The Wagner Group’s armed rebellion has displayed little evidence of being a successful challenge to Putin’s regime, but it has created a strong argument in support of Ukraine’s accelerated accession to NATO. The military drama that unfolded in Russia from June 23 to 24, orchestrated by Wagner Group head and “Putin’s chef” Yevgeny Prigozhin, marked the beginning of a new era for Putin’s Russia. The ironclad force of the Wagner Group, celebrated by Russian propaganda and decorated by the Kremlin

The Kremlin’s push for a “long war” against Ukraine may have a snowball effect on domestic insurgency within Russia. In the early morning of June 1, the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and the Free Russia Legion (LSR) crossed the Russian border from Ukraine once again. They engaged in combat with Russian forces in Shebekino, a town in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, causing civilians to evacuate. This was part of a sequence of operations conducted by Russian anti-Kremlin armed groups in the past weeks

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. Amid the failures of its full-scale war against Ukraine, Russia hurries up the overhaul of its nuclear strategy, indicating that the Kremlin understands that it has lost in Ukraine but tries to maintain credible nuclear threats. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu officially announced on April 4 that Belarus has already received nuclear-capable

Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in the op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. Putin's threats to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus reflect his goal to keep Crimea after Russia's defeat in the war. Three days after Chinese President Xi Jinping left Moscow for Beijing, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his intention to allow the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, a satellite dictatorship invo