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Tag: ukraine

  • EU top diplomat says China will cross ‘red line’ if it sends arms to Russia

    EU top diplomat says China will cross ‘red line’ if it sends arms to Russia

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    BRUSSELS — It would be a “red line” for the European Union if China sends arms to Russia, the EU’s foreign policy chief said Monday.

    Josep Borrell’s warning came two days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “deep concern” that China was considering providing potentially “lethal assistance” to Russia for its war against Ukraine.

    Recalling a meeting he held on Saturday with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi, Borrell told reporters: “I expressed our strong concern about China providing arms to Russia. I asked him not to do that, and expressing not only our concern, but the fact that for us, it would be a red line in our relationship.

    “He told me that they’re not going to do it, that they don’t plan to do it,” Borrell said, adding: “But we will remain vigilant.”

    Other EU foreign ministers attending a Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels also warned Beijing not to cross that line.

    “If such a decision is taken [by China] it will definitely have consequences, of course,” Tobias Billström, foreign minister of Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, said. “We stand side by side with the United States on that message.”

    Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the EU would be on the same page as the U.S. should Chinese arms end up in Russian hands.

    “There were those who expected the West … not to be united when it came to the Russian attack on Ukraine, but we were united. So I would think that, drawing from this lesson, there would be enough arguments for China not to assist Russia in its genocidal war in Ukraine,” Landsbergis said.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also urged China to remain “pragmatic.”

    “I personally have appealed to the Chinese leadership through direct channels and publicly not to offer any support to the Russians in this war. My hope is that Beijing will maintain a pragmatic attitude, because otherwise we are risking World War III, I think they are well aware of that,” he said in an interview with Italian media. “Our relationship with China has always been excellent, we have had intense economic relations for many years, and it is in everyone’s interest that they do not change.”

    Chinese state-owned defense companies were found to be shipping navigation equipment, jamming technology and jet-fighter parts to sanctioned Russian government-owned defense companies, Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.

    Nicolas Camut contributed reporting.

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    Stuart Lau

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    February 20, 2023
  • Biden brings hope — as well as pledges of cash and weapons — to Ukraine

    Biden brings hope — as well as pledges of cash and weapons — to Ukraine

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    KYIV — Just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the streets of the capital were suddenly locked down on Monday morning. Then videos of a mysterious procession of vehicles with blacked-out windows began being posted online.

    Who, wondered many ordinary Ukrainians — trying to go about their daily business as best as they can despite the war — was the foreign guest causing so much inconvenience?

    There had been rumors that Joe Biden was going to make a surprise visit to Kyiv before his scheduled trip to Poland. But the people of Ukraine didn’t know for sure until Biden was pictured walking out of Mykhailivsky monastery in central Kyiv together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    The image of the U.S. president calmly walking in Kyiv, while air raid sirens blared in the background, gave hope to Ukrainians, who saw a powerful ally standing beside them.

    “Thank you, Mister President, for visiting Kyiv today. Strong gesture in support of our fight. Again, we are invincible when united! Russia is already losing. Invaders will die. Be brave like Ukrainians and like Biden,” prominent Ukrainian military volunteer Serhiy Prytula said in a statement.

    Russians were obviously less impressed. Dmitry Medvedev, a former president, reacted with a rant about Biden “being allowed to safely travel to Kyiv by Russians” and Russian military bloggers started asking when Vladimir Putin is going to the occupied Donetsk region to show the same kind of support for his troops. 

    Vladyslav Faraponov, an Internews Ukraine media analyst, told POLITICO that “Russians are going crazy on social media because they realize their weakness during this visit. There is nothing they can do about it. What is more, as the first anniversary of the war approaches, it makes them think of their foolishness as Russia’s officials have convinced them that Kyiv could be captured in three days.”

    Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told the AP that the Russians were only formally informed several hours before the visit to avoid “any miscalculation that could bring the two nuclear-armed nations into direct conflict.”

    “It is difficult to imagine a bigger diplomatic slap [in the face] to Putin than the arrival of President Biden in Kyiv,” former CEO of Ukrainian gas company Naftogaz Andriy Kobolev wrote on Facebook.

    Biden came bearing more than support: In a joint address with Zelenskyy, he announced half a billion dollars of additional assistance to Ukraine, which will include military equipment such as artillery munitions, javelins and howitzers.

    “Together with more than 50 partner countries, we have approved more than 700 tanks and thousands of armored vehicles,” the U.S. president said. Biden also said he thought it was critical not to leave any doubt about U.S. support for Ukraine in the war: “The Ukrainian people have stepped up in a way that few people ever have in the past.”

    Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar described Biden’s visit as a historic day for Ukraine. “It is a sunny and warm day in Kyiv. We survived this winter, which is almost over. Now it is time to win the war,” she wrote in a statement, posting a photo of the Ukrainian first couple happily greeting Biden in Kyiv.

    Ukraine’s Deputy of Defence Minister Hanna Maliar | Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images

    Ukrainian soldiers fighting on the front lines also saw Biden’s visit as a morale boost ahead of the expected counteroffensive later this week.

    “He came to the capital, half a thousand kilometers from the front line. And the guys at the very front, despite the wild fatigue and cold, have a completely different mood. More energy and strength. There is even greater confidence that we are doing everything right,” Ukrainian serviceman and environmental activist Yehor Firsov wrote in a Facebook post.

    Faraponov, the Internews Ukraine media analyst, said: “In my view, the visit of President Biden is crucial for Ukrainians because it hasn’t been announced in advance, and it brings some hope during this difficult time.”

    He added: “The visit is happening at the moment of the Russian counteroffensive in the east. In addition, last week Russia continued to launch missiles all over Ukraine. Therefore, Ukrainians have enormous expectations for the U.S. regarding extending its support toward Ukraine. It applies to fighter jets, more tanks, long-range missiles, and other means to defeat Russia. But what I’ve seen today is a confirmation that Biden has a special sentiment toward Ukraine.”

    The shock visit was a logistical nightmare to arrange. Biden left Washington at 4:15 a.m. local time and U.S. officials had expressed concerns that the president couldn’t fly into Ukraine or take a 10-hour train ride without immense risk to the host nation and Biden himself. Ensuring the president’s safety was a near-impossible endeavor, those officials said, though they acknowledged Biden had long wanted to go to Kyiv.

    A Ukrainian government official, speaking on the condition on anonymity due to the confidential information involved, said the Ukrainians “have been requesting this visit for a long time.”

    The same official added that the visit had been prepared “in a very short amount of time” — around a week — “with the utmost level of secrecy through (President’s Office Head Andriy) Yermak’s and (Foreign Minister Dmytro) Kuleba’s lines of communication.”

    Biden’s bold move brought praise from beyond Ukrainian borders. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said the visit to Kyiv was “immense.”

    “In a way, it will frame all these events around the sad anniversary of the year of the full-scale war. And it will give, I think, a lot of mental power to the Ukrainian people. It will give a strong signal to Russia. But very important also, I think, all over the planet, and also countries of global south will get that signal.”

    Poland’s Ambassador to the EU Andrzej Sadoś said Monday’s visit “strengthens the allies’ determination to support Ukraine and introduce further sanctions against Russia. It is a timely, symbolic and historic visit which shows that the free world stands with Ukraine.”

    Lili Bayer contributed reporting.

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    February 20, 2023
  • Zelenskyy: Macron is ‘wasting his time’ with Putin

    Zelenskyy: Macron is ‘wasting his time’ with Putin

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    French President Emmanuel Macron is wasting his time talking to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday.

    “It’s a useless dialogue. In truth, Macron is wasting his time,” Zelenskyy said during an interview with several Italian newspapers.

    “I have come to the conclusion that we are unable to change the Russian attitude,” Zelenskyy added. “It is up to them to choose whether to cooperate with the international community.”

    Macron has been criticized by Zelenskyy in the past for his attempts to keep lines of communication open with Moscow since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

    In remarks made over the weekend during the Munich Security Conference, Macron said that he had not spoken to Putin since last September, adding that “now [was] not the time for dialogue.”

    But, a day later, Macron added that although he wished for the Kremlin to lose, the war would end not on the battlefield but with peace talks — and that France would “never” support “crushing Russia.”

    In the same interview with Italian media, Zelenskyy also reacted ironically to the recent statements from former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who triggered an internal revolt among European conservatives last week after he said the Ukrainian president was responsible for the war.

    Berlusconi, who has described himself as a close friend of Putin, was heard boasting about receiving bottles of vodka from Putin for his birthday in audio tapes leaked to the press.

    “He likes vodka? If that’s the case, we have some of the finest quality in Ukraine — we can offer him some,” Zelenskyy said.

    The Ukrainian president also commented on recent reports from the U.S. that China was ready to send weapons to Russia, saying he hoped Beijing would keep a “pragmatic approach,” to avoid a “Third World War.”

    Elena Giordano contributed reporting.

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    February 20, 2023
  • Biden in Ukraine for show of support amid concern China could give Putin lethal aid a year into Russia’s invasion

    Biden in Ukraine for show of support amid concern China could give Putin lethal aid a year into Russia’s invasion

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    President Biden arrived Monday for an unannounced visit to Ukraine’s capital, a huge show of support for the country the U.S. and its allies have helped to stave off Russia’s nearly-year-long, unprovoked invasion. Mr. Biden was to spend time in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy before heading to neighboring Poland later in the day for meetings with other European leaders.

    “I am in Kyiv today to meet with President Zelenskyy and reaffirm our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity,” Mr. Biden said in a statement released by the White House on Monday, confirming his first visit to Ukraine since the war began. 

    Mr. Biden’s visit to the region comes as the world prepares to mark a full year since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine — and amid concerns first publicized over the weekend by America’s top diplomat that China may be on the brink of providing Russia with weapons to bolster its assault against Ukraine.


    U.S. officials worry China could provide weapons to Russia as relationship strains

    02:09

    Putin ordered the land invasion and the beginning of a devastating aerial bombardment of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. He sent tens of thousands of troops over the border in an attack that appeared aimed at quickly toppling the Western-aligned government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

    Putin’s forces vastly outnumbered Ukraine’s and for months the Russians closed in on the capital city of Kyiv from several directions, illegally annexing Ukrainian territory as they went. Many expected Kyiv to fall within just days, but a year later, Ukraine is still in a fight for its survival.

