’ leader saying a truce deal is “approaching,” the drama multiplies at OpenAI over the firing of CEO Sam Altman, and Joe Biden makes a fowl blunder. Meanwhile, Lizaveta Tsybulina in Russian independent news outlet Vazhnyye Istorii reports on Moscow’s efforts to cull the onslaught of data breaches led by Ukrainian hackers since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
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• Israel/Gaza update: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the group is “approaching a truce agreement” with Israel, raising hope of a pause in hostilities in Gaza and that hostages from the Oct. 7 attacks could be released. This comes after weeks of negotiations between the U.S., Israel and Hamas, mediated by Gulf state Qatar. There was no immediate response from Israel. Meanwhile, two journalists working for the pan-Arabic channel Al Mayadeen were killed by a rocket strike near Lebanon’s border with Israel on Tuesday, as the Committee to Protect Journalists said at least 50 journalists and media workers have been killed since the conflict began.
• U.S. defense chief visits Kyiv, announces more military aid: In an unannounced visit to Kyiv, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin unveiled a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $100 million and promised the long-term support of the United States for the embattled country. For more, read this piece about Ukraine’s army recruitment problem.
• North Korea plans third attempt at spy satellite launch: North Korea has notified Japan that it will attempt to launch a spy satellite in the coming days, following two unsuccessful attempts earlier this year. The move defies warnings from South Korea and multiple UN resolutions which ban Pyongyang from using ballistic missile technology.
• OpenAI staff threaten to quit over Sam Altman sacking: More than 700 of OpenAI’s 770 employees have signed a letter to call for the resignation of the ChatGPT company’s board and to say they will quit if ousted chief executive Sam Altman is not reinstalled. Some investors in the startup are also considering legal recourse against OpenAI’s board, Reuters reports.
• First video emerges of trapped Indian workers in collapsed tunnel: A camera has captured the first images of 41 workers who have been trapped in a tunnel in India's Uttarakhand state for more than a week, showing them standing in the confined space and communicating with rescuers. The camera was slipped inside a new wider pipeline that was drilled on Monday, allowing rescue workers to give the men their first hot meal in days.
• Papua New Guinea volcano eruption triggers evacuations: A volcanic eruption on a remote Papua New Guinea island has forced some residents to begin evacuating while flights from the island's Hoskins airport were canceled. The country’s geological hazard division downgraded the alert level from Level 4 to Level 3 on Tuesday but warned the outburst of Ulawun, the South Pacific nation’s most active volcano, could continue indefinitely.
• Wrong pop icon, Joe: During the traditional pardoning of the turkeys ahead of Thanksgiving in Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden compared the two birds’ long and arduous travel to D.C. to how hard it is to get “a ticket to the Renaissance tour or Britney's tour [...] in Brazil right now.” That’s Taylor Swift, Mr. President!
Rome-based daily La Repubblica lends its front cover to the latest case of femicide that has sparked widespread demonstrations. Giulia Cicchettin was allegedly killed last week by her ex-boyfriend, who was apprehended by authorities in Germany on Sunday after being on the run since Nov. 11. Cicchettin, 22, was set to graduate in engineering last Thursday, which investigators say may have triggered the alleged killer’s possessive rage. “On the side of women,” writes La Repubblica. Italy has now reported 105 cases of femicide so far in 2023.
Brazil has recorded its hottest ever temperature rising up to 44.8 °C (112.6 °F) as parts of the country endure a suffocating heatwave. The record was hit in the town of Araçuaí, in Brazil's southeastern state of Minas Gerais. The unprecedented weather has been attributed to the El Niño phenomenon and climate change. According to the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet), Araçuaí's high of 44.8 °C had beaten the country's previous record of 44.7 °C, measured in 2005.
How pro-Ukrainian hackers have undermined Russia's war every step of the way
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, reports Lizaveta Tsybulina in Russian independent news outlet Vazhnyye Istorii/Important Stories.
💻 Following the Russian invasion, a substantial number of hackers worldwide expressed solidarity with Ukraine, and took action. “BlackBird,” one of the founders of the DC8044 community, explained that the primary objective of hacking Russian entities is to acquire data useful to Ukrainian security forces. Hackers closely cooperate with Ukrainian intelligence services as well: they are engaged in reconnaissance, sabotage and information operations.
❌ Obviously, all else being equal, the more people use the Internet, leaving their data there, the more data leaks will happen. Russia is among the world leaders in the use of the Internet, and the COVID-19 pandemic only increased this reliance. The West's economic sanctions do not make matters easier for Moscow: many Western IT companies, whose anti-hacking solutions were previously purchased by Russian businesses — Cisco, IBM, Imperva, Fortinet, Norton, Avast — have limited or stopped their activities in Russia.
💰 The Ministry of Digital Development is now preparing a bill that it hopes can reduce the number of data breaches. It increases fines for companies whose data has been leaked. For the first breach - 3–15 million rubles ($33,000 - $170,000), for a repeat leak - 3% of the company’s annual turnover, but no less than 15 million rubles and no more than 500 million rubles ($5,500,000).
A lost BBC interview with street artist Banksy has been revealed in which the anonymous artist reveals what his first name is. In the 2003 recording, BBC reporter Nigel Wrench asks him if he is called "Robert Banks", and the artist replies: "It's Robbie." This has long been the subject of speculation online, with variations of Robin, Robert and Robbie suggested. The full interview can be heard on BBC Sounds as Radio 4's The Banksy Story. From our own vault, here’s a piece from French economic daily Les Echos: Banksy and the indestructible force of capitalism.
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.
Updated Nov. 16, 2023 at 6:25 p.m.
KYIV — Walking through the center of Kyiv in the fall of 2023 can make you feel like you’ve gone back in time. The atmosphere in the city seems to transport you to either a carefree past or a promising future.
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
You'll find bustling cafes filled with people enjoying oat milk lattes, business lunches, and people zipping around on scooters.
Amongst these images of ‘normal life’, the "Field of Memory" on Maidan Square, adorned with thousands of flags bearing the names or call signs of fallen soldiers, serves as a poignant reminder of the ongoing war. Lights and billboards of the Armed Forces of Ukraine beckon citizens to "join their ranks." But these often go ignored.
Military chaplain Andriy Zelinskyi has diagnosed this situation as "discursive incompatibility."
“An entirely self-contained and substantial illusion of an alternative reality has emerged,” he says. “A reality that acts as an escape from the pain, wounds, and losses of war. This alternative reality poses a significant threat to the unity needed to effectively resist Russia.”
One segment of society has been in the trenches for a year and a half, witnessing the daily horrors of destruction, injury, and the loss of comrades. Meanwhile, another segment lives on in cities like Kyiv, Lviv, or Odesa, offering donations, or just thinking about contributing, while attempting to distance themselves from the war as much as possible.
The government has also played a role in creating and maintaining this alternative reality. In its public communication, full-scale mobilization is a taboo. An honest conversation about mobilization as a guarantee for survival and eventual victory seems "out of place" when elections are looming.
Periodically, cracks in this alternative reality emerge. For instance, a publication in TIME magazine highlighted that in some military branches, personnel shortages were more critical than those of weapons and ammunition. The article was dismissed by Ukrainian authorities as nonsense.
In the meantime, without waiting for the transition to full-scale mobilization, some military units are taking matters into their own hands, actively seeking and motivating individuals who are willing to don a military uniform and bear arms.
Following the challenging defense of Bakhmut and Zaporizhzhia, it became clear that the Ukrainian military was in dire need of reinforcements.
The General Staff was not prepared to provide even an estimate of the monthly recruitment numbers or the overall manpower needed for the front. Among the reasons cited, aside from security concerns, was the likelihood that territorial procurement centers lacked a clear understanding of the available recruitment numbers in the country.
Battlefield losses, lack of training
Publicly, neither the political nor the military leadership addressed the shortage of personnel on the front lines and did not call for a mass mobilization effort.
Of the 12 soldiers in our group, only 4 remain
A serviceman from one of the experienced mechanized brigades, who requested anonymity, revealed that his battalion was currently at about 70% of its intended strength. He emphasized that, according to the Armed Forces' regulations, a unit with losses exceeding 30% was considered incapacitated.
"In our last assault, instead of the 12 people in our group, only 4 remained," the serviceman explained. “Reinforcements are being sent to us, but their numbers are insufficient. And these are individuals with only basic skills after 2-3 months of training, and they need additional training before they can be deployed to the front.”
A Ukrainian soldier walks past a memorial to fallen troops in Kyiv.
According to Dmytro Kukharchuk from the 3rd Assault Division, military recruitment in Ukraine seems to bypass residents of large cities. Many have managed to avoid it through financial means.
