This week, Group of Seven (G7) leaders concluded a NATO summit by announcing a major security program to enhance Ukraine’s defenses, even though they stopped short of inviting Kyiv into the military alliance, the Washington Post reported. The agreement aims to provide long-term military and...
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The Wagner Group, the Russian military contractor, arrived in the Central African Republic (CAR) in 2018 to help President Faustin-Archange Touadéra fight off a rebellion. Since then, the group has deployed thousands of soldiers to Libya, Mali, Sudan, and elsewhere in Africa. After Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin recently...
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This week, Ukrainian forces began employing tactics that prioritize manpower conservation, which may result in slower territorial advancements, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), as reported in Euronews. However, the ISW emphasizes that this pace does not indicate a stalemate or...
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Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has survived Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group’s apparent coup attempt, the world is wondering what happens next. Charges against Prigozhin, who supposedly is in Belarus, and the Wagner military contractors who marched on Moscow have been dropped. As France...
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This week, Russian authorities detained Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia's military operations in Ukraine over allegations that he sided with mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin during the short-lived rebellion over the weekend, Al Jazeera reported. His arrest comes as part of an alleged...
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In the 1770s, a Cossack named Emelian Pugachev rebelled against Catherine the Great. As described in Alexander Pushkin’s novel, “The Captain’s Daughter,” peasants furious at the Russian army’s corruption fueled the rebellion. But Pugachev’s uprising failed. He was captured and publicly executed in Moscow. Today, Russians...
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Russian President Vladimir Putin faced the most significant challenge to his rule of more than two decades after mercenary troops of his former ally Yevgeny Prigozhin launched a brief armed rebellion in southern Russia and came within 120 miles of the capital before withdrawing in...
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This week, Ukraine reportedly launched an attack on a bridge connecting southern Ukraine to the Crimean Peninsula using long-range British-supplied missiles, according to Russian officials, the BBC said. The attack damaged the Chonhar bridge, which is crucial for transportation between Crimea and the front line...
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Commemorated on June 12, Russia Day celebrates the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic’s declaration of independence in 1990. Festivities in Moscow this year lacked much patriotic fervor, however. “For me, it’s a holiday of bureaucracy,” an anonymous Muscovite told the Moscow Times. “I never thought...
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This week, Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia entered a crucial phase, with both sides engaged in a battle of attrition, according to Reuters. Russian forces have fortified their positions with obstacles and defenses, while Ukraine aimed to exploit gaps in Russia’s defense for tactical advantage. Moscow’s...
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Theories abound about the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine. As CNN reported, Russian officials said the Ukrainians destroyed the dam in order to starve the Crimean Peninsula of water. The region is a former Ukrainian peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014....
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This week, Ukrainian forces reportedly kicked off their counteroffensive with the aim of retaking Russian-occupied territory, according to Russian sources, as reported by Newsweek. The offensive allegedly involved a ground attack toward Zaporozhzhia but was repelled by Russian troops. Russian media reported increased fire and...
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This week, the Russian capital of Moscow experienced its first drone attack on residential areas since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began last year, the Moscow Times reported. The attack damaged a number of buildings in Moscow but there were no casualties. Russia blamed Ukraine for...
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Twenty-three years ago, respected Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen penned an op-ed in the New York Times describing the remilitarization of Russian life. She described rules and regulations to funnel boys into the service, the boosting of military spending by 50 percent, and military detachments “adopting”...
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This week, Russia and Belarus signed a deal formalizing the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear missiles on Belarusian territory, Al Jazeera noted. Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously announced the deployment in March, emphasizing Russia’s readiness to use nuclear weapons to defend its territorial integrity....
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This week, the Russian defense ministry acknowledged that Ukraine has made territorial gains in the battle for the east Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, with Ukrainian forces advancing on the flanks of Donetsk city just to the south, Newsweek reported. However, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder and...
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This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted that Ukraine’s military needs more time to prepare for a counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces, the Associated Press noted. Zelenskyy emphasized that launching an assault now would result in too many lives being lost. Ukraine has been preparing...
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This week, tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated as Moscow accused Kyiv of orchestrating a drone attack it claimed was an assassination attempt on President Vladimir Putin, according to CBS News. In retaliation, Russia launched an overnight wave of drones on Ukraine, and while most...
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This week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visited Ukraine for the first time since Russia invaded the nation more than a year ago, assuring the country that the military alliance would continue to stand by it, The Hill reported. His trip comes days after Russian President...
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This week, leaked Pentagon documents posted on social media highlighted a pessimistic US viewpoint on the state of the war in Ukraine. The documents, which appear to date from February and March, underscored weaknesses in Ukraine’s weaponry and air defenses, and predicted a stalemate in...
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