    Backed by most of the Western world — and crucially, bolstered by U.S. and European weapons shipments which continue today — Zelenskyy’s troops managed to turn the tide and start clawing back territory in the second half of last year.

    What Putin describes only as a “special military operation” largely stalled over the winter months, with both sides digging in along a front line that spans hundreds of miles in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, from the north to the south of the country.

    “When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us. But he was dead wrong,” Mr. Biden said in the statement released Monday by the White House. “Today, in Kyiv, I am meeting with President Zelenskyy and his team for an extended discussion on our support for Ukraine. I will announce another delivery of critical equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armor systems, and air surveillance radars to help protect the Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments.”

    Mr. Biden said his government would announce later in the week “additional sanctions against elites and companies that are trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine.”

    The American leader’s trip to the region this week is not only about reassuring allies that the U.S. will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, but also about the president convincing Americans it’s the right move.  

    In the Polish capital of Warsaw, Mr. Biden was expected to reiterate the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine just after his government formally and publicly accused Putin’s forces of murder, torture and rape during the war, with Vice President Kamala Harris saying over the weekend “there is no doubt” that Russian forces have committed “crimes against humanity.”


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    Tucker Reals

    Tucker Reals is the CBSNews.com foreign editor, based at the CBS News London bureau.

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    February 20, 2023
  • President Joe Biden Makes Surprise Trip To Ukraine

    President Joe Biden Makes Surprise Trip To Ukraine

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    President Joe Biden on Monday made an unannounced visit to Kyiv, ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war against Ukraine later this week.

    Biden was previously scheduled to depart the U.S. for Warsaw, Poland, later Monday.

    This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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    February 20, 2023
  • 2/19/2023: Candles Against the Darkness, Prime Minister Marin, The HistoryMakers

    2/19/2023: Candles Against the Darkness, Prime Minister Marin, The HistoryMakers

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    2/19/2023: Candles Against the Darkness, Prime Minister Marin, The HistoryMakers – CBS News


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    Electricity, heat and water under attack in Ukraine; Sanna Marin: Finland’s millennial prime minister; The HistoryMakers: Documenting Black history through first-person accounts.

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    February 20, 2023
  • Top House Republicans call on Biden to increase military support for Ukraine | CNN Politics

    Top House Republicans call on Biden to increase military support for Ukraine | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Two leading House Republicans have called on President Joe Biden to increase military support to Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion and reiterated support on both sides of the aisle for continuing to fund the Ukrainian war effort.

    Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told CNN’s Pamela Brown on “State of the Union” in a joint interview with House Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner that aired Sunday that bipartisan support for Ukraine is “still very strong.”

    But as the one-year anniversary of the war approaches, McCaul warned that hedging support for Ukraine could prolong the conflict, which could play into Russia’s advantages and allow anti-Ukraine dissent to build.

    “The longer (Biden administration officials) drag this out, they play into (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin’s hands. He wants this to be a long, protracted war because he knows that potentially, he will lose – we could lose the will of the American people and therefore the Congress,” the Texas Republican told CNN, speaking from the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

    The US and its allies have already sent nearly $50 billion in aid and equipment to Ukraine’s military over the past year. To keep that up, and to rebuild its own stockpiles, the Pentagon is racing to re-arm, embarking on the biggest increase in ammunition production in decades and putting portions of the US defense industry on a war-footing despite America technically not being at war.

    Asked by Brown if he believes the US is considering sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, McCaul replied, “I hope so,” and reiterated his concern over a drawn-out conflict between Russia and Ukraine while noting, “I think the momentum is building for this to happen.”

    “The fact is, the longer they wait, the longer this conflict will prevail,” McCaul said.

    US Sen. Lindsey Graham echoed that message, telling ABC in an interview that aired Sunday that US lawmakers attending the Munich Security Conference were in “virtually unanimous belief” that the US should begin training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

    “I believe a decision will be imminent when we get back to Washington, that the administration will start training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16. They need the weapons system,” Graham said.

    Asked by CNN whether the Biden administration has ruled out sending F-16s to Ukraine, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said officials were “working very closely and directly with the Ukrainians on identifying what their needs are and when they need them.”

    “We’re also working to ensure that they have the training and the capacity to use whatever weapon systems we provide for them. So, this discussion is continuing,” she said in a separate interview on “State of the Union.”

    Turner, an Ohio Republican, defended congressional support for Ukraine despite several of his fellow House GOP colleagues co-signing a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution calling for the US to end military and financial aid to the country. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told CNN last week he opposes the resolution.

    Turner equated the resolution to a letter more than two dozen progressive House Democrats sent the White House last fall, asking it to pursue diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine. The letter was retracted shortly after.

    “You have a handful on both sides, both sides, Pamela, who have been cautious or who have said that they don’t support, or they want support to come to an end,” he said from Munich. “There are 435 members of Congress. There are probably 400 that are for continuing this direction and this path.”

    McCaul also told CNN that the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that flew over US airspace before being shot down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month contained parts manufactured in the United States and urged the US to restrict the flow of weapons technology to China.

    “This balloon, by the way, had a lot of American parts in it. We know that the hypersonic missile that went around the world with precision was built on the backbone of American technology,” McCaul said, referring to Beijing’s test of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in 2021.

    “They steal a lot of this from us. But we don’t have to sell them the very technology they can put in their advanced weapons systems to then turn against either Taiwan in the Pacific or eventually, possibly the United States of America. I think there’s great bipartisanship on this issue,” he added.

    Turner and McCaul also said they want to see Biden take a more serious position toward China following the a balloon incident.

    McCaul said that the tension between the two countries “is very high right now” and that both Democrats and Republicans are aligned in wanting to confront Chinese threats.

    “I think we have a unique opportunity to be bipartisan on this issue of national security against one of the greatest threats to this country, and the world, for that matter,” McCaul said.

    Turner, meanwhile, said there is an opportunity for the Biden administration to “get back to a normal dialogue with China.”

    “No one, of course, wants a cold war, but that isn’t the issue. What we want is a China that is not going to be an aggressor state, that’s not going to be building up its military and threatening the United States, and certainly not making the negative comments that it’s making instead of just openly apologizing for sending a spy balloon over our most sensitive military sites,” Turner said.

    Adding to the tension between Washington and Beijing, the US has recently begun seeing “disturbing” trendlines in China’s support for Russia’s military, and there are signs that Beijing wants to “creep up to the line” of providing lethal military aid to Russia without getting caught, US officials familiar with the intelligence told CNN.

    The officials would not describe in detail what intelligence the US has seen suggesting a recent shift in China’s posture, but said US officials have been concerned enough that they have shared the intelligence with allies and partners at the Munich Security Conference over the last several days.

    “The most catastrophic thing that could happen to US-China relationship, in my opinion, is for China to give lethal weapons to (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin and his crime against humanity,” Graham told ABC.

    “If you jump on the Putin train now, you’re dumber than dirt. It would be like buying a ticket on the Titanic after you saw the movie. Don’t do this,” he said.

    This story has been updated with additional information.

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    February 20, 2023
  • Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 362

    Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 362

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    As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 362nd day, we take a look at the main developments.

    Here is the situation as it stands on Monday, February 20, 2023:

    Fighting

    • Ukrainian troops conducting weekend exercises near the small town of Siversk said they were preparing to defend a possible target of a new Russian offensive. The town, which had a pre-war population of 10,000, is 35km (21 miles) north of Bakhmut – the scene of fierce fighting in recent weeks.
    • Russia has accused Ukraine of planning to stage a nuclear incident on its territory to pin the blame on Moscow ahead of a key United Nations meeting.
    Residents walk on an empty street, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in the front-line city of Bakhmut, Ukraine [Yevhen Titov/Reuters]

    Diplomacy

    • Turkish and Russian leaders may soon discuss a UN-backed initiative that has enabled the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, but there is no date set yet, a source familiar with negotiations on the deal told RIA Novosti on Monday.
    • US President Joe Biden will visit Poland from February 20 to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he would discuss with Biden possibly increasing US troop presence in Poland and making it more permanent.
    • The Biden administration is planning to impose new export controls and sanctions targeting Russia’s defence and energy sectors, financial institutions and several individuals, Bloomberg News reported.
    • Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that French President Emmanuel Macron was wasting his time considering any sort of dialogue with Russia.
    • Russia has charged 680 Ukrainian officials, including 118 members of the armed forces and defence ministry with breaking laws governing the conduct of war, including the use of weapons against civilians, TASS news agency reported.
    • European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday backed a call for the bloc’s members to buy arms jointly to help Ukraine but warned it would not solve Kyiv’s urgent need for more ammunition now.

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    February 19, 2023
  • Electricity, heat and water under attack in Ukraine | 60 Minutes

    Electricity, heat and water under attack in Ukraine | 60 Minutes

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    Electricity, heat and water under attack in Ukraine | 60 Minutes – CBS News


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    Scott Pelley reports from Ukraine, where he met a resilient and defiant population undeterred by Russia’s attacks.

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    February 19, 2023
  • “Everything is at stake”: Inside Ukraine’s fight to keep the power on | 60 Minutes

    “Everything is at stake”: Inside Ukraine’s fight to keep the power on | 60 Minutes

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    “Everything is at stake”: Inside Ukraine’s fight to keep the power on | 60 Minutes – CBS News


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    The CEO of Ukraine’s national power company tells 60 Minutes about Russia’s attacks on the country’s power grid.

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    February 19, 2023
  • “They have destroyed our life”: Ukrainians endure hours or days without light, heat, or water – 60 Minutes

    “They have destroyed our life”: Ukrainians endure hours or days without light, heat, or water – 60 Minutes

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    This past week, Vladimir Putin unleashed another air assault on Ukrainian families and their power grid in his campaign to turn winter into a weapon of mass destruction. Forty-four million Ukrainian men, women and children endure hours or days without light, heat or water. We met some of them on Central Street in a town called Borodianka, northwest of Kyiv. As you’ll see, in the blackest days in Europe since World War II, we found families facing terror with candles against the darkness.