"Looking at other brigades," he says, “I can say that our recruitment primarily occurs in rural areas, and it seems to follow a class-based pattern. Among the volunteers, you'll find people from various economic backgrounds fighting in roughly equal numbers. In my battalion, there are individuals who led modest lives in civilian life, as well as those who owned hectares of fields."
Those who didn't want to go to war and had the financial means were able to avoid being called up.
Kukharchuk points out that one of the problems with the current mobilization effort is that those who didn't want to go to war and had the financial means were able to avoid being called up.
Another factor contributing to the ineffectiveness of the current mobilization, as Kukharchuk highlights, is the state's "victorious" information policy.
"When people are told that victory is just three months away,” he explains, “they do not think about mobilizing; they start making plans for the future. Really, this should only be done after achieving victory. Given the current state of affairs, victory remains a very distant prospect."
Dodging draft
If a military unit relies entirely on the "military commissars" to recruit on their behalf, they risk having to wait a long time for reinforcements. They then also receive people with insufficient skills and low motivation. Some commanders are therefore deciding to recruit fighters on their own back.
In August of this year, Serhii Ogorodnyk was tasked with recruiting people for his unit — the airborne assault battalion.
“I had to find intelligent people who have talent, strength, a desire to serve, to fight. Something was always holding them back and they were quite happy living on in civilian life,” explains Ogorodnyk.
But often the difficulty was not just in convincing people to join the army — it was contacting them in the first place.
"When I receive subpoenas, I ignore them" was a response Ogorodnyk heard far too many times. Ogorodnyk said that each time he responded by saying: "You do understand that sooner or later the war will affect you too? And it is better to choose a unit yourself and go through training than to be mobilized suddenly, in an emergency."
“But many people are embarrassed [that they are not in the Defense Forces],” Ogorodnyk said. “These people really just need some kind of motivational boost. And when they receive it, they come and join the ranks of the Armed Forces.”
“The recruiter's task is not just to recruit more people, some of whom will then think about how to get out of it,” explains Ogorodnyk. “The recruiter's task is to find people who will actually make a difference to the army. That is why I spoke frankly with people about a number of problems (in the army). About how to solve them, what we need to solve them, who we need to solve them.”
The Allies recruitment campaigns during World War II had military personnel setting up portable stands to call up potential soldiers. This approach included details about available positions, the support individuals would receive, and the prospects that would open up for them in the future.
Oleksandr Kopil, co-founder of the PR and consulting agency K&K Group, which has worked on several army recruitment campaigns, believes that a similar approach would be effective today. He emphasised that “rational and explanatory campaigns that inform individuals of what to expect when joining the military” were the way forward.
He advocates for a more transparent approach, where people are aware that military service is not limited to immediate trench warfare but encompasses various roles, training, qualifications, and social protections.
“The goal is to help individuals understand the available positions and the teams they can join,” he says.
Messages that appeal to the individual's responsibility and self-development are more effective.
In the past, recruitment campaigns often featured iconic images, such as the pointing finger with slogans like "Your country needs you" or "The Motherland is calling." However, such messages, rooted in the 20th-century ideology of collective importance, may appear archaic today. The sociocultural context has evolved, and the perception of war and existential threats have changed.
Chaplain Andriy Zelinskyi believes that the recruiting rhetoric of the past was built on the belief that individual identity could only be realized within the larger collective.
“The present reality is different,” he says. “Messages that appeal to the individual's responsibility and self-development are more effective.”
Zelinskyi emphasizes that there is no text that can motivate a free person to willingly "die for Ukraine."
“Messages that create an image of the future as a threat can lead people to seek escape rather than service,” Zelinskyi said. “Military service should be presented as an attractive opportunity that allows individuals to discover their inner strength, become stronger, and achieve personal growth. Recruiting is not about coercion or fear but about upholding human dignity.”
The "alternative reality" problem
“It is essential to reestablish in people a sense of the existential challenge posed by the Russian invasion,” Zelinskyi believes. “It's not just a general threat but a threat to every individual.”
But is the government prepared to discuss mobilization even if it risks a loss of popularity? As of today, there are no indications of this. In recent months, President Volodymyr Zelensky has addressed mobilization only twice in his public communication.
On July 1, 2023, he said that "we do not need to involve all Ukrainians... It is the military that calculates how many forces they need."
On August 23, he reported that "the military has approached me, asking me to mobilize more troops. That's all, I can't tell you anything more at this time."
In both instances, the president stressed that mobilization fell within the military's responsibility, and that they were the ones initiating these measures.
The dilemma: speak the truth, or avoid rocking the boat
This creates a closed circle. To avoid societal unrest, the authorities seem to be pursuing the path of "gentle mobilization," using rhetoric that implies that "the situation is challenging at the front, but everything is under control."
The civilian population struggles to understand why full-scale mobilization is necessary or what existential challenges and threats they are facing, especially when they hear phrases like "we will not only defend ourselves but also respond," "full control over Crimea is only a matter of time," and "every day, forward, be it a kilometer or 500 meters."
President Zelensky thus faces a serious dilemma: to speak the truth, acknowledging all the risks and issues that Ukraine is currently facing, or avoid “rocking the boat" and perpetuate the alternative reality that has already absorbed much of the Ukrainian population, lulling them into a false sense of security.
Welcome to Thursday, where Israel opposition leader Yair Lapid calls for Netanyahu to resign, U.S. and China pledge to reopen military communication and fight fentanyl together, and a prestigious exam puts South Korea at a standstill. Meanwhile, Diarrassouba Losseni Togossy in Dakar-based newspaper Financial Afrik cautions against the downside risks of the energy transition in Africa.
[*Lingala, DRC and Republic of the Congo]
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• Israel/Gaza update: Israel has warned civilians to leave four towns in southern Gaza, dropping leaflets overnight to order people to evacuate their homes and head to shelters. Israeli forces said they were continuing their operations at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City but gave no further details. Meanwhile, Israel's main opposition leader Yair Lapid has called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down immediately over what he called the government’s poor handling of the war against Hamas. Here’s a different look at the war in the Middle East from an Istanbul-based writer who still believes in the West’s values, despite the awful choices of its leaders, translated from Turkish by Worldcrunch.
• Cameron meets Zelensky in Ukraine first visit as foreign secretary: Newly-appointed UK foreign secretary David Cameron made his first official visit to Ukraine and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. The former prime minister promised the UK would maintain “moral, diplomatic, economic and military support” to Ukraine “for however long it takes.”
• Biden & Xi agree to restore military communications: Following a four-hour meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on restoring military-to-military communications between their armed forces and on curbing fentanyl production. But the two leaders remained at odds over Taiwan, with Xi telling Biden to stop arming the island and saying that reunification was “unstoppable.” Read more about the Biden-Xi meeting here.
• Spiraling gang violence prompts hospital evacuation in Haiti: More than 100 patients were evacuated from a hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city, after a heavily armed gang surrounded the facility. Meanwhile, Kenya’s parliament has approved the deployment of 1,000 police officers in Haiti to help quell gang violence. More international views on Haiti here.
• Madagascar’s presidential election kicks off amid opposition boycott: Madagascar's voters are heading to polls in a presidential election marred by boycott calls from 10 out of 12 opposition candidates and weeks of violent protests. Opponents to President Andry Rajoelina, who is seeking a second term in office, accuse him of waging an “institutional coup” to stay in power and say that conditions for a transparent election “have not been met.”
• New drilling machine to rescue trapped Indian workers: Rescue efforts have resumed with an advanced drilling machine flown in from New Delhi to pull out 40 Indian workers trapped inside a collapsed tunnel for the fifth day in India’s Uttarakhand state. The machine will help drill a passage so that a pipe can be used for the workers to crawl out safely. Progress has been slow due to rock and soil debris.
• Kim Kardashian named one of GQ’s Men of the Year:GQ magazine has named reality star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian as “Tycoon Of The Year” as part of its 2023 Men of the Year panel, sparking confusion on social media.
Today’s front page of Jiefang Daily, a newspaper published by local government officials in Shanghai, depicts Chinese President Xi Jinping landing in California on Nov. 14 for the 30th annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting. He was greeted by California Governor Gavin Newsom, U.S. Secretary of State Janet Yellen and other U.S. officials. Despite recent strains in the relationship between China and the United States, the government sanctioned Jiefang Daily highlighted the Chinese president’s warm welcome in San Francisco, home to the oldest “Chinatown” in the Western Hemisphere.
With 179 Members of Parliament voting in favor and 171 against, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was reelected at the head of the country, thus ending a four-month political deadlock that started with the inconclusive July 23 general election, 116 days ago. The vote came as the country is seeing unrest over Sanchez’s recent decision to grant Catalan separatists amnesty in exchange for their support in a vote of confidence.
