Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is marked on Christmas Eve.

On the impact of Ukraine’s nuclear power plant explosion on the infrastructure of the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine: an analysis with CNN

Editor’s Note: Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) is a global affairs analyst. He was the spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and is currently a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is a regular contributor to CNN Opinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion at CNN.

Even after the explosion that hit the important and symbolic Kerch Straight bridge over the weekend, fears of reprisals by the Kremlin were never far away.

Russia has shown that it can cause immense damage by targeting major Ukrainian cities, including the capital. Monday’s strikes heightens Russia-Ukraine conflict to one of its most dangerous phases since 2014. The tension was high from earlier statements of Putin suggesting that tactical nukes remain on the table.

The strikes occurred as kids were dropped off at schools and people were heading to work. A friend in Ukranian told me that she just got out of the bridge when it was struck.

There were reports of missiles and drones being shot down, but the area around my office in Odesa remained quiet in between the air raid sirens. At this time of the day, nearby restaurants would be busy with customers, and chatter about upcoming weddings and parties.

Just a few hours earlier Zaporizhzhia, a southeastern city that is close to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, was hit with a number of strikes on apartment buildings. At least 17 people were killed and several dozens injured.

In a video filmed Monday outside his office, Zelensky said that many of the missile strikes had been directed at the country’s energy infrastructure. At least 11 important infrastructure facilities in eight regions and the capital have been damaged; some provinces are without power, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

Some of the media outlets in the city temporarily moved their operations to underground bomb shelters, which are reminiscent of the early days of the war. Many people in a metro station taking refuge took cover on the platforms as a small group sang patriotic Ukrainian songs.

Businesses have been told to shift work online as much as possible after officials told millions of people in the cities to spend most of the day in bomb shelters.

The attacks could cause another blow to business confidence, and just as many areas of the country were starting to roar back to life.

Russian President Putin has become more effective at creating enemies and victims every day, as he has been able to expand his base against those he would seek to conquer. At home and abroad, there seems to be no limit to Putin’s appetite to wreak mayhem in pursuit of an ever more elusive victory.

Hardwiring newly claimed territory with expensive, record-breaking infrastructure projects seems to be a penchant of dictators. In 2018, Putin personally opened the Kerch bridge – Europe’s longest – by driving a truck across it. After Beijing reclaimed Macau and Hong Kong from the Portuguese and British, it was a point of pride for them to connect with the world’s longest sea crossing bridge. The bridge was opened after about two years of delays.

The Putin-Bridge Crisis: When Europe and the West can unite to oppose Putin’s actions on Ukraine in the wake of Monday’s KGB attacks

The explosion lit up social media in a very funny way. Many shared their sense of jubilation via text messages.

Sitting still was never an option for Putin as he was consumed by pride and self-interest. He responded by unleashing more death and destruction, which is what a former KGB spy would do.

Facing increasing criticism at home has placed Putin on thin ice, and was an act of selfish desperation.

Before Monday’s strikes, the Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate at Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, had told Ukrainian journalist Roman Kravets in late August that, “by the end of the year at the minimum we have to enter Crimea” – suggesting a plan to push back Russian forces to pre-2014 lines, which is massively supported by Ukrainians I’ve spoken to.

What is important is that Washington and other allies use telephone diplomacy to urge China and India to resist the urge to use even more deadly weapons, because they have some leverage over Putin.

It is crucial for the West to show unity and resolve in the face of a man who probes for weakness. Western governments should realize that rhetoric and sanctions have little to do with Putin’s actions. They need to continue to arm Ukrainians and provide urgent training, even if it means sending military experts closer to the battlefield to speed up the integration of high technology weapons.

It is necessary to protect the energy infrastructure around the country with high tech defense systems. With winter just around the corner, the need to protect heating systems is urgent.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/10/opinions/putin-russia-war-ukraine-strikes-crimea-bridge-bociurkiw/index.html

Moscow’s deterioration of the suffering of civilians in the early 2000s and Russia’s new invasion of Crimea: the challenge for the international community

Turkey and gulf states which get many Russian tourists need to be pressured into joining the western effort to further isolation of Russia with trade and travel restrictions.

MOSCOW — For months, Russia’s state media has insisted that the country was hitting only military targets in Ukraine, leaving out the suffering that the invasion has brought to millions of civilians.

On Monday, state television not only reported on the suffering, but also flaunted it. The picture showed smoke and carnage in the city and empty store shelves, as well as a long-range forecast predicting months of frigid temperatures in the city.

The fact that President Putin believed a brutal show of force was necessary for the sake of his audience at home was a sign of how domestic pressure had grown over Russia’s faltering war effort.

Editor’s Note: David A. Andelman, a contributor to CNN, twice winner of the Deadline Club Award, is a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, author of “A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Might Still Happen” and blogs at Andelman Unleashed. He formerly was a correspondent for The New York Times and CBS News in Europe and Asia. The views that are expressed are his own. CNN has more opinion.

