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SUMMARY OF THE UKRAINE SITUATION TODAY

     Live coverage of the all the latest developments
     in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
...

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Comment by Michael Grove on February 22, 2024 at 9:34
Opinion • Ukraine remains stronger than you might think •

By Michael O’Hanlon The Washington Post

Two years since Russia invaded Ukraine and 10 since Vladimir Putin seized Crimea, the war is at a difficult standstill — not least because of wavering U.S. support. If Congress cuts off support, Ukraine could well collapse later this year. Yet Ukraine remains strong in many ways. It has continued to stymie the Kremlin’s greatest ambitions for taking over the country. While the going is tough today, there is no cause for fatalism.

Much has been made of Ukraine’s disappointing 2023 counteroffensive. But given the strength of defenses on both sides, its failure was no huge surprise. Defense is simply stronger than offense at this stage of the war and, because of this, Ukraine might be able to hang on to most or all of the 82 percent of the pre-2014 territory it now holds, even with constrained military supplies. Yet, as the recent loss of Avdiivka demonstrates, Ukraine might struggle in the event of a complete cutoff of U.S. assistance. The pace of setbacks could accelerate with little warning; like Ernest Hemingway’s quip about bankruptcy, defeat could occur gradually, then suddenly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/21/ukraine-russia-w...
Comment by Michael Grove on March 13, 2024 at 11:33
March 13 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin gave a wide-ranging interview to Russia's RIA state news agency and Rossiya-1 state television, days before a March 15-17 election that is certain to give him another six years in power.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-president-vladimir-put...
Comment by Michael Grove on March 14, 2024 at 10:11
‘The fight is continuing’: a decade of Russian rule has not silenced Ukrainian voices in Crimea | Crimea | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/14/crimea-annexation-10-...
Comment by Michael Grove on March 16, 2024 at 9:53
German, French and Polish leaders make joint show of unity over Ukraine as they also affirmed support for the windfall profits from frozen Russian central bank assets to be transferred to Ukraine.

The UK and the US favour seizing the assets themselves however, and worry that the €3bn profits will do next to nothing to fill the $60bn funding gap if the US Republicans block the US aid package.

With no questions taken at the press conference, the three men, locking hands together, wanted a show of unity to be the prevailing message to Moscow.

Macron added: “This is a serious moment. A new era is dawning, and we’ll be there. And the fact that the three of us are united on this day, determined with the same lucidity about the situation in Ukraine and determined never to let Russia win and to support the Ukrainian people to the end, is a strength for us, our peoples, our security and our Europe.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/15/german-french-and-pol...
Comment by Michael Grove on March 16, 2024 at 9:57
Meanwhile ....

Three pro-Ukrainian battalions made up of recruits from Russia have launched a fresh incursion into southern Russia in a cross-border raid meant to sow chaos before Vladimir Putin’s widely expected re-election this weekend.

The three armed groups of Russian exiled fighters, who operate in close coordination with Ukraine’s military, said they had crossed the border into the southern Kursk and Belgorod regions. In a statement, the Russian National Guard acknowledged the raid, saying that together with the armed forces, they were repelling the Ukrainian-backed armed groups’ attack near the village of Tyotkino in Russia’s western Kursk region.

Russia’s defence ministry later in the day said it had foiled the raids and posted a video appearing to show destroyed tanks and armoured fighting vehicles belonging to the pro-Ukrainian fighters.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/15/german-french-and-pol...
Comment by Michael Grove on March 17, 2024 at 10:41
Vladimir Putin will be re-elected today as Russian President. Though the result is a foregone conclusion, he hopes it will prove to the world that his bloody invasion of Ukraine is endorsed by the Russian people.

Having already led Russia for 24 years, he is poised to prolong his grip on power for a further six years, after a three-day election in which the voters effectively have only one choice.

Talk of “Putin’s popularity” in the West is worse than meaningless: it gives legitimacy to a cynical charade that makes a mockery of democracy. The constitution, which permits only two consecutive presidential terms, has already been amended to allow Putin to remain in power until 2036.

By then, he would be 83 and would have surpassed Catherine the Great, who reigned for 34 years (1762-1796) as Russia’s longest-serving head of state. Already, the Putin era has coincided with five US presidents and seven UK prime ministers.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/17/putins-transforma...

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