Africa's clean energy transition must not come at the cost of economic growth
Africa faces a complex choice: entirely eliminate fossil fuels and risk slowing down development, or alter the energy mix and maintain a balance between the environment and the economy, writes Diarrassouba Losseni Togossy in pan-African newspaper Financial Afrik.
🏭 As Africa strives to take control of its own destiny in the battle against climate change, a question often arises: Should Africa give up polluting energy sources to protect the environment? In other words, must Africa forgo development — even though the continent is responsible for less than 5% of global pollution? Access to energy and transitioning to cleaner energy sources is a critical global challenge in the 21st century — and even more so for the African continent. But what should the ideal energy transition roadmap look like for Africa?
🌡️ Climate change and extreme weather events have caused unprecedented damage in African countries over the past decade. Each year, we witness the destruction of infrastructure and economic disruption, and, as a result, increasing unemployment. For most countries, enhancing climate resilience depends on the success of their energy transition plans. Therefore, it is crucial to consider the challenges and opportunities related to energy transition in Africa.
☀️🔋 It's worth noting that, with the exception of South Africa, most African countries are less dependent on fossil fuels compared to the majority of developed countries. This distinguishes Africa's energy transition blueprint from that of other regions. The essence of energy transition in Africa can be boiled down to two essential aspects: First, the development of energy, and second, its expansion. Energy development efforts must take into account the opportunity and the necessity of harnessing the continent's potential in renewable energies, including biomass, wind, solar, and hydroelectric.
Half a million South Korean students took the prestigious suneung (수능, short for 대학수학능력시험 meaning College Scholastic Ability Test), the national college entrance exam. To reduce disturbances during the high pressure nine-hour English listening test, authorities implemented radical measures such as delaying the opening of the stock market, relying on police patrols to help students get to their exam site in time, and even implementing a 35-minute nationwide ban on all flights.
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.
-Analysis-
KYIV — The winter ahead is likely to be extremely difficult for Ukrainians.
And this year, the challenges extend beyond energy network resources, which have already been adequately covered, and reserves of anti-missile systems. The real issue is that Ukraine is heading into this winter with far lower reserves of psychological resilience and greater collective fatigue than ever before.
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
Last winter was preceded by a series of military triumphs, with the Ukrainian army successfully pushing the enemy out of Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions. They reclaimed Snake Island, initiated the Kharkiv counteroffensive, and liberated Kherson by the end of February. During that time, the country held onto the belief that the only factor delaying the war's end was the weather.
The prevailing sentiment was that with the arrival of warmer weather in the spring, the enemy would be pushed back and eventually defeated.
Potential divides
The Supreme Commander of Ukraine's armed forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, recently provided a thorough overview of this year's military outcomes. Contrary to expectations, there has been no Ukrainian blitzkrieg; instead, the country experienced intense battles in the south and east, fighting hard for every inch of land. The situation has shifted from a sprint to a marathon.
Military triumphs can temporarily numb societal tensions by overshadowing disagreements and mitigating contradictions. Victory tends to have many winners, providing ample room for individuals to bask in its glory. However, sustaining morale when there is little visible sign of progress is far more challenging. Despite promises of ongoing victories, society now grapples with frustration, creating fertile ground for political bickering and even witch hunts.
None of the options have a positive outcome.
The country faces various potential divides: between those on the frontlines and those in the rear, between military leadership and the political elite, and between the current president and his predecessor's team. Certain key topics, such as corruption and mobilization, have the ability to consistently provoke the nation. These issues guarantee attention, views, and followers, acting as journalistic fertile ground where any prodding can spark significant discussions.
With fewer noteworthy updates from the frontline, there's an increase in news from the rear. Each political faction may be enticed to bolster its standing at the expense of rivals. Additionally, instigators of internal discord may not necessarily be top figures in these factions; anyone can play this disruptive role. This includes political strategists eyeing elections, politicians seeking career longevity, bloggers aspiring for followers, parliamentarians craving attention...
Some will resort to social media posts, while others may provide sensational interviews or leak insider information to foreign journalists. However, as subsequent exposures generate diminishing viewership, each revelation will still have a lasting impact, and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visiting the frontlines near Kharkiv in October
Moreover, the media tends to be reactive, not shaping an agenda but rather obediently following its course, even if it originates in social networks. This implies that every interview will inevitably touch upon the topic of division. Each studio guest will be linked to the theme of confrontation, and every speaker will be prompted to vocalize on this sensitive issue. The increased mentions will trigger a snowball effect. A year ago, only 14% believed in a conflict between the army and authorities in our country; now, that number has risen to 32%. Somewhere in Moscow, champagne is being opened to celebrate this statistic.
In the Ukrainian case, the "self-fulfilling prophecy" could lead to a multitude of undesirable consequences. This includes hostility between officials and generals, a loss of legitimacy for the authorities, and a sense of betrayal from the front towards the rear. Under conditions of war, any such scenario poses a potentially serious threat
And we’re already seeing such tensions between military and civilian leadership. Last Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky's office criticized Supreme Commander General Zaluzhny for publicly declaring the war a stalemate, suggesting that these comments would help the Russian invasion. The deputy head of the Office of the President, Ihor Zhovkva, commenting on Zaluzhny's article in The Economist magazine, said that "the military should not make public what is happening at the front." It was a public rebuke that signaled a rift between the military and civilian leadership at an already difficult time for Ukraine.
Moreover, Zelensky’s recent fury after a Russian airstrike at a Ukrainian military award ceremony left 28 soldiers dead, reveals how war fatigue is causing Ukrainian officials to take their eyes off the ball. Safety rules had been “violated,” Zelensky confirmed, leaving soldiers and civilians exposed to a deadly Russian missile strike on a village in the Zaporizhzhia region, which he described as “a tragedy that could have been avoided.”
Assigning responsibility
If a collapse between military and civilian leadership does occur, each party will likely claim innocence in the resulting chaos. Those currently causing division in the country will insist on their innocence, always shifting blame onto others. Consequently, one's own failure to remain silent will be portrayed as asceticism, while the actions of others will be labeled as provocations.
What's crucial is who will be the first to quash the rumors.
This would place us in a recurring century-old role-playing scenario. Ukrainians already lack substantial trust in the power structure, and with each passing month of the war, it becomes increasingly easier to undermine this trust.
It doesn't matter who first initiated talk of confrontation; what's crucial is who will be the first to quash the rumors. Failing to fill the information vacuum allows someone else to take control.
We won't have an alternative government until the war is over, nor should there be another military leadership until the active phase of hostilities ends. Pursuing a victory for personal ego will not end well.
Public opinion is a powerful force, and challenging it is like attempting to beat back the sea. However, the decision-makers— politicians, officials, news editors, and public intellectuals — determine the height of the waves. The country's fate hinges on whether these individuals can keep the waters calm and the ship steady.
Whether they can or not, a challenging winter almost certainly awaits Ukrainians.
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.
-Analysis-
KYIV — Ukraine is entering a new phase of the war and a new stage of relations with its partners. Even Time magazine's "symbol of 2022," Volodymyr Zelensky, is finding it increasingly challenging to stay in the global news spotlight.
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
Nevertheless, diplomats in Zelensky's team believe that interest in him remains high. One of them told Ukrainian news site Pravda that, "We have Zelensky, and there will be no other president until the end of the war. As a country, we must place our trust in him. Fortunately, Zelensky continues to be a superstar for most Americans. Even now, when other topics like the Israel conflict have emerged, and we are getting less screen time, he is still a celebrity."
While the Ukrainian war is still one of the most important topics for the West, it is now one of many. The sudden shift in focus to the Middle East following aggravated fighting in Israel is a clear example of this.
"The honeymoon phase in our relationship is over,” conceded an influential member of the Ukrainian president's team involved in international affairs. “Now, we need to pay more attention to our partners' recommendations and consider them carefully in order to secure further aid and assistance."
As the world enters election season, Ukraine must become a "donor of victories" to its friends and partners, whether through wins on the front lines or by implementing necessary reforms. Failure to do so could jeopardize support and, consequently, the prospects of achieving a comprehensive victory against Russia.
Jittery partners
Ukraine enjoys support from a host of democratic countries, which sets it apart from the autocratic alliances led by Moscow. This unique strength also presents several challenges.
One of them is the necessity to win genuine elections and be responsive to the wishes of Ukrainian society. As Ukraine enters its third year of resistance, this has become a hot topic amid numerous European and American elections.