The Importance of Russian Retaliation in the War on Crimea: The Case Against a Killing Insurgent from Ukraine

Polish and NATO leaders think a Ukrainian anti-aircraft rocket may have shot down an incoming Russian missile a short distance from one of the biggest cities in Ukraine. (President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, has insisted the missile was not Ukrainian)

Whatever the exact circumstances of the missile, one thing is clear. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg blames Russia for its illegal war againstUkraine.

Russian retaliation has been broadening as Ukrainian forces have continued to push back Russian units in the early days of the war.

There is more than one missile attack that Putin has launched that may have driven his nation further away from the civilized powers he once wanted to join.

The mines he planted in huge areas of Kherson were the same as the ones the Khmer Rouge planted in Cambodia many years ago. Cambodia has been called in to assist with the daunting task facing Ukraine in the year 2022. At the same time, Russian armies have also left behind evidence of unspeakable atrocities and torture, also reminiscent of the Khmer Rouge.

That said, a growing number of Russian soldiers have rebelled at what they have been asked to do and refused to fight. Amid plummeting morale, the UK’s Defense Ministry believes Russian troops may be prepared to shoot retreating or deserting soldiers.

The hotline and Telegram channel was set up by the Ukrainian military as an effort to assist Russian soldiers who were interested in defecting.

Putin has tried to establish black market networks in foreign countries to get what he needs to fuel his war machine but has been unsuccessful. The US discovered and recently imposed sanction on a vast network of Shadow companies and individuals centered in hubs like Taiwan, Armenia, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, and Luxembourg that are used to source high-tech goods for Russia.

Putin is increasingly isolated on the world stage. He was the only head of state to stay away from a session of the G20, which Zelensky dubbed the “G19.” Though Putin once lusted after a return to the G7 (known as the G8 before he was ousted after his seizure of Crimea), inclusion now seems but a distant dream. The ban on 100 Canadians, including Canadian-American Jim Carrey, was sudden, and made a comparison with North Korea even more striking.

Above all, many of the best and brightest in virtually every field have now fled Russia. Writers, artists, journalists and some of the most creative technologists are included.

One leading Russian journalist, Mikhail Zygar, who has settled in Berlin after fleeing in March, told me last week that while he hoped this is not the case, he is prepared to accept the reality – like many of his countrymen, he may never be able to return to his homeland, to which he remains deeply attached.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/opinions/putin-poland-missile-ukraine-nato-andelman/index.html

Putin’s Cold War with the West and the Status of the French-German Joint FACS Air System (FAIRS) Project: Summary as a Brief Report

Rumbling in the background is the West’s attempt to diversify away from Russian oil and natural gas in an effort to deprive the country of material resources to pursue this war. Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission told the G20 on Tuesday that it was an unsustainable dependence and that they wanted reliable and forward looking connections.

Putin had a dream that this conflict would lead to more wedges in the Western alliance, but it is not true. On Monday, word began circulating in aerospace circles that the long-stalled joint French-German project for a next-generation jet fighter at the heart of the Future Combat Air System – Europe’s largest weapons program – was beginning to move forward.

Above all, Putin still does not appear to have learned that revenge is not an appropriate way to act on or off the battlefield and in the final analysis is most likely to isolate and weaken Russia, perhaps irreversibly.

Still, he continues to hold, as he did in a Tuesday address in the Kremlin, that “attempts made by certain countries to rewrite and reshape world history are becoming increasingly aggressive, ultimately and obviously seeking to divide our society, take away our guiding lines and eventually weaken Russia.”

Ukrainian authorities have stepped up raids on churches they say are linked to Moscow, and many are watching to see if Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church.

The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Norwegian Prime Minister are going to dinner with the French President in Paris.

Also in France, on Tuesday, the country is set to co-host a conference with Ukraine in support of Ukrainians through the winter, with a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

State of Ukraine: Twenty-Year-Old News from Russia, Russia’s War in Ukraine, and the Birth of Queen Elizabeth II

The US basketball player was freed on December 8 after being held in Russia for more than a year. She was freed in exchange for the handover of a Russian arms dealer. Griner is back in the U.S. and reunited with her wife. Bout is reported to be a member of an ultranationalist party.

The new measures against Russian oil revenue took effect. A price cap and European Union embargo on most Russian oil imports are included.

Russian forces turned the city of Bakhmut into burned ruins, Zelenskyy said. Russia is attempting to advance on the city in the eastern Donbas region.

President Zelenskyy had a phone call with President Biden on Dec. 11, as well as the leaders of France and Turkey, in an apparent stepping up of diplomacy over the 9 1/2-month-long Russian invasion.

You can read past recaps here. For context and more in-depth stories, you can find more of NPR’s coverage here. Also, listen and subscribe to NPR’s State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day.

