U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov seem to have come to no agreement during their Feb. 12 telephone call concerning the threat of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Blinken reiterated that more aggression against Ukraine by Russia will result in "a resolute, massive,
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
U.S. President Joe Biden is planning to nominate Bridget Brink as the ambassador to Ukraine, Bloomberg and CNN reported on Jan. 31, citing their sources. The Department of State has not yet confirmed the reports. Brink currently heads the U.S. embassy in Bratislava. She has been appointed to
The United Nations Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security held on Jan. 31 turned into a sharp confrontation with little result, as Russia actively denied responsibility for its war against Ukraine. The council meeting led by Washington's UN envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield was set to discuss the
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that painting a Russian invasion as imminent or certain hurts Ukraine’s economy at a difficult time. The president took questions from a roomful of foreign journalists on Jan. 28, revolving around the threat of looming further invasion by Russia, which has 130,000 well-equipped troops
Allies in the West keep sending their emergency assistance to Ukraine, including extraordinary amounts of lethal weaponry, as Russia continues threatening a mass invasion. Over the last few days, the United States alone, as part of its additional $200 million aid package, has sent nearly 700 FGM-148 Javelin missiles and,
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 U.K. began to recall non-essential staff from its embassy in Kyiv on Jan. 24, amid growing fears of a full-scale Russian invasion. The U.K. Foreign Office had issued a statement saying that “some embassy staff and dependents are being withdrawn from Kyiv in response to growing threat.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has asked the State Department to authorize the departure of all non-essential staff and their families, CNN reported on Jan. 22, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter. The move comes amid an escalation of Russia’s aggressive rhetoric against Ukraine. The Kremlin is
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint on Jan. 20, with the intention of seizing $6 million from Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky's businesses, allegedly obtained with money stolen and laundered from PrivatBank. Federal prosecutors say Kolomoisky's businesses received the $6 million as proceeds from the sale
As Russia continues fueling a war crisis threatening a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more European nations consider and decide on providing Kyiv with defense aid, while traditional big backers like the U.S. and the U.K. render major additional packages of weapons and equipment. Over just the last few
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
The U.S. Department of the Treasury updated its list of sanctioned individuals on Jan. 20 by including four Ukrainian pro-Kremlin politicians to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. The Kremlin-linked individuals were sanctioned because they “engaged in Russian government-directed influence activities to destabilize Ukraine,” according to the
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv on Jan. 19 and met with Ukraine's top officials, amid the ongoing Russian threat. Blinken met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and discussed military aid, Ukraine's slowly-moving reforms, and the possible sanctions against Russia should it further
The assistance was approved in late December but the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden only confirmed it on Jan. 19, without sharing any details. Ukraine will get this package in addition to the $300 million in military aid that the U.S. also approved in December as part
The White House has confirmed on Jan. 19 that Russia has embassy evacuation plans from Ukraine, amid Kremlin's ongoing military escalation. “We have information indicating that the Russian authorities were preparing to evacuate family members of diplomats from their (Kyiv) embassy in late December and early January,” Jen Psaki, White
As Ukraine is encircled by Russian forces, it’s relying on Western allies to send weapons or threaten Russia with extreme sanctions to hold an invasion at bay. Many people in the German government don’t want to do either. This weakens the West’s threat of economic retaliation and
A group of U.S. senators is visiting Kyiv to show support for Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian military buildup. A bipartisan delegation consisting of seven U.S. senators — Jeanne Shaheen, Chris Murphy, Amy Klobuchar, Richard Blumenthal, Rob Portman, Kevin Cramer, and Roger Wicker — met with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba
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
Ukraine proposed to hold trilateral talks with the U.S. and Russia to resolve the conflict in Donbas. Andriy Yermak, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said so to U.S. diplomat John Herbst during an Atlantic Council webinar on Jan. 14. “We called for U.S. participation and
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
Josep Borrell, the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, will visit Ukraine from Jan. 4 to Jan. 6 in a show of support for Kyiv amid Russia’s military build-up along its border, the European Commission announced on Jan. 3. Borell will first visit
The U.S. government has agreed to give $20 million to strengthen Ukraine’s border with Russia and Belarus, Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said on Dec. 28. The news comes against a backdrop of looming Russian aggression. Since November, Ukrainian and Western intelligence have warned of a drastic
Ukraine, a European nation of 41 million, has been at the mercy of geopolitical forces far more than most similarly sized countries on the continent. The country is currently making global headlines due to Russia’s build-up of 122,000 troops on its borders, seemingly ready to launch an invasion.
Russia will meet with the U.S. to discuss "security guarantees" amid the ongoing tensions on the Ukrainian-Russian border on Jan. 11, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The meeting will take place one day before the planned NATO-Russia council summit. In a Dec. 27 interview with a Russian
Amid the ongoing security crisis, Moscow has suggested a grant agreement with the West that de facto aims to reinstate its Cold War time exclusive sphere of influence in Eastern Europe and also prevent Ukraine from ever joining NATO. After voicing a series of public demands and holding negotiations with
Nine U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill on Dec. 15 allocating $450 million to increase material support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including funding for weaponry, training, and military reform in 2022. The Guaranteeing Ukraine’s Autonomy by Reinforcing its Defense Act (GUARD Act) includes $100 million for anti-air defense
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki denied reports that U.S. President Joe Biden will pressure Ukraine to grant special autonomous status to the Russian-occupied Donbas region in a press briefing on Dec. 9. When asked whether the U.S. will pressure Ukraine to cede land to Russia, Psaki said
Two days after a conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Joe Biden held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Dec. 9 to discuss possible full-scale military action by Russia against Ukraine as the current tensions show no sign of abating. “Ukraine’s head of state
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