Political forces in power in various countries have strongly sided with Ukraine so far. But as the election races approach, assistance to the Ukrainian army has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition in many places. Some leaders, such as Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, have made outlandish claims, such as: "Slovaks have worse problems than Ukrainians."
Similar rhetoric can be heard in the U.S., both from potential presidential candidates and current members of Congress. Fortunately, the provocative statements are mostly limited to the far-right, pro-Trump minority within the Republican Party.
Nonetheless, this minority caused a management crisis in the House of Representatives a few weeks ago, leading to the ousting of Speaker Kevin McCarthy due to his "secret support for Ukraine." More recently, this minority also managed to install Trumpist Mike Johnson as the new speaker against the wishes of the majority.
In the words of a Ukrainian diplomat knowledgeable about American affairs, "In Congress, across both parties, the majority is still on our side. This noisy minority against us isn't a new development; it's just that Speaker Pelosi used to put our projects up for a vote, and there were votes. Now, they're still there, but no one is putting our issues to a vote. That's why this minority has become so visible. It's an internal matter in the U.S., where we've been held hostage."
While Ukraine's place on the American agenda is important, it shouldn't be exaggerated. For the media as well as for millions of Americans, issues like school bus shortages before the school year and abortion bans are often more important than distant wars.
However, some conservative elites, influenced by figures like Elon Musk, are increasingly concerned about the situation in Ukraine, fearing that it might lead to a nuclear war.
To be sure, the recent Polish and Slovak elections proved that attempts to involve Ukraine in their internal politics and exploit the emotions of a nation in crisis could come not only from far-off nations like the US but also from neighboring European countries.
Ukraine cannot afford to get entangled in these political games. It pays the price for every day of delay in aid, not in sympathy or ratings, but in lives and territory. Hence, it should not allow all the controversial statements from figures like Fico, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, or Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to hinder productive collaboration with partners.
October 27, 2023, Kupiansk, Ukraine: A group of Ukrainian soldiers checking their tank after an action.
At the beginning of this year, the Ukrainian leadership began to acknowledge that unwavering Western support might not last indefinitely, and that they could encounter significant challenges in receiving financial and military assistance in the future.
A confidential source close to the office of the president revealed that "sometime in the winter, the president mentioned in a private setting that the future could be more challenging, and therefore, they needed to find new arguments to engage with their partners."
However, despite President Zelensky's early predictions, his team was unprepared for how quickly foreign politics would shift away from Ukraine's position as the "leader of the free world" and attempt to involve Ukraine in their internal conflicts.
The Ukrainian government is trying to come to terms with this new reality. The president himself, according to those in his circle, recognizes the possibility of difficulties in aid flows and understands that emotional manipulation of partners won't resolve these issues.
Zelensky's closest advisors relayed his perspective: "We must demonstrate some success. Without success on the battlefield, support may wane. It's all interconnected. Therefore, we can't stop; we must keep moving forward. We need a slow, incremental victory."
Sources from Zelensky's team added that during a meeting with President Joe Biden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "When you achieve success on the battlefield and show results in implementing reforms, you make our work much easier."
The meeting with Biden saw an agreement on the first ATACMS missile system. Nevertheless, according to insiders, the Ukrainian government is seriously considering involving the EU more in the matter of military aid as insurance from Washington's internal intrigue. This move isn't due to value differences with the US, but rather to avoid a situation where any one partner gets to determine what counts as a victory for Ukraine.
There's still a lack of consensus on this critical issue between Kyiv and its allies. Zelensky has repeatedly emphasized his position, which includes the borders of 1991, the punishment of criminals, and the remaining points of the "peace formula."
However, a significant section of Ukraine's partners hold a radically different stance. They believe that Ukraine has already won by preventing Putin from destroying the country and capturing Kyiv, and they suggest seeking a negotiation platform.
Zelensky believes that the only way to convey to these "peacekeepers" that Ukraine's struggle is ongoing is to provide partners with a daily dose of victory. As he put it, "Ukraine needs a result every day".
"We must resist Russian assaults, defeat the occupiers, and advance," he declared. "Even if it's by a kilometer or 500 meters, we must move forward every day to improve Ukrainian positions and exert pressure on the occupiers. This strengthens the state and motivates the world to assist us."
Therefore, triumphant news about the destruction of S-400 complexes with new missiles, drone strikes on Sochi from over 1,000 km away, images of Russian equipment columns burning near Avdiivka, or strikes by advanced naval drones that force the Russian fleet to leave Crimea remain critical.
What's most significant in most of these news items is that Ukraine is making these significant gains with its own resources. While domestic production can't fully meet the extensive needs of the armed forces, Ukrainian successes allow them to request newer high-tech weapons from their partners.
"When we possess our own long-range missiles, it will be significantly easier to negotiate with our partners, including discussions about ATACMS," explained one government official to Pravda. Ukraine can then say: What's stopping you from sharing your resources when we have shown that we can win victories with weapons we developed all on our own?
"When Ukraine achieves success on the battlefield and shows results in implementing reforms, it makes our work much easier." – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
Another crucial avenue the authorities are pursuing is involving Western arms manufacturers in collaborative projects in Ukraine. Ukraine has already reached initial agreements with the US in this regard.
"We approach them not with a request for a handout but with our own project, for instance, in air defense. We outline what we can contribute and where we have gaps that they could fill. When we present it this way, they start to see the benefits of such projects, and we [work as] partners, not beneficiaries. There's nothing more important than that," emphasized a member of Zelensky's team.
However, as Ukraine's allies are a coalition of democracies, strengthening ties with them goes beyond just developing the military. Joining this coalition involves implementing reforms, combating corruption, democratization, and more. The specific criteria to integrate into Western institutions like the EU is well-known. We cannot emphasise enough that reforms are crucial as military victories. If the unchecked greed of the elites continues to influence governance, Ukraine might succeed in the war but miss out on a historic opportunity.
As Ukraine enters a protracted war, President Zelensky faces a whole new challenge. The entire government and its communication practices will have to undergo a transformation. Just as on February 24, 2022, when Zelensky transitioned from being a peacetime president who didn't want to fight to a leader who boldly accepted the battle, a new president must emerge – one with a strategic, long-term approach.
To endure this new phase of the prolonged war of attrition, Ukraine must engage in constructive, pragmatic dialogue with its partners while simultaneously addressing its internal challenges. Either Ukraine seizes the opportunity to turn friends into genuine partners, or it risks losing their support.
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.
-Analysis-
KYIV — Just a few weeks ago, the European Union had hoped to restart peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority through a new Middle East peace initiative offering incentives for both sides.
Of course, we now know these plans were derailed on October 7 when Hamas fired thousands of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli cities, and a heavily armed group invaded southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 civilians and taking some 200 hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now warning of a prolonged conflict.
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The future of the Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah in the West Bank, also now hinges on the unfolding events. A return to the previous "status quo," in which Hamas essentially controlled Gaza, appears unlikely.
However, it's not just Israel and Palestine that will have to adapt. The European Union, in particular, faces a challenging decision. The EU's policy towards the region has been centered on peacekeeping and direct support for Palestine, and Europe has been the main donor to Palestine for the past decade. The violent terrorist attacks in Israel, openly supported by Ramallah, make changes in EU policy inevitable.
Yet, there is a lack of unity within the EU about what these changes should entail because not all member countries are prepared to align with Israel.
In this complex landscape, Ukraine also needs to formulate its policy regarding the region. This must take into account the positions of the EU, which Ukraine is integrated with; the U.S., on which Ukraine's security depends; Israel, a fellow fighter against terrorism; and the Arab states, which Kyiv is actively supporting.
"Peacemaking" on the side of Palestine
Over the course of almost a decade of Russian aggression in Ukraine, the effectiveness of international organizations operating in the conflict zone — such as OSCE missions and certain UN institutions — has drawn skepticism. Interestingly, the EU managed to avoid being closely associated with these organizations, even though it financially supported their activities without publicizing it.
The dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are different. For years, the EU has assumed the role of a "chief peacemaker" here. It's important to note that even before the terrorist attack on October 7, public sympathies in Ukraine were largely on the side of Israel, in line with the stand of the U.S. However, the EU has historically shown greater favor toward the Palestinians.
The EU has consistently advocated for the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with land swaps, including the division of Jerusalem as the capital for both Israel and Palestine. This is in accordance with international law and is mandated by several UN Security Council resolutions, which Israel has often disregarded. Israel has justified its actions based on historical and security concerns, but the EU has rejected these arguments.
Over time, the EU has escalated its criticism of Israel's policies. It has strongly condemned Israel's military actions in Palestinian territories and Lebanon. Additionally, Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, which international law recognized as sovereign Syrian territory, left the Europeans with little room for maneuver.