    The power was out the night we met Vira Savchenko. The great grandmother is the only soul left in her Central Street apartment block. Back in March, when Borodianka was bombed, the widow moved out, but, she told us…

    Vira Savchenko (Translation): On the 20th of May I said: “That’s it. I’m going home.” They tried to talk me into staying but I said, “No, I’m going home.”

    ‘They’ were her daughter and son-in-law who took her in after the invasion.

    ukrainevideo.jpg
    Vira Savchenko speaks with correspondent Scott Pelley

    Vira Savchenko (Translation): My son-in-law said, “Let her go. She’ll get cold, and she’ll come back.” But out of principle I decided, no, I won’t go back. And so, I didn’t. I stayed here. 

    Her principle is defiance, undimmed in the fragile light, unbroken by the 25-degree night. The sign on her door reads “danger.” And the view from an apartment in her building reveals why. This is Central Street in Borodianka. 

    ukrainescreengrabs03.jpg
      Central Street in Borodianka

    Central was on Russia’s invasion route. In March, Putin’s airforce destroyed 144 buildings in Borodianka. Ukraine drove Russia out. But Central is crowded with gaunt memorials to more than 100 murdered civilians. 

    Survivors include 65-year-old widow, Tatiana Sologub, who we found shoveling the ashes of her life. 

    Tatiana Sologub (Translation): I don’t even have a spoon or a bowl. Everything, everything was here. I’ve been left with nothing.

    ukrainescreengrabs05.jpg
      Tatiana Sologub

    On her balcony, she told us her son enlisted in the army the first day of the invasion. She’s now moved into a public shelter powered by a generator but her neighbor, Serhii Bondarenko, showed us how millions of Ukrainians endure Putin’s war on light and heat.  

    Serhii Bondarenko (Translation): For now, we have firewood. We survive anyway we can.  

    ukrainescreengrabs08.jpg
    Serhii Bondarenko

    Bondarenko’s new wood stove is vented through a hole he knocked in the wall. A car battery powers a string of lights. And well water fills in for the dried up tap. We noticed a thermometer inside was chilled to 40 degrees. But he told us, “we’re Ukrainian…”

    Serhii Bondarenko (Translation): If the temperature outside is above [freezing] we open the windows so the [heat] can get in. 

    A sense of humor and ingenuity sustain Ukraine though the worst aerial bombardment of Europeans since World War II.

    There have been 14 massive assaults on the national power grid in the last 18 weeks. Every power plant has been hit. Half the electricity is out. There have been a few days without blackouts. But for the most part, power is rationed roughly four hours on–four off—nationwide.

    In October, drones zeroed in on the headquarters of the national power company, Ukrenergo. That’s the CEO, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, watching a drone take out the top two floors of his building.

    Scott Pelley: In this war on Ukraine’s power grid, what’s at stake?

    Volodymyr Kudrytskyi: The war itself. The victory. We cannot allow them to destroy the power grid. 

    ukrainescreengrabs09.jpg
      Volodymyr Kudrytskyi

    Kudrytskyi allowed us to see a damaged facility which is now among the most sensitive national security sites in Ukraine. When this 200-ton transformer burned, hundreds of thousands lost power. Crews race to improvise repairs and sprint to shelter when the missiles come back. Some have been killed.

    Scott Pelley: your crews are on the front line almost like a soldier. 

    This engineer is in charge of repairs nationwide, and so, for security reasons, they asked us not to use his name.

    ENGINEER: The Armed Forces of Ukraine have their frontline that they defend and we hold the energy front. So, yes, these are practically soldiers. 

    Scott Pelley: What are the Russians trying to do? 

    Volodymyr Kudrytskyi: So they cannot win the war at the battlefield, so they are effectively terrorizing population, civilians, to blackmail political leadership to start negotiations. This is what they are doing.

    Scott Pelley: This is terrorism in your view?

    Volodymyr Kudrytskyi: Absolutely, yes.

    Terror found Anatoliy Kaharlitskiy on the quiet street where he’s lived 40 years. His family was cooking up a New Year’s Eve celebration when a missile meant for the grid ruined his hopes and plans for all the years to come.

    He found his daughter-in-law in the wreckage of his home.

    ukrainescreengrabs12.jpg
      Anatoliy Kaharlitskiy

    Anatoliy Kaharlitskiy (Translation): [She was] crushed. Broken. She died in an instant.  

    He’s a retired reporter–used to making sense of facts–but in this there is only bewilderment. 

    Anatoliy Kaharlitskiy (Translation): I don’t understand [why] this is happening. This is “Russia’s world.” This is how they are “liberating” us. 

    Scott Pelley: These are pieces of the missile? 

    Anatoliy Kaharlitskiy (Translation): Yes, pieces of the missile. All of this was flying here and there. How can you escape from it?

    Kaharlitskiy did not escape. “They stitched me up all over,” he said. His wife survived with their son and grandson. Iryna, his daughter-in-law, was 36. 

    ukrainescreengrabs13.jpg
    A picture of Kaharlitskiy’s daughter-in-law with her husband

    Scott Pelley: Was this their wedding day?

    Anatoliy Kaharlitskiy (Translation): Yes, yes, this was the wedding day.

    She was an accountant and mother to a 10-year-old son.

    Scott Pelley: What should the world know about this war?

    Anatoliy Kaharlitskiy (Translation): People should realize that this infection that’s coming from Moscow it won’t stop here. If they overcome us here, they’ll move further into Europe. I am 74 years old. I went to the gun range for shooting practice. I will fight if they come here. I will fight until they kill me.

    Recently, Ukraine has been killing more of the missiles aimed at the grid. Kyiv cops mortally wounded a slow flying drone. 

    Below the sound of gunfire, the capital of 3 million vibrates with some of the 800,000 generators Ukraine has imported. 

    At night, the city darkens most windows and kills its street lamps, leaving mostly headlights under a winter sky too thick for the moon. 

    An estimated 1,200 missiles and drones have attacked the grid and back on Central Street, we found a woman who can sum up the rage. Oksana Koronik, is a nurse who is camping in her blacked-out apartment with her husband and son. She seems to be fighting the whole Russian army to claw back something normal. 

    Scott Pelley: When you came back home after the bombing, what did you see?

    Oksana Koronik (Translation): Horror. Horror. It hurt. Every cell in my body was in pain. I could not bear to see it. we poured our soul, our finances, our work into [this]. I cried for, probably, 3 weeks.  

    ukrainescreengrabs15.jpg
      Oksana Koronik

    The gas is back on in apartment 28. But for lights and phones she has car batteries that last 9 hours if she’s careful. Groceries are chilled in a room with a window cracked. And it galls her when Timothy misses online school because the power’s out. This is his actual school on Central Street. Ukraine says Putin has destroyed 214 schools. The U.N. counts 683 attacks on hospitals and clinics.

    Scott Pelley: the Russians say that they’re attacking only military targets.  

    Oksana Koronik (Translation): No. They have destroyed our life. They destroyed our kindergarten. They destroyed our school. They destroyed our music school. For some people, they’ve even destroyed their workplace. They have destroyed everything. They have destroyed us from the inside out. I recognize now that I am feeling hatred for other people. I was never this kind of person before. 

    But then, she’d never downloaded an air raid app before. It’s connected to the national warning system. But she finally muted the sound– too many sirens day and night.

    Scott Pelley: The Russians believe that if they can keep your family in the dark and in the cold long enough, your will to resist will dissolve.

    Oksana Koronik (Translation): No, [our will] will not disappear. It will only get stronger. I really want to go and give those Russians, that Putin a really great slap in the face. A great big slap in the face, from a woman. They only make themselves more hated, while we are becoming more and more united. 

    As on every front in his unprovoked Ukraine fiasco, Putin has failed here too. He came up against Vira Savchenko—her fingers working and her heels dug in. 

    Vira Savchenko (Translation): Somehow, I am not afraid anymore. On Thursday in the city center, there’s a market. This Thursday there were air [raid] sirens, there was shooting. But for some reason it didn’t frighten me this time. I turn [up the volume] on TV or radio [so I don’t] hear anything.

    In a condemned building on Central Street, we saw Putin’s terror campaign uniting Ukrainians like Americans after 9/11. We left a great grandmother knitting diligently into a dim, cold night. Knitting, with a vengeance. Knitting socks for Ukrainian soldiers.

    Produced by Maria Gavrilovic and Alex Ortiz. Broadcast associate, Michelle Karim. Edited by Michael Mongulla.

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    Scott Pelley


    Scott Pelley

    Correspondent, “60 Minutes”

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    February 19, 2023
  • Face The Nation: Morawiecki, Hill, Sullivan, Gordon

    Face The Nation: Morawiecki, Hill, Sullivan, Gordon

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    Face The Nation: Morawiecki, Hill, Sullivan, Gordon – CBS News


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    Missed the second half of the show? The latest on, Poland’s Prime Minister increasing the presence of U.S. troops; the Ukraine and Russia conflict one year in; and the Nation Institute of Mental health on treating depression.

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    February 19, 2023
  • Liev Schreiber on advocating for aid to Ukraine

    Liev Schreiber on advocating for aid to Ukraine

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    Liev Schreiber on advocating for aid to Ukraine – CBS News


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    Watching the trauma of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, actor Liev Schreiber’s desire to help led him to co-found Blue Check Ukraine, which vets and raises funds for NGOs providing aid on the ground. Schreiber talked with CBS News chief election & campaign correspondent Robert Costa about his Ukrainian roots, and his desire to do something to help people caught in a humanitarian crisis.

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    February 19, 2023
  • Faint cracks emerge in the facade of Putin’s rule, one year after Ukraine invasion | CNN

    Faint cracks emerge in the facade of Putin’s rule, one year after Ukraine invasion | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is fond of a phrase, “the wonderful Russia of the future,” his shorthand for a country without President Vladimir Putin.

    But in the year that has passed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has gone back to a dark, repressive past.

    Over the last 12 months, Putin’s government has crushed the remnants of Russia’s civil society and presided over his country’s first military mobilization since World War II. Political opponents such as Navalny are in prison or out of the country. And Putin has made it clear that he seeks to reassert Russia as an empire in which Ukraine has no place as an independent state.

