Russia’s needless war in Ukraine uncovered the best and the worst sides of international politics and diplomacy. The best produced what looks currently like a win over Vladimir Putin’s war. The worst is that his lunacy against democracy continues. What now? First, the best. Bravo Ukraine! It stands
Vadym Prystaiko, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.K., said on Feb. 13 that Ukraine might contemplate the possibility of not joining NATO if this averts a further Russian invasion. The statement triggered a controversy in Ukraine. The statement comes amid the U.S. warnings that Russia might attack Ukraine
Editor’s Note: This is an analysis by experts from the Center for Defense Strategies: Andriy Zagorodnyuk, Alina Frolova, Oleksiy Pavliuchyk, and Viktor Kevlyuk. It was originally published in Ukrainian by Ukrainska Pravda on Feb. 12. The Kyiv Independent has translated it and is republishing it with permission. On Feb.
On Monday, as Ukraine was bracing for a possible Russian invasion and another punishing Covid-19 wave, President Volodymyr Zelensky held an event on digital transformation which resembled something out of Apple founder Steve Jobs' playbook. Flashy graphics and cool suits framed a presentation which included a pledge to gift heavily
While certain aspects of Russia’s attack on Ukraine have been novel, Moscow’s approach to the conflict echoes a range of far more traditional tactics from the era of Soviet expansionism.
Poland, which recently joined the club of nations supporting Ukraine with weaponry against the looming Russian aggression threat, decided to provide Ukraine with better weapons than previously expected. Instead of PZR Grom, the Polish military's workhorse anti-aircraft missile systems promised to Kyiv, Poland is sending a more advanced and modern
Edmonton, CANADA — When Andriy Tovstiuk joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 2016, he knew exactly why he was doing it: to get on Operation UNIFIER in his ancestral home, Ukraine. Three years later, his goal was realized when he was deployed to Ukraine as a linguist working at three Non-Commissioned
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba held a briefing for journalists from foreign media outlets on Feb. 2, to address recent developments in Russia's ongoing military build-up around Ukraine.
Last July, Vladimir Putin supplied the mythical basis for Russian war propaganda in an essay titled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” The essential idea is that Russia has the right to Ukraine because of things that happened a thousand years ago in Kyiv. At the time, the
Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly addressed tensions surrounding Ukraine for the first time since December as he accused the U.S. of using Kyiv as a “tool” to pull Russia into an armed conflict over its neighboring country. Putin said the U.S. and its allies have “ignored” Moscow’s
Editor’s Note: This op-ed was published by Atlantic Council. It is republished here with permission. With Russian troops massed along Ukraine’s borders and Vladimir Putin threatening a potentially devastating new invasion of the country, the drumbeat of Kremlin propaganda is also becoming noticeably louder. This is no surprise.
The Polish government has approved providing Ukraine with humanitarian aid and weaponry amid the ongoing all-out war threat from Russia. "A decision was made to transfer munitions of defensive, rather than of offensive, nature to the Ukrainian party," Pawel Soloch, the leader of Poland's National Security Bureau, said on Jan.
Editor’s Note: This op-ed was published by Atlantic Council. It is republished here with permission. With Russia threatening a new invasion of Ukraine, US and EU officials have been working on contingency plans to identify alternative energy supplies for European consumers in case Moscow disrupts westward deliveries of oil
On Wednesday, January 26, the United States’ ambassador in Moscow, John Sullivan, personally delivered a memorandum to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs containing the official US reply to earlier Russian demands on security guarantees. Simultaneously, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) handed over to Moscow its separate written response.