In recent years, the EU has accused Israel of systematic violations of Palestinian rights. During previous escalations in the region, the EU clearly sided with Palestine. For instance, in 2002, during Israel's Operation Protective Shield, the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling for economic sanctions against Israel.
Relations between the EU and Israel were further strained by the 2013 EU directive which required the Israeli government and beneficiaries of European programs to specify in future agreements that settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, were outside the boundaries of the state of Israel, even as Netanyahu insisted that the EU should recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state.
However, in recent months, the EU's position and Israel's stance had somewhat converged. Europe's desire for peace aligns with Netanyahu's efforts to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia. The negotiations included some concessions to the Palestinians, as acknowledged by Netanyahu. Though details were not disclosed, statements indicated that the idea was to encourage economic cooperation among Arabs in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, rather than supporting terrorism within Hamas. The negotiations also aimed to set aside unresolved issues, such as the coexistence of two peoples in Jerusalem.
Sven Koopmans, EU Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, explained during the UN General Assembly in September that the European body is focused on achieving peace rather than delving into the specifics of final status settlement. The EU seeks to provide incentives to the parties involved rather than taking a punitive approach. In comparison to previous efforts, Koopmans described this approach as more conciliatory and less coercive.
It's evident that the plans to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict couldn't continue after the events of October 7. The attack, involving hostage-taking, shootings of unarmed civilians, and more, painted a clear black-and-white picture where Hamas and the Palestinian Authority as a whole were seen as the perpetrators of evil. As a response, Brussels swiftly announced the suspension of funding for projects in the Palestinian territories.
The European Commissioner for Neighborhood Affairs, Oliver Várhelyi, said: "As the largest donor to the Palestinians, the European Commission is reassessing its entire portfolio of development projects, totaling 691 million euros." Furthermore, he announced an "immediate suspension" of payments for ongoing projects in Palestine and the postponement of new proposals for financial aid to the Palestinians "until further notice."
This is a significant move: EU funds were instrumental in sustaining the Palestinian economy and state apparatus, including the payment of civil servant salaries. From 2008 to 2020, the European Union provided nearly 2.5 billion euros in direct budget support to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel claims EU money went toward paying terrorists.
Furthermore, there had been ongoing criticism of Israel in Brussels, claiming that some of this EU money went towards paying imprisoned and released terrorists, as well as the families of "martyrs." Essentially, this meant financing the machinery of terrorism. Even when more evidence of this funding surfaced, finding a suitable solution was not easy. The EU argued that cutting off funds to the Palestinian authorities in Ramallah could lead to further radicalization among Palestinians, while Israel contended that EU policy effectively condoned terrorism and stoked hatred towards Israel.
The EU's support extended beyond the Palestinian state apparatus. According to last year's data on European investments in Palestine, contributions from the EU, its member states, as well as EBRD and EIB banks have totaled 1.4 billion euros since 2014.
However, there was another, more troubling source of funding for Palestine, which could be described as terrorist in nature. An essential source of income for Palestinians and the Gaza Strip's economy was the proceeds from their involvement in Hamas operations. Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, might have entertained the ideas put forth by EU donors, but it was unwilling to relinquish its fight against Israel, which made it indispensable to its primary sponsor in the proxy war, Iran.
Even ordinary Palestinians were unlikely to accept a cessation of hostilities. The overwhelming majority of the region's population harbored a deep-seated animosity towards Israel. In an environment where there was a dearth of legitimate business opportunities and employment prospects, recruiting Palestinians for terrorist attacks against Israel wasn't a difficult task. For many, it was almost the only means of earning a living.
May 14, 2023, Aachen, Germany: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulates Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after he was awarded the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen.
It's important to acknowledge that Israel hasn't been entirely blameless in inciting conflict with the Palestinians. Their provocation includes the expansion of Israeli settlements in territories recognized as occupied under international law and a general sense of hostility towards Palestinians, which has been exacerbated by statements from far-right politicians. However, all these arguments were overshadowed by the events of October 7.
Following the Hamas attack, the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, emphasized that Israel has an unquestionable right to self-defense, granting it the right to strike the Palestinian territories from which the attacks originated.
Such statements from high-ranking EU officials indicated that Palestine and Hamas had crossed a critical line.
Sovereign statements regarding funding also emerged from individual EU member states, although not from all of them. Austria, for example, suspended bilateral aid for the development of Palestinian territories, temporarily freezing payments of 19 million euros. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg explained this move by citing the magnitude of the terror attacks.
The German government quickly clarified that it doesn't directly finance the Palestinian Authority but provides support to Palestine in general. In a less radical-sounding statement, German development Minister Svenja Schulze pledged to review all German aid, amounting to 125 million euros for 2023-24, to ensure that it "promotes peace rather than terrorists."
The Commission clarified its position twice in a single day.
However, even as it appeared momentarily that the EU might completely sever its financial ties with Palestine, some capitals were not ready to completely disengage from funding.
Surprisingly, it was revealed that Commissioner Várhelyi's strong statement had not been coordinated with the member countries. In essence, the Hungarian Commissioner had overstepped his authority in deciding to halt payments to Palestine. Consequently, the European Commission clarified its position twice in a single day.
To be sure, a common opinion is not guaranteed, as there are reports from Brussels that member countries disagree even on fundamental matters, such as whether to label Hamas as a terrorist organization and the terms of engagement with Israel.
The longstanding framework of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in which Israel formally holds the status of an aggressor state, still influences the positions of some capitals.
What should Ukraine do?
Ukraine is not a geopolitical player in Israel, so our role should not be overestimated — but its stand on the issue is important in the context of its relations with its international partners. The term "partners" here refers not so much to Israel itself — which during the great war did not rush to help Ukraine but flirted with the aggressor instead – as to those states that are our key allies.
The history of divergent positions within the EU proves that there is no place for a simple solution in the Israeli issue. Especially for Ukraine, which is a candidate for EU membership.
A separate vector is Ukraine's relations with influential countries of the Arab world
But there is another vector — the U.S. Fortunately, we do not have to synchronize our policy with Washington's, but diametrical disagreements with a key security donor are also undesirable. And the U.S., unlike Europe, is distinctly pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian, a position that enjoys bipartisan support.
A separate vector is Ukraine's relations with influential countries of the Arab world, chiefly Saudi Arabia, which has supported Kyiv in both security issues and diplomacy. For now, the Arab world is on standby and in no rush to firmly side with Hamas (the latest terrorist attacks seem to have been too brutal even for the Gulf states). But the ongoing shelling of Gaza with the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians, i.e. Arabs, will probably shift this balance.
Under these conditions, Ukraine's unequivocal support for either side may trigger undesirable consequences. Perhaps the best option for Kyiv is to join the position of the EU.
Firstly, because it will be the most weighted option due to the presence of different opinions within the EU. And secondly, because Kyiv will soon begin negotiations on joining the EU, and as such it should align itself more closely to the EU on key foreign policy issues.
Ultimately, this will also be the best position Ukraine can cite to partners from other continents who would like to drag the country to their side in the conflict.
A full siege is on in Gaza, and there's little room for escape for civilians.
Updated Oct. 13, at 5:55 p.m.
The reality of Palestinian civilians caught in the middle of warring parties has never been more evident than right now in northern Gaza.
Early Friday, the Israeli military told the United Nations that everyone living north of Wadi Gaza nature reserve should relocate “southwards” in the next 24 hours.
Just hours later, Hamas called on people in Gaza to stay where they are.
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“Remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation,” Hamas told those in the north of the besieged city, via a statement sent to media organizations. “Scenes of migration and displacement are a thing of the past and won’t be repeated, except with the victorious return of our people to our occupied land.”
Hamas, which was voted into power in Gaza, is also a heavily armed militia, and their demand that people not evacuate risks intimidating those that might want to try to leave.
Israel’s original announcement that people should leave northern Gaza is already an "impossible" demand, the United Nations said Friday. Any such attempt would bring major humanitarian consequences as it would involve displacing around 40,000 people per hour.
In response to the deadly Hamas terror attack last weekend that killed more than 1,000 Israelis, the government of Israel announced it was cuting off basic necessities such as food and water to the narrow strip of coastal land where more than 2 million Palestinians live. Meanwhile, bombing continues in Gaza, as a likely Israeli ground war approaches.
The UN has urged Israelis to withdraw the announcement. On the ground convoys of the International Red Cross and United Nations humanitarian agency staff have been spotted traveling south from Gaza City towards the southern part of territory, which may be in preparation for possible evacuation operation.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has called on the world to help “prevent a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, stressing there are “no safe areas” to evacuate.
“We do not have the means to evacuate the sick and the wounded in our hospitals, or the elderly and the disabled. There are no safe areas in the whole of the Gaza Strip,” it says in a statement.