    The war in Ukraine drew a bright line under the period of High Putinism, a decade that began with Putin’s controversial return to the presidency in 2012. That era, in hindsight, was a prelude to the current war: Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backed armed separatists in Ukraine’s Donbas region, while Putin’s technocrats worked on sanction-proofing the Russian economy.

    Since last February’s invasion, Putin has shrugged off protests and international sanctions. Independent media and human rights groups have been branded as foreign agents or shut down entirely.

    Russia is now in an uncertain new phase, and it’s clear there will be no rewind, no return to the status quo ante, for ordinary citizens.

    So is Putin’s grip on power unchallenged? Rumors are now flying inside the country about another wave of mobilization. And in Moscow, signs of elite competition are beginning to emerge, even as some Russians are seeing through the cracks in the wall of state propaganda.

    On February 2, Putin paid a visit to the southern Russian city of Volgograd to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory at what was then called Stalingrad, a crucial turning point in what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War.

    In his speech at a gala concert in Volgograd, Putin made a direct link between the Battle of Stalingrad – the moment when the momentum shifted on the Eastern Front against Nazi Germany – and the war in Ukraine, warning that Russia faced a similar threat from a “collective West” bent on its destruction.

    “Those who draw the European countries, including Germany, into a new war with Russia – and all the more irresponsibly declare this as a fait accompli – those who expect to win a victory over Russia on the battlefield, apparently do not understand that a modern war with Russia will be completely different for them,” he warned.

    Invoking Stalingrad was a response to Germany’s decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, something Putin complained was “unbelievable, but true.” But the President’s visit to Volgograd had an element of what well-known Russian political scientist Kirill Rogov described as the “cosplay” – costume play – that Russia’s ruling class uses to drape their policies in the garments of a heroic past.

    “Putin arrived in Volgograd, which was renamed Stalingrad for a few days on the occasion of the anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad,” Rogov wrote on Telegram. “The anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, which is perceived as a turning point in the Patriotic War, is, of course, used as a great allusion and patriotic warm-up before the decisive second offensive against Ukraine that is being prepared.”

    Ukrainian officials have been warning for weeks that Russia may be preparing a major new assault, perhaps to coincide with the anniversary of the 2022 invasion. Back in September, Putin ordered a “partial mobilization” after a swift and unexpected Ukrainian counteroffensive that chased Russian forces out of the northeastern Kharkiv region and set the stage for Ukraine’s recapture of the southern city of Kherson. Many of those troops have now gone through the training pipeline, further fueling speculation that Russia is committed to a manpower-intensive war of attrition.

    Observers also note that Russia’s military has been adapting. While Putin never got the victory parade in Kyiv his generals were planning for, he has appointed a new battlefield commander, signaling another change in strategy.

    “After the failure of the (2022) blitzkrieg, Russia adapted and placed its bets on a long war, relying on its superior numbers in population, resources, military industry and the size of its territory beyond reach of enemy strikes,” Russian political observer and commentator Alexander Baunov wrote in a recent Telegram post. “This is a war of attrition that can be won without involving too many people … On the strategy of ‘wait them out, add pressure, put the squeeze on.’”

    War, however, is fluid and unpredictable. As Baunov noted, the recent decision by Germany, the United States and other European allies to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine may test Putin’s long game.

    “A return to rapid warfare with tanks ruins this new strategy that Russia has just set its sights on,” Baunov wrote. “New people may also be needed to hold the front, and this is risky.”

    Cars burn after a <a href=Russian military strike in central Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 10. At least 19 people were killed and more than 100 injured in Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on Monday as Moscow targeted critical energy infrastructure.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1128″ width=”2000″/>

    A fireman helps an injured civilian after several explosions hit the Shevchenkivskyi district of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on October 10.

    Firefighters conduct work on a damaged building after a Russian missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on October 10.

    A huge blast severely damaged the only bridge connecting annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland on October 8. At least three people were killed in the explosion, which caused parts of Europe's longest bridge to collapse, according to Russian officials.

    Ukrainian soldiers ride on an armored vehicle near the recently retaken town of Lyman in Donetsk region on October 6, as the <a href=Ukrainian military continues to advance into several of the areas Russia now claims as its own.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1953″ width=”2930″/>

    Ukrainian firefighters attend to the site of a missile strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on October 6.

    Ukrainian soldiers prepare to fire a BM-21 'Grad' multiple rocket launcher towards Russian positions in the Kharkiv region on October 4.

    Ukrainian servicemen carry a body bag at the site of a missile <a href=strike on a convoy of civilian cars that killed at least 30 people near Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on September 30.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1331″ width=”2000″/>

    Head of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin, left, and Secretary of the United Russia Party's General Council Andrey Turchak attend a news conference on preliminary <a href=results of a referendum on the joining of the DPR to Russia, in Donetsk, Ukraine, on September 27.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1250″ width=”2000″/>

    Anton Krasyvyi rows passengers across the Siverskyi-Donets river in front of a destroyed bridge, so they can visit relatives in Staryi-Saltiv, Ukraine, on September 27.

    People wait for food aid distributed by the local branch of Caritas Internationalis, a Catholic charity organisation, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on September 27.

    A man glues a <a href=referendum poster reading “Yes” in Berdyansk, Ukraine, on September 26. Russia is attempting to annex up to 18% of Ukrainian territory, with President Vladimir Putin expected to host a ceremony in the Kremlin to declare four occupied Ukrainian territories part of Russia.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Forensic technicians operate at the site of a <a href=mass grave in a forest on the outskirts of Izyum, eastern Ukraine on September 18. Ukrainian authorities discovered hundreds of graves outside the formerly Russian-occupied city.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1129″ width=”2000″/>

    Ukrainian State Emergency Service firefighters put out a fire after a Russian rocket attack hit an electric power station in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on September 11.

    Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speaks to the press at his hotel before leaving to <a href=inspect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on September 1.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1501″ width=”2461″/>

    Graves of fallen soldiers in Lychakiv Cemetery, Lviv, as Ukrainians celebrate Independence Day, and mark the <a href=six month anniversary of the Russian invasion, on August 24. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Rockets launched from the Belgorod region in Russia are seen at dawn in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on August 15.

    Valentyna Kondratieva, 75, left, is comforted by a neighbor as they stand outside her damaged home, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on August 13, after a rocket attack.

    The bulk carrier NAVI STAR, transporting a cargo of corn, is seen <a href=leaving port of Odesa, Ukraine, on August 5. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1356″ width=”2000″/>

    A young girl holds her dog as an <a href=evacuation train departs from Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, on August 2.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1724″ width=”2500″/>

    Ukrainian State Emergency Service firefighters attend to a fire at an oil depot in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on August 2.

    A firefighter extinguishes a burning hospital building hit by a <a href=Russian missile strike in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on August 1.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1667″ width=”2500″/>

    Russian tanks near the settlement of Olenivka in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on July 29.

    Students at a military school write letters to Ukrainian servicemen during a lesson in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 27.

    Firefighters rest as their colleagues remove debris during the search for bodies at the Central House of Culture, in Chuhuiv, Ukraine, after an air strike on July 25.

    A man holds the hand of his 13 year-old son,  killed by a Russian military strike, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on July 20.

    Ukrainian service members fire a shell from a towed howitzer FH-70 at the front line in the Donbas region, Ukraine, on July 18.

    Firefighters and members of a rescue team clear the scene after a building was shelled in Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine, on July 10. <a href=At least 29 people have been confirmed dead.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1407″ width=”2500″/>

    Local residents look on as smoke rises after shelling in Donetsk, Ukraine, on July 7.

    A wounded woman is transported to an ambulance in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on July 7.

    A farmer drives a combine harvester past a crater suspected to be caused by an air strike near Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on July 7.

    A Ukrainian soldier with the 14th Mechanized Brigade of Prince Roman the Great works in his tank as the unit awaits their next mission on July 1.

    An aerial view of rescue workers after a <a href=missile attack in the Serhiivka district of Odesa, Ukraine, on July 1.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1881″ width=”3000″/>

    People attend a funeral ceremony for Ukrainian serviceman Volodymyr Kochetov, 46, in the village of Babyntsi, Ukraine, on June 30.

    Firefighters clear rubble at the Amstor shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine, on June 28.

    Ukrainian State Emergency Service firefighters work to take away debris at a shopping mall after a <a href=rocket attack in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, on June 28.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1395″ width=”2322″/>

    Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a working <a href=session of G7 leaders via video link from his office in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday June 27.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2001″ width=”3000″/>

    An apartment building in the Shevchenkivskiy district of Kyiv, Ukraine, is damaged during a Russian airstrike, on June 26. Several explosions rocked the west of the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Sunday morning, with at least two residential buildings struck, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko.

    Ukrainian service members patrol an area in the city of <a href=Severodonetsk, Ukraine, on June 20.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2000″ width=”3000″/>

    People light flares in memory of the Ukrainian activist Roman Ratushnyi during a farewell ceremony at Baikove cemetery, Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 18.

    Oleksiy Chernyshov, Ukrainian President Zelensky's special envoy for EU accession, walks with <a href=French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian PM Mario Draghi past destroyed buildings in Irpin, Ukraine, on June 16.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1677″ width=”3000″/>

    <a href=Young people swing in front of destroyed residential buildings in Borodyanka, Ukraine, on June 15.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1297″ width=”2000″/>

    A Ukrainian bomb disposal expert looks at an ordnance shell during a mine clearance operation in Solonytsivka, near Kharkiv, Ukraine, on June 15.

    Ukrainian servicemen fire a French 155mm CAESAR self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on June 15.

    A forensic technician inspects a <a href=mass grave near the village of Vorzel in the Bucha district near Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 13.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1306″ width=”2000″/>

    Russian servicemen guard an area of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Ukraine, on June 13.

    Local residents walk along an empty street as smoke rises in the background in the town of Lysychansk, Ukraine, on June 10.

    A Ukrainian soldier takes cover during heavy fighting at the <a href=front line in Severodonetsk, Ukraine, on Wednesday, June 8.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Ukrainian troops fire surface-to-surface rockets from <a href=MLRS towards Russian positions at the front line in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas on June 7.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    A Ukrainian soldier holds a next generation light anti-tank weapon (NLAW) at a position on the front line near Bakhmut in the Donbas region of Ukraine on June 5.

    U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, left, listens to Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktov during a tour of Borodyanka, Ukraine, on June 4.

