The World Briefly

October 31, 2022

A Different Kind of Hostage

RussiaUkraine

Russia suspended its participation in the United Nations-brokered deal to allow grain shipments from Ukraine over the weekend, a move that raised concerns over food shortages and skyrocketing cereal prices around the world, The Hill reported. Russia’s ministry of defense explained that the decision came after...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

October 28, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to accuse Ukraine of preparing to detonate a “dirty bomb,” an allegation with no basis, but one raising fears in the West that the Kremlin was manufacturing an excuse to intensify its war in Ukraine, according to the...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

October 21, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

This week, there were more signs that Russia’s hold on gains in Ukraine is tenuous at best. For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law in four of Ukraine’s illegally-annexed regions at the same time that Russia began evacuating large numbers of citizens from...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

October 14, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

This week, capping days of attacks on Kyiv and other cities in what most Western officials believe is in retaliation for an explosion on a bridge linking Russia to Crimea, Russia launched a drone attack using Iranian hardware in the capital’s region and fired a...

Read full story →

The World Briefly

October 11, 2022

Tit-for-Tat

Ukraine

Moscow launched a barrage of missiles on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Monday, strikes that came just days after the Kremlin blamed Ukrainian forces for an explosion on a key bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014,...

Read full story →

Need to Know

October 10, 2022

Great Russia

RussiaUkraine

When Ukrainian forces recently retook the city of Lyman from Russian occupiers, resident Elena Kharkovska was surprised to learn that Russian President Vladimir Putin had considered her to be one of his constituents for one day. Lacking electricity or communications while the bullets and bombs...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

October 07, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed documents annexing four areas of eastern Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson – even as Kyiv pushed the Russian army further out of three of those areas, the BBC reported. The annexation followed “shotgun” referendums in those...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

September 30, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

This week, President Vladimir Putin said he would sign documents annexing the four Ukrainian regions on Friday, Reuters reported. Russia is racing to secure these territorial claims as the Ukrainian army has been recapturing territory held by Russia, a humiliating defeat for the bigger power....

Read full story →

Need to Know

September 26, 2022

The Dangers of Desperation

RussiaUkraine

The once-vaunted, now-demoralized Russian military could be on the brink of collapse – a retired British Air Marshal put the odds at 35 percent in a recent interview with Sky News. By now, seven months after the invasion of Ukraine, this mighty military was to have...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

September 23, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

This week saw moves by Russian President Vladimir Putin to shore up the effort to bring Ukraine to its knees, actions analysts say are a sign of Russia’s desperation in the face of battlefield successes by Ukraine. For example, Putin said Wednesday he would activate...

Read full story →

The World Briefly

September 22, 2022

A Call For Sacrifice

RussiaUkraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial military draft Wednesday, a move that would put the nation’s people and economy on a wartime footing amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, CNBC reported. Putin announced that “mobilization events” would begin, adding that he had previously ordered a...

Read full story →

Need to Know

September 19, 2022

Humiliating Goliath

Ukraine

In the first few weeks of September, Ukrainian forces retook more than 2,300 square miles of territory that Russia had occupied. In what the BBC called “a potential breakthrough in the war,” Ukraine had control over cities in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, driving back...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

September 16, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin vowed Thursday to “inject stability into a turbulent world,” amid global economic turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Washington Post reported. The announcement came as the two leaders met in Uzbekistan during a...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

September 09, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

Ukraine

This week, a Ukrainian counteroffensive near the northeastern city of Kharkiv appeared to be proving difficult for Russian forces to contain on Thursday, amid reports that Kyiv’s forces had advanced more than 30 miles in a breakthrough involving tanks and artillery, the Moscow Times reported. Ukrainian...

Read full story →

Need to Know

September 05, 2022

The Long Road

Ukraine

Just over six months after the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Sébastien Roblin at NBC News was thinking that Ukraine’s current counteroffensive to liberate the city of Kherson might prove to be the decisive gambit to bring about the beginning of the end of the...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

September 05, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

The Group of Seven industrialized nations will impose a price restriction on Russian oil, with the goal of undermining the Kremlin’s finances while keeping energy flowing to the West, the Washington Post wrote. The price cap plan aims to reduce the massive energy profits...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

September 02, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

Russia has lost more than 900 special forces soldiers, paratroopers, marines and pilots in over six months of war in Ukraine, the Moscow Times reported. The deaths of such soldiers are especially troublesome for the Russian Armed Forces because they are extremely expensive to...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

September 01, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

RussiaUkraine

The European Union has struck a political agreement to suspend a visa facilitation arrangement with Russia, making it more difficult and expensive for Russian tourists to obtain visas, but the action falls far short of the blanket ban demanded by some politicians, the Washington...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

August 31, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

Ukraine

Foreign ministers in the European Union are set to agree to suspend a visa facilitation arrangement with Moscow, forcing Russians to wait longer and pay more for permits, while the group remains divided over an outright EU travel embargo, Reuters reported. North Korea plans...

Read full story →

Ukraine Briefly

August 30, 2022

Ukraine, Briefly

Ukraine

  The Ukrainian military announced Monday that it has begun offensive operations in a number of locations close to the front line in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, possibly indicating the start of a massive and eagerly awaited counteroffensive intended to retake land taken...

Read full story →