The PRCS called on international aid organizations on the ground in Gaza including the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene with governments to “protect humanity and humanitarian space” and put pressure on “Israel to rescind this order.”
Later Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel's cutting off vital supplies to Gaza is a “breach of the most fundamental human rights.”
Israel drops leaflets over Gaza warning residents to flee
The Israeli military has been dropping leaflets from the skies above Gaza City. The flyers warn residents to flee "immediately" to southern Gaza.
Israel has been carrying out a heavy campaign of airstrikes in Gaza which have killed more than 1,500 people. It is also believed to be getting ready for a ground offensive into Gaza.
Gaza’s largest hospital will not evacuate
Despite orders by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to evacuate the northern half of Gaza, the Al Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in Gaza, will stay put. “We have nowhere to transport the patients to,” said Dr. Muhammad Abu Salima, the director of the hospital, justifying the decision on Friday.
Gaza’s hospital system is on the brink of collapse, with fuel and medical supplies being denied to the Palestinian territory by Israel’s siege. The Jordanian government sent a plane of medical supplies to Egypt on Thursday, intended to be delivered to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing between the coastal enclave and the Egyptian controlled Sinai Desert. The status of this aid is unknowable at this time.
Blinken meets with President of Palestinian Authority and the King of Jordan
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled on Friday to Amman to speak first with King Abdullah II of Jordan, followed by a meeting with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.
King Abdullah II cautioned “any attempt to displace Palestinians from all their lands or provoke their displacement,” during the meeting, according to French daily Le Monde.
Displacing Palastinians at a mass level would only “aggravate” the refugee crisis in neighboring countries, such as Jordan. The King demanded that humanitarian corridors remain open, so that medical supplies and other vital goods can be delivered to the people of Gaza.
Israel missiles hit Damascus, Aleppo airports
A Jan. 2 photo of Israeli soldiers near the Syrian border in a tank in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israel launched simultaneous missile strikes Thursday at two of Syria’s airports, in its capital Damascus and in the northern city of Aleppo, reports Syrian state news agency SANA. A Syrian military source told the agency that the runways of both airports have been damaged, and both hubs are now out of service. There are no immediate reports of casualties.
The military source said "bursts of missiles" hit the two airports at the same time, in what he said was a bid to distract the world's attention from Israel's war with Hamas militants in Gaza.
If confirmed, the strike raises the risk of a region-wide expansion of the six-day-old war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. A longstanding enemy of Israel, which occupies the Golan Heights, Syria is allied with regional power Iran, and Thursday's strikes came a day before Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, was due to visit Syria.
The strike also coincided with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinkens’ visit to Israel, and came hours after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi spoke by phone with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, calling on Arab and Islamic countries to cooperate in confronting Israel.
Israel has vowed to defeat Hamas movement that rules Gaza, after Saturday’s attack that has killed more than 1,000 civilians. Tehran has celebrated the Hamas attacks but denied being behind them.
On Tuesday, Israeli troops fired artillery and mortar shells towards Syria after rockets from southern Syria hit Israeli positions across the border. For years, Israel has carried out strikes against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, including against the Aleppo and Damascus airports.
Sources have said strikes on the airports are intended to disrupt Iranian supply lines to Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that started in 2011.
Israel links siege to fate of hostages
Israel has decided to use its ongoing siege of Gaza — which has cut off vital supplies to 2.2 million Palestinians since Tuesday — as a hardline bargaining chip to force Hamas to release scores of civilian hostages being held since Saturday’s attack in southern Israel.
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that Gaza will not be provided with any electricity, water, or fuel until Israeli hostages are returned home. Katz took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and posted that “no electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened, and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home. Humanitarian for humanitarian.”
People in Gaza can still use power generators for electricity but with all sides of the border blocked, the fuel needed for the generators to work is running out. Hamas militants are holding as many as 150 hostages in Gaza, and the Israeli government has confirmed the identity of 97 of them.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s sole electric power station has been switched off, and over-capacity hospitals are running out of fuel. Hospitals in Gaza "risk turning into morgues" as they lose power during Israel's bombardment of the enclave, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned on Thursday.
This showdown over the siege and hostages comes as Israel is preparing for what many believe is an imminent ground invasion into Gaza. A new Israeli unity government and war cabinet that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed with opposition leader Benny Gantz must take into account the hostage situation.
One extreme-right government minister has been quoted in the Israeli press saying "now is the time to be brutal”, suggesting that the fate of the hostages is not a relevant factor moving forward. Many others are pushing for Israel to do everything it can to rescue them, especially as families of the hostages make public appeals.
On Wednesday night, al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, released a video allegedly showing the release of a female captive and two children. Israel dismissed the video as “theatrics” intended to distract from the group’s “true face as a barbaric organization”. Furthermore, Hamas warned that it would start executing hostages if Israel targeted people in Gaza without warning.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Israel has never dealt with a hostage situation like this: "Not in the scope, not in the magnitude and not in the complexity of where our hostages are." Conricus also added that the hostages are being kept underground, to "keep them safe from Israeli intelligence, and efforts to get them out."
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Thursday to show solidarity and seek to prevent the war from spreading as well as push for the release of captives. In a conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken has reassured Israel that they will “never, ever” have to fight alone.
Israel clarifies goals of ground offensive
IDF fires artillery shells into Gaza as fighting between Israeli troops and Islamist Hamas militants continues.
Daniel Hagari, Israel’s top military spokesman, articulated on Thursday that the main priority of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is to “eliminate” all senior members of Hamas and to eradicate the “ability of Hamas” to govern in Gaza according to the New York Times.
This is one of the first instances that a high ranking Israeli official has indicated a clear military objective since the beginning of the war on Saturday. It remains unclear what Israel’s political solution will be in Gaza if Hamas, which has dominated Gaza’s partially-autonomous government since the faction was elected in 2006, is successfully rooted out by the IDF. More than 1,300 have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes, with 338,000 displaced.
Volodymyr Zelensky wants to go to Israel
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to go to Israel to show solidarity with the country amid the fighting in Gaza according to Ukrainian and Israeli officials cited by Axios. A visit by Zelensky would boost international support for Israel's counteroffensive against Hamas in Gaza. Zelensky also told reporters on Wednesday that in the early days of Russia’s invasion, it was critical for Ukraine to feel international support.
"This is why I urge all leaders to visit Israel and show their support for the people. I'm not talking about any institutions, but about support for the people who suffered from terrorist attacks and are dying today," Zelensky said after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels.
Since Hamas' attack on Saturday, Zelensky has given Israel strong public support and equated Hamas to Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Israeli tourists in India try to get home
“I’m scared to go back. I’m scared that the situation will get out of hand,” says Shira Zer. This young Israeli realized something was wrong when her flight from New Delhi’s airport to Israel was canceled on Saturday. She then learned about the terrible news, including the death of one of her friends at the music festival raided by Hamas militants. Since the attack, Israeli tourists have been gathering in the Indian capital’s Chabad House to discuss the situation, find comfort and pray.
Clément Perruche, French daily Les Echos’ correspondent in India, talks with some of the Israelis trying to go back amid suspended flights, and gets their first reactions. “It’s terrible. Imagine you are sleeping and someone comes to kill you. What these terrorists did is not human,” says a young Israeli woman.
Jordan sends supplies to Gaza
The Rafah crossing along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt has been reported reopened after it was closed by Egyptian authorities on Tuesday due to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza side. The crossing remains the only current escape route out of Gaza for Palestinian civilians fleeing Israeli airstrikes and the all but imminent ground invasion of Gaza. CNN later reported that it is “unclear” whether the border has been reopened.
The crossing is far from ideal however — only 400 people are allowed to cross into Egypt from Gaza during “normal” times. It is unclear if Egyptian authorities will increase this quota given the extreme circumstances and unprecedented volume of fleeing Palestinians. Egyptian border agents are likely to take security quite seriously, out of fear that Hamas fighters may attempt to relocate and take refuge in the Sinai Desert — potentially slowing down its ability to process fleeing Gazans.
Jordan has sent “medicine and medical supplies” to Egypt by plane to be delivered to Gaza. The scope and scale of the supply convoy is unknown at this time, but is undoubtedly a welcome sign to civilians in Gaza who have been cut off by Israel from electricity, food, water and fuel.
More than 100 antisemitic acts have been recorded in France since Saturday
.@GDarmanin : "Depuis samedi, c'est plus d'une centaine d'actes antisémites, essentiellement des tags, et des actes plus graves : 24 personnes ont été interpellées" #le710Interpic.twitter.com/jLBrmI67PU
More than 100 anti-Semitic acts, consisting mainly of “graffiti” have been recorded by French police since Saturday, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in an interview with radio station France Inter.The graffiti includes swastikas and calls to kill Jews, in addition to "some more serious acts," including people with weapons stopped at the entrance to Jewish sites, he said.