    Local residents examine a destroyed Russian tank outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, May 31. It has now been 100 days since Russia invaded.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, third from left, visits front-line positions during a trip to the Kharkiv region on Sunday, May 29.

    Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin, 21, is <a href=sentenced to life in prison by a Ukrainian court in Kyiv on May 23. He was convicted of killing an unarmed civilian. It was the first war crimes trial arising from Russia’s invasion.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2667″ width=”4000″/>

    Buses with Ukrainian servicemen <a href=evacuated from the Azovstal steel plant wait near a prison in Olyonivka on May 17. The steel plant was the last holdout in Mariupol, a city that had become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance under relentless Russian bombardment.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Ukrainian servicemen fire mortars toward Russian positions in the east Kharkiv region of Ukraine on May 17.

    A woman named Tatyana searches for her husband's grave in the settlement of Staryi Krym, outside Mariupol, on May 15.

    Ukrainian service personnel work inside a basement used as a command post in the Kharkiv region on May 15.

    Grieving relatives attend the funeral of Pankratov Oleksandr, a Ukrainian military serviceman, in Lviv, Ukraine, on May 14.

    Ukrainian people evacuated from Mariupol arrive on buses at a registration and processing area for <a href=internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on May 8.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1224″ width=”2000″/>

    Ukrainian serviceman and emergency workers carry the body of a Russian soldier into a refrigerated train in Kharkiv on May 5. The bodies of more than 40 Russian soldiers were being stored in the refrigerated car.

    Smoke rises from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol on May 5.

    Ukrainian soldiers clear mines at the <a href=Antonov Airport in Hostomel, Ukraine, on May 5.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1625″ width=”2437″/>

    Vehicles are on <a href=fire at an oil depot in Makiivka, Ukraine, after missiles struck a facility in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces on May 4.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1101″ width=”1854″/>

    Natalia Pototska cries next to her grandson Matviy as they arrive at a center for displaced people in Zaporizhzhia on May 2.

    Pro-Russian troops stand guard next to a bus transporting evacuees near a temporary accommodation center in the Ukrainian village of Bezimenne on May 1.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, center, meets with US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a congressional delegation visited Kyiv on April 30. Pelosi is <a href=the most senior US official to meet with Zelensky since Russia invaded Ukraine.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    A man stands on the balcony of his apartment after a missile strike damaged a residential building in Ukraine's Donetsk region on April 30.

    A woman walks through the site of an explosion in Kyiv on April 29. Russia <a href=struck the Ukrainian capital shortly after a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1953″ width=”2930″/>

    Guterres speaks during his meeting with Zelensky on April 28.

    A team member with the International Atomic Energy Agency arrives at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on April 26. Russian forces withdrew from Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster, in March.

    Maria, 13, holds a photograph of her father, Yurii Alekseev, as she and her godfather, Igor Tarkovskii, attend Alekseev's funeral in Bucha, Ukraine, on April 26. Alekseev, 50, was a territorial defense member who was killed by Russian soldiers, according to his family.

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin <a href=attend a meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on April 24.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1684″ width=”3000″/>

    A couple looks at a memorial wall in Lviv on April 24. The wall shows Ukrainian civilians who have been killed during the Russian invasion.

    People pray during an <a href=Easter church service at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv on April 24.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2336″ width=”3500″/>

    Women walk between sandbags and anti-tank barricades in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, to attend a blessing of traditional Easter food baskets on April 23.

    Members of the Ukrainian Red Cross talk before moving an elderly woman to an ambulance in a bunker under a factory in Severodonetsk, Ukraine, on April 22.

    A woman who recently evacuated Mariupol cries after arriving at a registration center for internally displaced people in Zaporizhzhia on April 21.

    Emergency workers remove the body of a person killed during the <a href=Russian attack on Mariupol.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1511″ width=”2257″/>

    Vova, 10, looks at the body of his mother, Maryna, lying in a coffin as his father, Ivan, prays during her funeral in Bucha on April 20. She died during Russia's occupation of the city, as the family sheltered in a cold basement for more than a month.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, right, speaks with European Council President Charles Michel during a meeting in Kyiv on April 20.

    A Ukrainian serviceman stands next to a multiple rocket-launch system in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on April 20.

    Firefighters work in Lviv after a civilian building was hit by a Russian missile on April 18.

    Smoke rises above Mariupol on April 18.

    Women clean inside a damaged building at the Vizar company military-industrial complex in Vyshneve, Ukraine, on April 15. The site, on the outskirts of Kyiv, was hit by Russian strikes.

    Firefighters work at a burning building in Kharkiv following a missile attack near the Kharkiv International Airport on April 12.

    Mourners react in Stebnyk, Ukraine, during the funeral ceremony of Ukrainian serviceman Roman Tiaka. Tiaka was 47.

    Ukrainian forces fire rockets toward Russian positions in Ukraine's Donbas region on April 10.

    A man works to catalog some of the bodies of civilians who were killed in and around Bucha. <a href=Shocking images showing the bodies of civilians scattered across the suburb of Kyiv sparked international outrage and raised the urgency of ongoing investigations into alleged Russian war crimes. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Russian leaders to be held accountable for the actions of the nation’s military. The Russian Ministry of Defense, without evidence, claimed the extensive footage of Bucha was “fake.”” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1668″ width=”2500″/>

    Search-and-rescue teams remove debris after the Ukrainian army regained control of Borodianka, Ukraine, on April 6.

    People wait to board a train as they flee Kramatorsk, Ukraine, on April 5.

    Destruction is seen in Borodianka on April 5. Borodianka was home to 13,000 people before the war, but most fled after Russia's invasion. <a href=What was left of the town, after intense shelling and devastating airstrikes, was then occupied by Russian forces.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1688″ width=”3000″/>

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to the media about the alleged atrocities in Bucha on April 4. Zelensky emphasized as he stood in the town, surrounded by security.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2989″ width=”5045″/>

    Anna Zhelisko touches the casket of her grandson, Ukrainian soldier Dmitry Zhelisko, as it arrives for his funeral in Chervonohrad, Ukraine, on April 3. He died fighting the Russian army near Kharkiv.

    Smoke rises over Odesa, Ukraine, on April 3. The Russian defense ministry <a href=confirmed a strike on an oil refinery and fuel storage facilities in the port city.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1099″ width=”1953″/>

    Bodies lie on a street in Bucha on April 2. Images captured by Agence France-Presse showed at least 20 civilian men dead.

    A Ukrainian serviceman stands with a handcuffed Russian soldier in Kharkiv on March 31.

    A satellite image shows a shelled warehouse that was being used by the Red Cross in Mariupol on March 29.

    Russian and Ukrainian delegations <a href=meet in Istanbul for talks on March 29. Russia said it would “drastically reduce” its military assault on the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv. The announcement came after Ukrainian and Western intelligence assessments recently suggested that Russia’s advance on Kyiv was stalling. The talks also covered other important issues, including the future of the eastern Donbas region, the fate of Crimea, a broad alliance of security guarantors and a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1953″ width=”2930″/>

    A woman named Julia cries next to her 6-year-old daughter, Veronika, while talking to the press in Brovary, Ukraine, on March 29.

    The regional government headquarters of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, is damaged <a href=following a Russian attack on March 29. At least nine people were killed, according to the Mykolaiv regional media office’s Telegram channel.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1703″ width=”3000″/>

    An armored convoy of pro-Russian troops travel on a road leading to Mariupol on March 28.

    A volunteer weaves a bulletproof vest in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 28.

    A woman lights a candle during the Sunday service at a monastery in Odesa on March 27.

    A Ukrainian serviceman stands in a heavily damaged building in Stoyanka, Ukraine, on March 27.

    Orphaned children travel by train after fleeing the Russian-controlled town of Polohy, Ukraine, on March 26.

    A man recovers items from a burning shop following a Russian attack in Kharkiv on March 25.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses world leaders via video at the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium, on March 24. Zelensky stopped short of issuing his usual request for a no-fly zone, but he did say Ukraine needs fighter jets, tanks and better air defenses.

    A child holds a Ukrainian flag in front of the Taras Shevchenko monument as members of the Ukrainian National Guard band perform in Lviv on March 24.

    A firefighter sprays water inside a house that was destroyed by shelling in Kyiv on March 23.

    Svetlana Ilyuhina looks at the wreckage of her home in Kyiv following a Russian rocket attack on March 23.

    Pictures lie amid the rubble of a house in Kyiv on March 23.

    A woman cleans up a room March 21 in a building that was damaged by bombing in Kyiv.

    The Retroville shopping mall is seen in Kyiv after Russian shelling on March 21.

    People share dinner and sing

    Former Ukrainian Parliament member Tetiana Chornovol, now a service member and operator of an anti-tank guided missile system, examines a Russian tank she destroyed in a recent battle in the Kyiv region.

    A Ukrainian serviceman stands among debris after shelling in a residential area in Kyiv on March 18.

    US President Joe Biden holds a virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in this photo that was released by the White House on March 18. Biden sought to use <a href=the 110-minute call to dissuade Xi from assisting Russia in its war on Ukraine.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2000″ width=”3000″/>

    Staff members attend to a child at a children's hospital in Zaporizhzhia on March 18.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a rally at a stadium in Moscow on March 18. Speaking from a stage in front of a banner that read the celebration, which commemorated the eighth year of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2279″ width=”3876″/>

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky receives a standing ovation as he virtually addresses the US Congress on March 16. <a href=The historic speech occurred as the United States is under pressure to provide more military assistance to the embattled country.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1186″ width=”2000″/>

    An elderly woman is helped by police officers after she was rescued from an apartment that was hit by shelling in Kyiv on March 15.

    Firefighters work to extinguish flames at an apartment building in Kyiv on March 15.

    Military cadets attend a funeral ceremony at a church in Lviv on March 15. The funeral was for four of the Ukrainian servicemen who were killed during <a href=an airstrike on the Yavoriv military base near the Polish border. Local authorities say 35 people were killed.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    A woman walks past a damaged window to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial for victims in Donetsk, Ukraine, on March 15.

    Ukrainian soldiers take cover from incoming artillery fire in Irpin, Ukraine, on March 13.