Ukraine is about to become the burial ground for the western rules-based global order, NATO, and the EU. The world’s dictators are watching. Vladimir Putin is at the top of his power with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine about to fall in his order. Iran is about to cross
Editor’s Note: This op-ed was published by Atlantic Council. It is republished here with permission. In a recent article on the current geopolitical crisis in Eastern Europe, Estonian MP and security expert Eerik-Niiles Kross made the perceptive and provocative statement, “We know what the Russians want, but we are
This opinion was originally published at New Canadian Media. It's been updated to include latest developments. Canada’s Federal government took a good step by deploying 60 more personnel to join 200 troops already on the ground, which came as part of a $340 million Canadian (US$268 million) commitment
The U.S. has not caved in to Russia’s demands to halt potential NATO expansion eastward, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news briefing on Jan. 26. “We will uphold the principle of NATO’s open-door policy,” he said. NATO followed suit, saying that it
The frightening risk of Europe’s most devastating war in nearly 80 years is growing ever more real as the United States warns that Russia could launch a massive new invasion in Ukraine “on very short notice” and readies NATO forces to deploy in Eastern Europe. The catastrophic effects of
A number of NATO militaries are putting their forces on standby and sending more warships and jet fighters to eastern Europe in a bid to deter Russia's aggressive build-up in and around Ukraine. In a statement released by the alliance on Jan. 24, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he
The British government has accused the Kremlin of seeking to install a pro-Russian leadership in Ukraine, in a statement on Jan. 22. "We have information that indicates the Russian government is looking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kyiv as it considers whether to invade and occupy Ukraine," the statement
After communism fell, Russia’s rulers, the siloviki (strongmen, like President Vladimir Putin and his cronies) experienced a period of uncertainty. Eventually, Russia came back under their control. They said, you can’t really run a Western democracy in a post-Soviet country, it just results in chaos. But then Latvia,
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov made a statement on Jan. 20 which has been perceived as a veiled threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Peskov expressed his concerns that implementation by the U.S. of new financial sanctions on Russia will encourage Ukrainian leadership to "start a new
Russia has begun sending its troops and combat vehicles to Ukraine’s northern neighbor Belarus ahead of next month’s joint military exercises, in a move likely to stir Western fears that Moscow is preparing to further invade Ukraine. Belarus's defense ministry announced on Jan. 18 that Russian troops have
Editor’s Note: The following is the latest edition of the Kyiv Independent’s newsletter, Ukraine Daily. If you would like to receive news about Ukraine in your mailbox six days a week subscribe here. It’s free. Russia’s war against Ukraine UK to provide Ukraine with anti-tank weapons.
Russia’s president made strong self-serving demands recently. Among them seeking security guarantees from the United States, its allies and NATO, determining NATO’s membership, and withholding military co-operation to the now independent former USSR states. Otherwise the Zircons will fly, he threatened. President Joe Biden shot back. Ukraine’s
The first thing I do every morning is grab my phone to read the latest news. And every morning I read about yet another ominous threat of Russia invading my home, Ukraine. It’s either Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Ukraine joining NATO would mean death to Russia as we
Russia launched a surprise combat readiness check of its military forces deployed in the Far East, amid an ongoing security crisis which threatens an escalation of Russia’s war with Ukraine. The drills envisage testing the capacity of the country's transportation grid to project military force "by large distances," according
The week of diplomacy with Russia ended without a clear resolution and Europe teetering on the brink of war. The West and Russia have reached an impasse, neither willing to budge on Russia’s core demand of excluding Ukraine from NATO and pulling NATO members’ forces back from Eastern Europe.
I have certainly put myself out there as having the most hawkish view on Russia (compared to the street consensus), but I still find it difficult to see anything but escalation by Russia with Ukraine from the current postures. Why? First, I just don’t see much room for compromise
Russia has neither accepted nor rejected de-escalation on Ukraine after meeting with NATO in Brussels on Jan. 12, according to U.S. Deputy State Secretary Wendy Sherman. The meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, the first since July 2019, is part of a week-long flurry of diplomacy in Europe. On Jan.
A new bill that's about to be introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives advocates for the U.S. to increase military funding to Ukraine and implement strict measures against Russia immediately, according to Politico. The bill, titled "Guaranteeing Ukrainian Autonomy by Reinforcing its Defense Act" (GUARD), is signed
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