There is currently no specific Islamist terrorist threat targeting Jews in France, Darmanin added. But he warned that "hate online has been unleashed," with an "extremely raised" level of reports of antisemitic abuse online.
"If it's a protest in support of Hamas or in support of the action by some Palestinians against Israel, it's 'No.' So, since Sunday we're prohibiting them on a case-by-case basis," Darmanin said, following the bans of several pro-Palestinian protests in France. "The Palestinian cause is absolutely respectable."
Elon Musk’s X says it has removed "hundreds" of Hamas-affiliated accounts
Social Media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, claimed on Wednesday that it has removed “hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts” after deleting thousands of posts since the war began on Saturday. The European Union (EU) gave Billionaire Elon Musk’s X 24 hours to address illegal content and disinformation related to the conflict before facing penalties under the Digital Services Act, a recently enacted EU law passed by the European Commission.
X has faced widespread criticism for allowing misinformation to flourish, a phenomenon amplified by the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel this week.
Equating the Hamas attack on Israel with the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a way to keep attention, and aid, coming for his nation's war. But the situations are quite different, and Zelensky's clear stance on the side of Israel risks losing both attention and support.
-Analysis-
The surprise Hamas attack on Israel has sparked a major war in the Middle East, and shifted global attention away from Ukraine for the first time since February 2022.
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not hidden his fear that the developments in the Middle East could threaten military support for Ukraine, making a surprise visit to Brussels on Wednesday where NATO defense ministers were meeting. “I want to be honest with you: Of course it is a dangerous situation for people in Ukraine,” he told reporters at his first visit to NATO headquarters since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The sudden focus on the Middle East comes as doubts were already rising about so-called "war fatigue" among Western allies, including political instability in Poland and Republicans in the U.S. Congress threatening to cut off aid for Kyiv. “If there are other tragedies in the world, there is only a certain amount of military support to share," Zelensky said. "And Russia hopes that support will be divided.”
Aware that there is little prospect of a quick war in Gaza, and the world's attention swinging fully back to Ukraine, Zelensky has apparently made a clear choice to pick a side in the Middle East. He has compared the Israeli victims of the Hamas terror attack with Ukrainians targeted by the Russian invaders.
While there are innocent lives lost in both cases, and the Western coalition is currently being united in Israel's favor as it's done for Ukraine, it's unclear if the comparison will work to Zelensky's favor in the long run.
Russia's shift toward Palestinians
Zelensky made a point this week of encouraging world leaders to visit Israel, as they did in the early weeks of Russia’s invasion. “It was very important not to be alone, very important,” Zelensky said of the support Ukraine received in the initial days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, adding that visits from world leaders were an important symbol of solidarity.
Putin is aligning with the Global South.
The Russian government has taken a very different approach to the outbreak of violence in the Middle East. President Vladimir Putin deplored the loss of innocence lives, but did not denounce Hamas by name. And though he has had a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the past, Putin has focused more recently on aligning his view on the region with the Global South.
Responding to questions Friday, Putin said Israel was using "quite cruel methods” in Gaza in response to last weekend's attack.
“In my view it is unacceptable,” Putin said. “More than two million people live there. Far from all of them support Hamas by the way, far from all. But all of them have to suffer, including women and children. Of course it’s hard for anyone to agree with this.”.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former President, Dmitry Medvedev, took the opportunity to blame the U.S.: “The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going on for decades. And the U.S. is a key player there,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram. "Instead of actively working on a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, these idiots have crept into our country and are helping neo-Nazis with all their might, pitting two close peoples against each other."
Zelensky, who is himself Jewish, made explicit comparisons between Putin and Hamas, and said Western military aid was crucial to destroy global terrorism once and for all. He said he also feared Russia would move to exploit the conflict in Israel because its interest was “permanent destabilization” and “decreasing assistance to Ukraine.”
“If you don’t help Ukraine, Russia will gain power and the war will not end, Russia will move forward in EU countries," he said. "The cheapest option for everyone is stop warfare in our country and to get them out of our territory.”
ODESSA - Main marine terminal in Odessa in Southern Ukraine, damaged by shelling.
In its support for Israel and articulating the threat posed by Hamas, Ukraine has the potential to strengthen its alliance with this critical partner and possibly garner stronger backing in the U.S.. Furthermore, by drawing parallels between the experiences of Ukraine and Israel, Zelensky hopes to reinforce Ukraine's place within the U.S.-Europe alliance and "stay in the conversation" even when the focus is on the Middle East.
While it may be valid to draw certain parallels between the two conflicts, it's important to acknowledge that there are significant differences. In the more immediate terms, Israel’s sustained air raids on Gaza and “total siege” of the civilian population present a stark contrast to Ukraine that is almost exclusively defending itself from invaders on its own territory. Indeed, in broader terms, international community does not recognize the current Israeli government's claims to territory in the same way it views Kyiv's defense of its territories.
Will linking U.S. aid to Israel and aid to Ukraine could overcome the persistent Republican opposition to the latter?
Since Russia's aggression in 2014 and the full-scale invasion in 2022, most Israelis have stood with Ukraine, supporting resolutions in the UN General Assembly aimed at protecting Ukraine's sovereignty. Ukraine, in turn, has unequivocally supported Israel in its right to self-defense.
Oleksandr Demchenko of Kyiv-based Livy Bereg wrote this week that one concrete measure the Ukrainian government should do right away is to join most Western nations in officially designating Hamas a terrorist organization.
In Washington, there are hopes that linking U.S. aid to Israel and aid to Ukraine could overcome the persistent Republican opposition to the latter. U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, who traveled Friday to Israel announced a new $200 million military aid package to Ukraine, adding “We can do both [manage the war in Ukraine and Middle East] and we will do both… The United States will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
For the West — and in some way for Ukraine as well — the widening global conflict now has two fronts.
The deep dysfunction of American democracy is bringing smiles (and big ideas) to autocratic regimes around the world, convinced that it is a sign of the West in decline.
-Analysis-
PARIS — Imagine you are in Vladimir Putin’s office in the Kremlin, or with Xi Jinping at Chinese government headquarters in Beijing, and you're watching political events unfold in the United States.
You see the President of the United States entrenched in a political crisis that is preventing him from passing additional aid to Ukraine, and is facing the threat of a government shutdown. The Speaker of the House has just been impeached by members of his own party. Pure political chaos, in other words, is threatening to paralyze a global superpower.
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
In Moscow and Beijing, these images are enough to reinforce their view, which has been ingrained for years, that the West is facing irreversible decline. Rightly or wrongly, this view dictates their military, diplomatic and political calculations, and could lead them to make risky decisions as a result.
The most recent round of political frenzy in Washington has taken everyone by surprise. Just last week, after a compromise deal between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Democratic Party leaders stripped $6 billion of Ukraine aid from the government budget, President Joe Biden called his European allies to reassure them that he reached a separate deal with the Republican leader to provide aid to Ukraine through a separate avenue.
But when far-right members of the House of Representatives found out about the deal and voted to impeach McCarthy, the future of aid to Ukraine has now become uncertain.
Ukraine as a domestic issue
Biden’s tone has since changed, and he has announced a “major speech” to remind Americans of the importance of this issue. The presidential campaign, which will continue to heat up from now until November 2024, is already having far-reaching consequences. For now, it leaves 13 months of uncertainty about Ukraine aid before Americans head to the polls.
The Biden administration has workarounds, namely Executive Orders, which are presidential decrees that don’t require approval from Congress. But the president’s power is limited in this regard, and the uncertainty weakens Ukraine.
The threat of Donald Trump returning is too real to ignore.
On Thursday, at a European summit in Granada, Spain, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed confidence, but there is undoubtedly cause for concern.
The crisis in Washington shows how the subject of Ukraine has become a domestic political issue. A majority of Americans still support aid to Ukraine, but Republicans are increasingly opposed. The bipartisan approach to supporting Ukraine, which has worked until now, is in jeopardy.
Concern about the mess in Washington has also spread elsewhere in the world, notably in Taiwan, which relies on the United States to defend itself against China. The bipartisan approach against China remains intact, but the threat of Donald Trump returning to the White House is too real to ignore.
As the different American disaster scenarios begin to come into focus —in Moscow and Beijing, they are watching it all with delight.