    A Ukrainian soldier surveys a destroyed government building in Kharkiv on March 13.

    A mother and son rest in Lviv, Ukraine, while waiting to board a train to Poland on March 12.

    An explosion is seen at an apartment building in Mariupol on March 11. The city in southeastern Ukraine has been <a href=besieged by Russian forces.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”909″ width=”1616″/>

    Mariana Vishegirskaya's husband, Yuri, holds <a href=their newborn daughter, Veronika, at a hospital in Mariupol on March 11. Vishegirskaya survived the maternity hospital bombing in the city earlier in the week.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1336″ width=”2000″/>

    People pay their respects during <a href=a funeral service for three Ukrainian soldiers in Lviv on March 11. Senior Soldier Andrii Stefanyshyn, 39; Senior Lt. Taras Didukh, 25; and Sgt. Dmytro Kabakov, 58, were laid to rest at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church. Even in this sacred space, the sounds of war intruded: an air raid siren audible under the sound of prayer and weeping. Yet no one stirred. Residents are now inured to the near-daily warnings of an air attack.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1331″ width=”2000″/>

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gives a news conference after meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya, Turkey, on March 10. Two weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, <a href=Lavrov falsely claimed that his country “did not attack” its neighbor.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1278″ width=”2000″/>

    A resident takes shelter in a basement in Irpin on March 10. <a href=Due to heavy fighting, Irpin has been without heat, water or electricity for several days.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Emergency workers carry an injured pregnant woman outside of a<a href= bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 9. The woman and her baby later died, a surgeon who was treating her confirmed. The attack came despite Russia agreeing to a 12-hour pause in hostilities to allow refugees to evacuate.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1125″ width=”2000″/>

    Dead bodies are placed into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol on March 9. With overflowing morgues and repeated shelling, the city has been <a href=unable to hold proper burials.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2667″ width=”4000″/>

    Cars drive past a destroyed Russian tank as civilians leave Irpin on March 9. A Ukrainian official said lines of vehicles <a href=stretched for miles as people tried to escape fighting in districts to the north and northwest of Kyiv.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is displayed on a screen as he <a href=addresses British lawmakers via video on March 8. “We will not give up and we will not lose. We will fight until the end at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost,” he said in his comments translated by an interpreter. The House of Commons gave Zelensky a standing ovation at the end of his address.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    A firefighter works to extinguish flames after a chemical warehouse was reportedly hit by Russian shelling near Kalynivka, Ukraine, on March 8.

    Members of the Red Cross help people fleeing the Kyiv suburb of Irpin on March 7.

    The dead bodies of civilians killed while trying to flee are covered by sheets in Irpin on March 6. CNN determined they were killed in <a href=a Russian military strike.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1297″ width=”2000″/>

    Civilians seek protection in a basement bomb shelter in Kyiv on March 6.

    Local residents help clear the rubble of a home that was destroyed by a suspected Russian airstrike in Markhalivka, Ukraine, on March 5.

    George Keburia says goodbye to his wife and children as they board a train in Odesa on March 5. They were heading to Lviv.

    Ukrainian officials say several people were injured in a<a href= Russian missile attack on Kyiv on Thursday, April 28, which occurred as the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres was finishing a visit to the Ukrainian capital.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1875″ width=”2500″/>

    Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomes UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres before <a href=their meeting, in Kyiv, on April 28. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1668″ width=”2500″/>

    A statue is covered in Lviv on March 5. <a href=Residents wrapped statues in protective sheets to try to safeguard historic monuments across the city.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2000″ width=”3000″/>

    Ukrainians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee across the Irpin River on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 5.

    Marina Yatsko runs behind her boyfriend, Fedor, as they arrive at the hospital with her <a href=18-month-old son, Kirill, who was wounded by shelling in Mariupol on March 4. Medical workers frantically tried to save the boy’s life, but he didn’t survive.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2000″ width=”3000″/>

    People remove personal belongings from a burning house after shelling in Irpin on March 4.

    Oksana and her son Dmytro stand over the open casket of her husband, Volodymyr Nezhenets, during his funeral in Kyiv on March 4. <a href=According to the Washington Post, he was a member of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces, which is comprised mostly of volunteers.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1334″ width=”1941″/>

    People crowd on a platform as they try to board a westbound train in Kyiv on March 4.

    A bullet-ridden bus is seen after an ambush in Kyiv on March 4.

    People take shelter on the floor of a hospital during shelling in Mariupol on March 4.

    A member of the Ukrainian military gives instructions to civilians in Irpin on March 4. They were about to board an evacuation train headed to Kyiv.

    Surveillance camera footage shows a flare landing at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine, during shelling on March 4. Ukrainian authorities said <a href=Russian forces have “occupied” the power plant.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2014″ width=”3584″/>

    A Ukrainian child rests on a bed at a temporary refugee center in Záhony, Hungary, on March 4.

    A residential building destroyed by shelling is seen in Borodyanka, Ukraine, on March 3. Russian forces have shown a a senior US defense official told reporters.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1202″ width=”2000″/>

    Leos Leonid recovers at a hospital in Kyiv on March 3. The 64-year-old survived being crushed when an armored vehicle drove over his car. <a href=Video of the incident was widely shared on social media.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1334″ width=”2000″/>

    A Ukrainian soldier carries a baby across a destroyed bridge on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 3.

    Residents react in front of a burning building after shelling in Kharkiv on March 3.

    A Ukrainian soldier who says he was shot three times in the opening days of the invasion sits on a hospital bed in Kyiv on March 3.

    People form a human chain to transfer supplies into Kyiv on March 3.

    A cemetery worker digs graves for Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv on March 3.

    A mother cares for her two infant sons in the underground shelter of a maternity hospital in Kyiv on March 3. She gave birth a day earlier, and she and her husband haven't yet decided on names for the twins.

    A member of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces sits with a weapon in Kyiv on March 2.

    Paramedics treat an elderly woman wounded by shelling before transferring her to a hospital in Mariupol on March 2.

    Residents of Zhytomyr work in the remains of a residential building on March 2. The building was destroyed by shelling.

    A woman reads a story to children while they <a href=take shelter in a subway station in Kyiv on March 2.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1667″ width=”2500″/>

    A member of Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces inspects damage in the backyard of a house in Gorenka on March 2.

    A Ukrainian woman takes her children over the border in Siret, Romania, on March 2. Many Ukrainians are fleeing the country at a pace that could turn into

    Militia members set up anti-tank barricades in Kyiv on March 2.

    People wait at a train station in Kyiv on March 2.

    People shelter in a subway station in Kyiv on March 2.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky poses for a picture in a Kyiv bunker after <a href=an exclusive interview with CNN and Reuters on March 1. Zelensky said that as long as Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian cities continued, little progress could be made in talks between the two nations. “It’s important to stop bombing people, and then we can move on and sit at the negotiation table,” he said.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1334″ width=”2000″/>

    An explosion is seen at a TV tower in Kyiv on March 1. <a href=Russian forces fired rockets near the tower and struck a Holocaust memorial site in Kyiv hours after warning of “high-precision” strikes on other facilities linked to Ukrainian security agencies.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1667″ width=”2500″/>

    Ukrainian soldiers attend Mass at an Orthodox monastery in Kyiv on March 1.

    Medical workers show a mother her newborn after she gave birth at a maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 1. The hospital is now also used as a medical ward and bomb shelter.

    An administrative building is seen in Kharkiv after Russian shelling on March 1. Russian forces have scaled up their bombardment of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

    Ukrainian emergency workers carry a body of a victim following shelling that hit the City Hall building in Kharkiv on March 1.

    A woman named Helen comforts her 8-year-old daughter, Polina, in the bomb shelter of a Kyiv children's hospital on March 1. The girl was at the hospital being treated for encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.

    Ukrainian refugees try to stay warm at the Medyka border crossing in Poland on March 1.

    Volunteers in Kyiv sign up to join Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces on February 28.

    A member of the Territorial Defense Forces loads rifle magazines in Kyiv on February 28.

    Delegations from Russia and Ukraine <a href=hold talks in Belarus on February 28. Both sides discussed a potential “ceasefire and the end of combat actions on the territory of Ukraine,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak told reporters. Without going into detail, Podolyak said that both sides would return to their capitals for consultations over whether to implement a number of “decisions.”” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1475″ width=”2500″/>

    A displaced Ukrainian cradles her child at a temporary shelter set up inside a gymnasium in Beregsurány, Hungary, on February 28.

    Ukrainian forces order a man to the ground on February 28 as they increased security measures amid Russian attacks in Kyiv.

    The lifeless body of a 6-year-old girl, who <a href=according to the Associated Press was killed by Russian shelling in a residential area, lies on a medical cart at a hospital in Mariupol on February 27. The girl, whose name was not immediately known, was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Smoke billows over the Ukrainian city of Vasylkiv, just outside Kyiv on February 27. A fire at an oil storage area was seen raging at the Vasylkiv Air Base.

    People wait on a platform inside the railway station in Lviv on February 27. Thousands of people at Lviv's main train station attempted to board trains that would take them out of Ukraine.

    A Russian armored vehicle burns after fighting in Kharkiv on February 27. Street fighting broke out as Russian troops entered Ukraine's second-largest city, and residents were urged to stay in shelters and not travel.

    Local residents prepare Molotov cocktails in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, on February 27.

    Cars line up on the road outside Mostyska, Ukraine, as people attempt to flee to Poland on February 27.

    Ukrainian troops in Kyiv escort a prisoner February 27 who they suspected of being a Russian agent.

    Ukrainian forces patrol mostly empty streets in Kyiv on February 27. Mayor Vitali Klitschko <a href=extended a citywide curfew.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2000″ width=”3000″/>

    Ukrainian service members take position at the Vasylkiv Air Base near Kyiv on February 27.

    A woman sleeps on chairs February 27 in the underground parking lot of a Kyiv hotel that has been turned into a bomb shelter.

    An apartment building in Kyiv is seen after it was damaged by shelling on February 26. The outer walls of several apartment units appeared to be blown out entirely, with the interiors blackened and debris hanging loose.

    People in Kyiv take cover as an air-raid siren sounds February 26 near an apartment building <a href=that was damaged by shelling.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1305″ width=”2000″/>

    A police vehicle patrols the streets of Kyiv on February 26.