The world witnessed an unwieldy and unparalleled set of news events in 2022. It was a year that captured historic and surprising moments. There were some days that offered joy and pride. From Russia’s war in Ukraine to the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, these are some of the remarkable stories of the year. The world slowly began to emerge from a long, drawn-out Pandemic as the year started. There was a war that erupted in Ukraine in February as Russia invaded the country, ending the lives of civilians and children. Photographer Evgeniy Maloletka captured one of the most vivid pictures of the war for the Associated Press, showing a photo of an ashen-face pregnant woman, holding her lower abdomen, being carried on a stretcher moments after a bomb was launched at a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine. The mother and baby died after a few days. This image has come to symbolize one of many Russian atrocities in the war in Ukraine. The attack on March 9, just 13 days after the war started, was one of the most brutal days of the conflict that continues to this day. The United States witnessed a school shooting in Texas in June. Photographer Pete Luna of the Uvalde Leader-News photographed the chaotic scene outside the school as young elementary students ran for safety while the gunman was still inside. On September 8, Queen Elizabeth II died, causing a huge uproar around the world. The 96-year-old monarch had worked with 15 British prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss. She died of a massive heart attack two days after inviting Truss to form a new government. The Queen’s funeral drew crowds by the tens of thousands as they paid their last respects to a monarch who reigned for an unprecedented 70 years. This was the first year of it’s kind. The confirmation of the country’s first Black woman Supreme Court justice was watched by the United States. The first Black woman to win a gold medal in speedskating at the Winter Olympics is Americanerin Jackson. The all-female refereeing crew made history at the World Cup. Another notable moment this year was the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that guaranteed the federal constitutional right to an abortion in the United States. The court’s decision in this year triggered protests and celebrations by abortion-rights activists, as well as celebrations by anti-abortion groups, further dividing the country. The results of the American election in November came in much higher than the polls expected. The Earth continued to warm up and melt glaciers as the Northern Hemisphere was ravaged by a historic dry spell that wreaked havoc on crops and other industries. The images being captured by the James Webb Space Telescope were great and crisp. On the other end of the news spectrum was the bizarre moment at this year’s Academy Awards when Will Smith brazenly slapped Chris Rock in the middle of the show, irked by what the comedian said about his wife. The moment was broadcasted on television around the world. Many sports fans were rooting for Judge as he broke Roger Maris’ record for home runs in a single season. There was a constant reminder of the quiet moments in and out of people’s lives, thanks to the snapshots of daily life that were interwoven with the big news events. Striking pictures is behind all of the top ones this year. They document war and conflicts away from the safety of their homes. It is thanks to their perseverance and dedication that these images come to light, offering a window to the world and helping us understand it through photography. CNN Digital has an article about the year in pictures.

The Cold War Between Ukraine and the U.S. After the First Russian-U.K. Referendum on a Russian-Induced Reionization Process

The latest measure to tackle the energy crisis was a European Union cap on natural gas prices.

The Commons Liaison Committee is where the UK Prime Minister will make his first appearance as prime minister on Tuesday. That follows Sunak’s meeting with members of the U.K.-led European military force on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will hold virtual talks sometime this month, according to Russian news reports.

Ukrainians and Russians have not celebrated Christmas or Chanukah since the Kremlin launched its invasion ofUkraine in February.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and the government of Ukraine have an agreement to send experts to each of the country’s nuclear power plants.

An American was freed from Russian-controlled territory as part of a 65-person prisoner exchange. Suedi Murekezi told ABC News that he spent weeks in a basement, tortured, and months in a prison in eastern Ukraine.

EU lawmakers gave the green light to funding for Ukraine and harsher sanctions against Russia. The aid package followed pledges earlier in the week from dozens of countries and global institutions to support more than $1 billion in winter relief funds for Ukraine, helping the country with power, heat, food and medical supplies.

According to several U.S. news reports, the United States is expected to give missiles to the Ukrainians, in order to shoot down Russian missiles. The guided missile system can target missiles and aircraft. The single battery the U.S. is expected to supply may not be a game-changing change, according to analysts.

The CNN Top 100 Digital Stories from Ukraine: The First Four Years of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Implications for Our Live News

CNN has broadcasted news for more than four decades on television and over a quarter century on digital platforms. Comscore estimates that more than 165 million of you came to CNN Digital from around the globe every single month over the next four years.

The war in Ukraine dominated the year like no other news, proving, as the pandemic has, that our interests are global and our news coverage needs to be, too. Six of our top 10 stories (and 32 of our top 100) were Ukraine live stories that followed the twists and turns of the day’s news, including the incomparable coverage from CNN’s teams on the ground, often in the line of fire.

Early in the conflict, I wrote an analysis explaining the limits of what the US and its allies would and would not do in Ukraine. From the outset, the limits have been contentious and are only getting more so now that Russia thinks the West goes too far.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade and its impact on women’s lives and US politics were a recurring top story, as were the numerous mass shootings and natural disasters.

The last weeks of the year have brought new fears to China, as interest and fear around the Covid-19Pandemic waned. History taught us that there are no borders for pandemic developments.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/31/us/top-100-digital-stories-2022-trnd/index.html

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