Welcome to Tuesday, where an explosion at a fuel depot in Nagorno-Karabakh kills 20, South Korea flexed its military hardware, and Taylor Swift’s NFL rumored beau goes viral. Meanwhile, in independent Latin American journal Volcánicas, Sher Herrera considers the roots and ramifications of the “white savior syndrome” and how it lives on in modern times.
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• At least 20 dead in Nagorno-Karabakh fuel depot blast, refugee count doubles: At least 20 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in an explosion at a fuel depot outside Stepanakert, in Nagorno-Karabakh. It is not yet clear what caused the blast. The incident comes as the Armenian government said 13,350 refugees crossed into the country from the defeated breakaway enclave on the first day of the exodus. Meanwhile, the U.S. has called on Azerbaijan to “take concrete steps to protect the rights of civilians” and let in aid.
• Ukraine and Russia trade drone attacks, Black Sea Fleet commander reported dead: Kyiv's air force said it destroyed 26 of 38 Russian drones fired overnight, adding the key Ukrainian grain exporting port of Izmail was hit again, while Moscow said it repelled several Ukrainian drone attacks over the Belgorod and Kursk regions. Meanwhile, Ukraine's special forces said on Monday that they had killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet and Moscow's top admiral in Crimea, along with 33 other officers in a missile attack last week. The Russian Defence Ministry hasn’t confirmed the news. Here’s the exclusive account of a Ukrainian special forces soldier who survived after being thrown overboard in the Black Sea: Worldcrunch’s EN version of a Ukrainska Pravda reportage.
• Joe Biden in Michigan to woo striking auto workers: U.S. President Joe Biden is set to join striking members of the United Auto Workers union on Tuesday on a picket line in Wayne County, Michigan, on the eve of a visit from former President Donald Trump. The union members are striking against the Big Three automakers, General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, for a second week, over wages and job security.
• South Korea hosts Japan & China diplomats, holds first military parade in decade: South Korea has hosted senior diplomats from China and Japan on Tuesday in a rare meeting aimed at kickstarting trilateral exchanges and ease Beijing’s concerns about Seoul and Tokyo’s deepening security ties with the U.S. The three countries agreed to revive a long-suspended three-way summit which last took place in 2019. On the same day, South Korea staged its first military parade in a decade, showcasing an arsenal of advanced weaponry in the streets of Seoul.
• Thailand activist jailed over calls for royal reform: Arnon Nampa, one of Thailand's most prominent political activists and human rights lawyer, has been sentenced to four years in prison under the country's lese-majeste law, after he called for royal reform during protests in 2020. Arnon’s lawyer said he would appeal the ruling.
• First Lahaina residents return to charred neighborhood: The first of thousands of residents who lost their homes in the deadly wildfire that ravaged the Hawaii town of Lahaina were able to return to the charred remains of their properties on Monday. Last month, the flames had killed 97 people in Maui and destroyed most of the historic town of Lahaina.
• Nelson Mandela's granddaughter dies at 43: Author and activist Zoleka Mandela, granddaughter of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, died on Monday evening after a prolonged battle with breast cancer at the age of 43.
Brazilian daily Estado De Minas dedicates their cover to a weather record — Belo Horizonte, the capital city of southeastern Brazil’s Minas Gerais state and the country’s sixth largest city, recorded its highest temperature ever. The city, referred to as “BH” on the front page, saw the mercury rise to 38,6 °C (101,48 °F) on Monday, the highest in the mountainous city since 1961, when temperature records began.
U.S. journalist Jarrett Payton’s video showing American pop icon Taylor Swift leaving with Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce has been viewed 15.8 million times within a day of posting on X, formerly Twitter. Payton described his four-second clip of the singer leaving Kansas City's Arrowhead stadium with her rumored new boyfriend, saying: “Talk about being at the right place at the right time!”
The colonial spirit and “soft racism” of white savior syndrome
Tracing back to Christian colonialism, which was supposed to somehow “civilize” and save the souls of native people, “white savior syndrome” lives on in modern times: from Mother Teresa to Princess Diana and the current First Lady of Colombia, Verónica Alcocer, writes Sher Herrera in independent Latin American journal Volcánicas.
🙏 Unlike overt racism, which defends white superiority through enslavement and annihilation, soft racism believes in the inferiority of racialized people but reaffirms white superiority through acts of benevolence and charity, adopting superhero attitudes. In essence, the white savior syndrome is a reaffirmation of whiteness that tends to benefit whiteness itself, as it assuages the conscience of white individuals, making them feel like better people than they actually are.
🔍 This phenomenon has also been analyzed by American psychologist Ramani Durvasula, who characterizes white saviors as community narcissists. She describes these individuals as enthusiastic leaders who always get what they want by manipulating and even exploiting other people who also want to save the world. How could anyone refuse to contribute even a small effort to save the world when they have everything?
👏 Their primary motivation for saving a racialized community lies in public validation, be it through likes and comments on social media or through praise from their family, partners, friends, or religious communities. Since white saviors fail to listen to the communities they claim to save, they often remain unaware of or fail to understand the needs and desires of these communities, or worse, simply do not care.
"What happened on the day should not have happened."
— Gymnastics Ireland issued a statement on their official website on Monday to apologize for the treatment of a young black gymnast in 2022. The video of the incident, which went viral on Friday, shows an official skipping the only black gymnast as she hands medals to a row of girls. The footage drew international attention, with U.S. star gymnast Simone Biles offering the Irish athlete support.
Drone air attacks continue in Russia's capital, with evidence that Ukraine has figured out how to target certain buildings belonging to Vladimir Putin's entourage. It's a clear message from Kyiv.
Another drone attack rocked central Moscow on Wednesday — and again the significance of Ukraine striking anywhere in the Russian capital should not be underestimated. It’s the sixth attack of its kind since July 30. Yet the importance of the summer barrage may go even further: the target Wednesday was a building known to belong to an important member of the entourage of President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin appears to want to downplay and obfuscate information about the actual targets. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported no casualties,but said that several windows had been blown in on a neighboring five-story building. The Defense Ministry said the drone had been suppressed by electronic warfare and collided with the building after losing control.
Meanwhile, the Russian Telegram channel Mash reported that a drone had hit the One Tower building, which was reprinted by various other publications. Yet according to photos and videos of the explosion analyzed by the Russian independent news site Agentsvo, the drone actually hit the Moscow Towers skyscraper which is currently under construction, and not One Tower.
Targeted buildings
In 2017, the developer of Moscow Towers partnered with the Russian businessman and property manager Grigory Baevsky, who has deep and longstanding connections with Putin and loyal Russian oligarchs, the Rotenberg brothers. According to an investigation carried out by the Organized Crime and Corruption — Reporting Project (OCCRP), Baevsky formerly bought up luxury apartments in the Moscow area before giving them to Putin's daughter Katerina Tikhonova, the sister of Putin’s former partner Alina Kabaeva and Kabaeva’s grandmother.
In 2020, the ownership of Moscow Towers, previously held by the Grand City company, was transferred to the Graz closed-end mutual fund. This transition was overseen by the management company Fin-Partner, which has connections to the Rotenberg brothers.
Fin-Partner also oversees Berocci, another closed-end mutual fund, which acquired four plots of land and two houses in the exclusive Usovo Plus village. This village is situated near Putin's Rublevka residence, known as Novo-Ogaryovo. An article by "Project" magazine linked this property to Maria Vorontsova, the daughter of the president.
A member of a Ukrainian military brigade carrying a drone for launch during a mission in the Kherson area, a few kilometers from the Russian front. July 26, 2023
Also on Wednesday in Russia's Belgorod region, a drone attack has killed three people. Belgorod's Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov blamed Kyiv for the attack on the region which is located near Ukraine's border.
But ultimately, the far greater threat for the Kremlin are the attacks on the capital. Earlier, two more drones were shot down by Russian air defense in the Mozhaisk and Khimki districts of the Moscow region, the Ministry of Defense reported. According to state-run RIA Novosti, in Khimki, the wreckage of a drone fell on a private house. The roof of the building partially collapsed, and the wall of a non-residential building was also damaged. No casualties have been reported.
It's a stark reminder that Ukraine will stop at nothing to dismantle these connections.
Due to the UAV (drone) attack, the capital's airports were temporarily shut down. Two flights were sent to alternate airfields, the Federal Air Transport Agency said.
Attacks on Moscow have indeed become commonplace. This is the sixth day in a row that the Russian capital has come under fire. On August 18, a drone hit the Expocentre building. On July 30 and August 1, drones flew into a government high-rise in the IQ quarter in the Moscow International Business Center
These recent attacks on the capital also help shine a light on the underlying corruption and connections that are ostensibly fueling Russia’s war in Ukraine. The incident also stands as a stark reminder that Ukraine will stop at nothing to dismantle these very connections.