    Following a national directive to help complicate the invading Russian Army's attempts to navigate, a road worker removes signs near Pisarivka, Ukraine, on February 26.

    A man kneels in front of a Russian tank in Bakhmach, Ukraine, on February 26 as Ukrainian citizens attempted to stop the tank from moving forward. <a href=The dramatic scene was captured on video, and CNN confirmed its authenticity. The moment drew comparisons to the iconic “Tank Man” of Tiananmen Square.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1067″ width=”1600″/>

    People in Kyiv board a train heading to the west of the country on February 26. Kelly Clements, the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, <a href=told CNN that more than 120,000 people had left Ukraine while 850,000 were internally displaced.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Ukrainian service members look for and collect unexploded shells after  fighting in Kyiv on February 26.

    Smoke and flames are seen near Kyiv on February 26. <a href=Explosions were seen and heard in parts of the capital as Ukrainians battled to hold back advancing Russian troops.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1125″ width=”2000″/>

    The body of a Russian soldier lies next to a Russian vehicle outside Kharkiv on February 25.

    <a href=Newly married couple Yaryna Arieva and Sviatoslav Fursin pose for photo in Kyiv on February 25 after they joined the Territorial Defense Forces.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Members of the Ukrainian National Guard take positions in central Kyiv on February 25.

    People walk past a residential building in Kyiv that was hit in an alleged Russian airstrike on February 25.

    The body of a school employee, who according to locals was killed in recent shelling, lies in the separatist-controlled town of Horlivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region on February 25.

    Kyiv residents take shelter in an underground parking garage on February 25.

    The body of a rocket remains in an apartment after shelling on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv on February 24.

    A wounded woman stands outside a hospital after an attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Chuhuiv, outside of Kharkiv, on February 24.

    A boy plays with his tablet in a public basement used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv on February 24.

    Sviatoslav Fursin, left, and Yaryna Arieva kneel during <a href=their wedding ceremony at the St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv on February 24. They had planned on getting married in May, but they rushed to tie the knot due to the attacks by Russian forces. “We maybe can die, and we just wanted to be together before all of that,” Arieva said.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1875″ width=”2500″/>

    Ukrainian service members sit atop armored vehicles driving in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on February 24.

    People in Kyiv try to board a bus to travel west toward Poland on February 24.

    US President Joe Biden arrives in the East Room of the White House to <a href=address the Russian invasion on February 24. “Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences,” Biden said, laying out a set of measures that will “impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.”” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1667″ width=”2500″/>

    Smoke rises from a military airport in Chuhuiv on February 24. <a href=Airports were also hit in Boryspil, Kharkiv, Ozerne, Kulbakino, Kramatorsk and Chornobaivka.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”3257″ width=”4885″/>

    People seek shelter inside a subway station in Kharkiv on February 24.

    Russian military vehicles are seen at the Chernobyl power plant near Pripyat, Ukraine, on February 24. Russian forces <a href=seized control of the the plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1581″ width=”2500″/>

    People wait after boarding a bus to leave Kyiv on February 24.

    Ukrainian President Zelensky holds an emergency meeting in Kyiv on February 24. <a href=In a video address, Zelensky announced that he was introducing martial law. He urged people to remain calm.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2000″ width=”3000″/>

    Police officers inspect the remains of a missile that landed in Kyiv on February 24.

    A staff member of a Kyiv hotel talks on the phone on February 24.

    Smoke rises from an air defense base after an apparent Russian strike in Mariupol on February 24. A CNN team in Mariupol reported hearing <a href=a barrage of artillery.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1670″ width=”2500″/>

    People wait in line to buy train tickets at the central station in Kyiv on February 24.

    A long line of cars is seen<a href= exiting Kyiv on February 24. Heavy traffic appeared to be heading west, away from where explosions were heard early in the morning.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1335″ width=”2000″/>

    A photo provided by the Ukrainian President's office appears to show an explosion in Kyiv early on February 24.

    People in Moscow watch a televised address by Russian President Vladimir Putin as he <a href=announces a military operation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on February 24. “Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never experienced in your history,” he said.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1219″ width=”2000″/>

    <a href=An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council is held in New York to discuss the crisis on February 23. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop “attacking Ukraine” and to give peace a chance.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1125″ width=”2000″/>

    A convoy of Russian military vehicles is seen February 23 in the Rostov region of Russia, which runs along Ukraine's eastern border.

    Ukrainian soldiers talk in a shelter at the front line near Svitlodarsk, Ukraine, on February 23.

    Smoke rises from a damaged power plant in Shchastya that Ukrainian authorities say was hit by shelling on February 22.

    A damaged house is worked on after shelling near the Ukrainian front-line city of Novoluhanske on February 22.

    Mourners gather at a church in Kyiv on February 22 for the funeral of Ukrainian Army Capt. Anton Sydorov. The Ukrainian military said he was <a href=killed by a shrapnel wound on February 19 after several rounds of artillery fire were directed at Ukrainian positions near Myronivske.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1334″ width=”2000″/>

    A sign displays conversion rates at a currency exchange kiosk in Kyiv on February 22. <a href=Global markets tumbled the day after Putin ordered troops into parts of eastern Ukraine.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1334″ width=”2000″/>

    Russian howitzers are loaded onto train cars near Taganrog, Russia, on February 22.

    People who left a separatist-held region in eastern Ukraine watch <a href=an address by Putin from their hotel room in Taganrog, Russia, on February 21. Putin blasted Kyiv’s growing security ties with the West, and in lengthy remarks about the history of the USSR and the formation of the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, he appeared to cast doubt on Ukraine’s right to self-determination.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1573″ width=”2500″/>

    <a href=Putin signs decrees recognizing the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic in a ceremony in Moscow on February 21. Earlier in the day, the heads of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics requested the Kremlin leader recognize their independence and sovereignty. Members of Putin’s Security Council supported the initiative in a meeting earlier in the day.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1617″ width=”2500″/>

    Protesters demanding economic sanctions against Russia stand outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv on February 21. Only a small number of protesters showed up to demonstrate.

    Activists hold a performance in front of the Russian embassy in Kyiv on February 21 in support of prisoners who were arrested in Crimea. They say the red doors are a symbol of the doors that were kicked in to search and arrest Crimean Tatars, a Muslim ethnic minority.

    Ukrainian servicemen shop in the front-line town of Avdiivka, Ukraine, on February 21.

    People lay flowers at the Motherland Monument in Kyiv on February 21.

    A couple arrives at the city council to get married in Odesa on February 20. As Ukrainian authorities reported further ceasefire violations and top Western officials warned about an impending conflict, life went on in other parts of the country.

    Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy, left, visits soldiers at a front-line position in Novoluhanske on February 19. Minutes after he left, <a href=the position came under fire. No one was injured.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1406″ width=”2500″/>

    A woman rests in a car near a border checkpoint in Avilo-Uspenka, Russia, on February 19.

    A Ukrainian service member walks by a building on February 19 that was hit by mortar fire in the front-line village of Krymske, Ukraine.

    Fighter jets fly over Belarus during a joint military exercise the country held with Russia on February 19.

    Ukrainian soldiers stand guard at a military command center in Novoluhanske on February 19.

    People sit on a bus in Donetsk on February 18 after they were ordered to evacuate to Russia by pro-Russian separatists.

    The remains of a military vehicle are seen in a parking lot outside a government building following an explosion in Donetsk on February 18. Ukrainian and US officials said the vehicle explosion was <a href=a staged attack designed to stoke tensions in eastern Ukraine.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1068″ width=”1600″/>

    A memorial service and candlelight vigil is held at the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv on February 18. They honored <a href=those who died in 2014 while protesting against the government of President Viktor Yanukovych, a pro-Russian leader who later fled the country.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1307″ width=”2000″/>

    A kindergarten that officials say was <a href=damaged by shelling is seen in Stanytsia Luhanska, Ukraine, on February 17. No lives were lost, but it was a stark reminder of the stakes for people living near the front lines that separate Ukrainian government forces from Russian-backed separatists.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1333″ width=”2000″/>

    Children play on old Soviet tanks in front of the Motherland Monument in Kyiv on February 16.

    Ambassadors of European countries lay roses at the Wall of Remembrance in Kyiv on February 16. The wall contains the names and photographs of military members who have died since the conflict with Russian-backed separatists began in 2014.

    US troops walk on the tarmac at the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in southeastern Poland on February 16. US paratroopers landed in Poland as part of a deployment of several thousand sent to bolster NATO's eastern flank in response to tensions with Russia.

    A 200-meter-long Ukrainian flag is unfolded at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv on February 16 to mark a

    Travelers wait in line to check in to their departing flights February 15 at the Boryspil International Airport outside Kyiv. US President Joe Biden<a href= urged Americans in Ukraine to leave the country, warning that “things could go crazy quickly” in the region.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1336″ width=”2000″/>

    A location of Oschadbank, a state-owned bank, is seen in Kyiv on February 15. The websites of Oschadbank and PrivatBank, the country's two largest banks, <a href=were hit by cyberattacks that day, as were the websites of Ukraine’s defense ministry and army, according to Ukrainian government agencies.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1334″ width=”2000″/>

    A woman and child walk underneath a military monument in Senkivka, Ukraine, on February 14. It's on the outskirts of the Three Sisters border crossing between Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

    Ukrainian service members talk at a front-line position in eastern Ukraine on February 14.

    Members of Ukraine's National Guard look out a window as they ride a bus through the capital of Kyiv on February 14.

    Satellite images taken on February 13 by Maxar Technologies revealed that dozens of helicopters had appeared at a previously vacant airbase in Russian-occupied Crimea.

    Pro-Russian separatists observe the movement of Ukrainian troops from trenches in Ukraine's Donbas area on February 11.

    Ukrainian service members unpack Javelin anti-tank missiles that were delivered to Kyiv on February 10 as part of a US military support package for Ukraine.

    Ukrainian service members walk on an armored fighting vehicle during a training exercise in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region on February 10.

    In pictures: Russia invades Ukraine

    Exactly why this is risky should be clear: The first mobilization caused major tremors in Russian society. Hundreds of thousands of Russians voted with their feet. Protests erupted in ethnic minority regions such as Dagestan where police faced off against anti-mobilization demonstrators in multiple cities. Russian social media saw a surge of videos and public complaints about the lack of equipment and appalling conditions for newly mobilized recruits.

    Putin was able to weather the unrest with his formidable and well-funded security apparatus, much as he was able to crack down on antiwar protests that broke out right after the February 24 invasion. And in the months that followed mobilization, Russia made some slow, grinding advances in Ukraine’s Donbas region, particularly around the embattled city of Bakhmut.

    Many of those advances have been led by soldiers of the Wagner Group, a private military company headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Many reports on Wagner have focused on the group’s brutal tactics, including human-wave attacks and summary execution for waverers or deserters.

    Many of Russia's recent advances have been led by soldiers of the Wagner Group, a private military company headed by oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin.

    But Wagner’s methods are also a flashback to a bleak chapter of Soviet history. Prigozhin has recruited thousands of prisoners with the promise of amnesty or a pardon, a practice that mirrors Stalin’s use of penal battalions and convicts to take on desperate or suicidal missions in the toughest sectors of the front, using human-wave attacks to overwhelm enemy defenses, regardless of the human cost.

    The mercenary group says it is no longer recruiting prisoners, but Wagner’s costly battlefield successes have raised Prigozhin’s profile. While the oligarch has no official government office or administrative power, his ability to deliver some results and his swaggering PR operation have vaulted him significantly closer to Putin.

    How close, exactly, is a matter of intense debate. In an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, Russian author and journalist Mikhail Zygar called Prigozhin’s ambitions “the most hot topic for speculation in Moscow,” noting that he is accumulating a political following that would potentially allow him to challenge Putin.

    “He’s the first folk hero (in) many years,” Zygar said. “He’s a hero for the most ultraconservative – the most, I would say, fascist – part of Russian society, as long as we don’t have any liberal part in Russian society, because most of the leaders of that part of Russian society have left, he’s an obvious rival to President Putin.”

    Recent speculation has centered on whether rivals within Russia’s power elite have been trying to clip Prigozhin’s wings. Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya recently offered a skeptical take on Prigozhin’s rise that factors in some of those considerations. In a recent article published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, she noted that Prigozhin has rivalries with Russia’s power ministries and doesn’t have much showing in polls.

    “Is Prigozhin ready to challenge Putin?” she wrote in a recent piece. “While the answer is negative, there is one important ‘but.’ It is difficult to remain balanced and sane after going through bloody meat grinders and losing a significant part of one’s personnel. As long as Putin is relatively strong and able to maintain a balance between groups of influence, Prigozhin is safe. But the slightest easing could provoke Prigozhin to challenge power, even if not directly to Putin at first. War breeds monsters, whose recklessness and desperation can become a challenge to the state.”

    Part of the fascination with Prigozhin has to do with the fact that Putin, until a year ago, enjoyed a secure monopoly on power. The authorities were well practiced in quashing street protests, and any meaningful political opposition had been effectively neutered. That’s fueled speculation – or perhaps wishful thinking – that the collapse of Putinism might be brought on by some fissure within the elite. The so-called siloviki (the hardcore authoritarians in Putin’s inner circle) remain publicly loyal, but further setbacks in Ukraine may create a potential scramble for power.

    Since last February's invasion, Putin has shrugged off protests and international sanctions.

    Against that backdrop, some Russians have taken refuge in a form of political apathy. CNN recently spoke to several Muscovites about how their lives have changed since last year, on condition that their surnames not be used over the risks of publicly criticizing the government.

    “There have been a lot of changes (in Russia), but I can’t really make a difference,” said Ira, a 47-year-old who works for a business publication. “I just try to keep some internal balance. Maybe I’m too apolitical, but I don’t feel it (further mobilization) is going to happen.”

    Ira said she felt acute anxiety in February and March of last year, immediately after the invasion. She had just bought an apartment and was worried that work might dry up and she wouldn’t be able to pay her mortgage.

    “It got a lot worse in the spring,” she said. “Now it seems we’ve gotten used to a new reality. I started to meet and go out with girlfriends. I started to buy a lot more wine.”

    The restaurants are now full, she said, but added: “The faces look completely different. The hipsters – you know what hipsters are? – there are less of them.”

    Ira doesn’t have a son, so she does not have to worry about him being mobilized. But she did say that her 21-year-old daughter has started going out to kvartirnik – informal, word-of-mouth gatherings in private apartments, somewhat reminiscent of the underground performances held in the Soviet era.

    Olya, a 51-year-old events organizer with two teenage children, said her family had opted for more domestic holidays. Europe is largely closed to direct flights from Russia, and opportunities to travel abroad are more limited.

    “We started to travel around the country more,” she said.

    Olya and her family travel with a group of friends, but some topics are off-limits in that circle.

    “We know in our group what everyone thinks about it (the war) but we don’t talk about it, otherwise we’ll end up squabbling,” she said.

    Life carries on, Olya said, even though there is a war on. “I can’t influence the situation,” she said. “My friends say, we do what we can, what’s possible. It doesn’t help to get depressed.”

    Helping matters for the Russian government is the unexpected durability of parts of the Russian economy, despite heavy Western sanctions. The war has been costly for the government – the country’s Finance Ministry recently admitted it ran a higher-than-expected deficit in 2022, in large part due to a 30% increase in defense spending over the previous year – but the International Monetary Fund is projecting a small return to GDP growth for Russia in 2023 of 0.3%.

    A 38-year-old entrepreneur named Georgy told CNN that from the perspective of his businesses, things appeared to be picking up.

    “Those who adapted quickly reorganized, they are seeing growth,” he said. “In January we concluded an unusual number of deals, and most of our activity usually picks up in February.”

    Georgy spoke to CNN while in a Moscow traffic snarl, evidence that life in the capital has resumed some of its normal rhythm.

    “In terms of everyday life, practically nothing has changed,” he said, talking about the cutoff of Western imports. “If we’re talking parts for a (Mercedes Benz) G-Class, it might be trickier.”

    Asked if his business was affected by the exodus of Russians since the beginning of the war, Georgy said no.

    “Those I know personally who left? Probably about five people,” he said. “I have a patriotic social circle.”

    Georgy said he was skeptical of state media, saying he looked for other sources of information. And he acknowledged that he could theoretically be called up in another wave of mobilization.

    “My attitude is somewhat philosophical,” he said. “Of course, I’d prefer not to.”

    Before last February, Russia’s budding middle class could benefit from Putin’s social contract: Stay out of politics, and you’ll enjoy life in a European-style Moscow or St. Petersburg. Now that the bargain is out the window. Russia is further than ever from Europe, and it remains to be seen if support for an open-ended war can be sustained.

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    February 18, 2023
  • China is considering providing

    China is considering providing

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    As the attempted Russian takeover of Ukraine nears its one-year mark, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News on Saturday that China is actively considering providing lethal support, including weapons and ammunition to aid Moscow in its war against Ukraine.

    “We’ve been concerned from day one about that possibility,” Blinken said in an interview with “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan on Saturday. Pressed on the type of lethal aid China is considering, Blinken spoke in general terms.

    “There’s a whole gamut of things that — that fit in that category, everything from ammunition to the weapons themselves.” 

    Notably, China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, told other leaders at the Munich Security Conference this week that China is working on a peace proposal to end the conflict. That public position runs contrary to what U.S. intelligence has indicated.

    “We have seen them provide non-lethal support to Russia for use in Ukraine. The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support, and we’ve made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.”

    Antony Blinken
    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 2023 Munich Security Conference on Feb. 18, 2023 in Munich, Germany. 

    Johannes Simon / Getty Images


    Blinken confirmed that Chinese companies are already providing non-lethal support to the Russian effort. He noted the relationship between Chinese companies and the Chinese government, saying, “To date, we have seen Chinese companies and of course, in China, there’s really no distinction between private companies and the state.”

    Blinken is also in Germany for the Munich Security Conference, an annual event attended by top officials worldwide on defense, human security, and the global order. There, he spoke face to face with Yi on the consequences China would face if they were to provide weapons, ammunition, or other lethal aid to Russia. 

    Brennan asked Blinken if Wang offered an apology for the Chinese surveillance balloon that floated over U.S. airspace several weeks ago. Blinken said that there was no apology, but the hour-long meeting was useful. 

    “We have to make sure that the competition that we’re clearly engaged in, does not veer into conflict,” Blinken said. “But at the same time, we will very resolutely stand up for our interests.”

    NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned at the conference that Beijing “is watching closely to see the price Russia pays — or the reward it receives — for its aggression,” according to Politico.  

    In the weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping released a joint statement declaring a partnership without limits.

    Blinken also said that Iran and Russia are expanding their military relationship.

    “We’ve seen Iran provide drones that Russia is using in Ukraine to attack civilian infrastructure, to kill civilians,” Blinken said, adding that Iran’s assistance to Russia has “been going on for months.” 

    But now, Russia may also arm Iran, which is designated by the U.S. to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism. 

    “There’s an increasingly noxious relationship between Russia and Iran,” Blinken added. “Russia is also providing military equipment to Iran, including, it looks like, sophisticated fighter planes. That’s something that looks like it may be happening, which would make Iran an even greater threat, if it acquires that technology. So this is something that we’ve been talking about with allies and partners around the world. That relationship is a growing concern.”

    Since the outset of the war, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has supported Putin’s military attack on Ukraine, stating the actions were justified as NATO’s expansion posed a “serious threat” to the stability of the region.

    Blinken also commented on Vice President Kamala Harris’s announcement in Munich that the U.S. had formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine. 

    “The determination that — that we made crimes against humanity, that the vice president announced today, is unfortunately, starkly clear,” Blinken said. “And we’ve seen that almost from day one. We saw it in Bucha, when the Russian tide receded, we saw what was left in its wake. And it’s horrific. And we continue to see it across the country, the fact that they’re targeting civilians, targeting civilian infrastructure, so that people freeze to death,don’t have the lights on.”

    President Biden has used the term genocide to refer to Russia’s actions. When asked if the State Department was working on legal determination of genocide, Blinken responded: “We will look at every possible termination, but we’re going to follow the facts, and we’re going to follow the law. These are very serious determinations, and we will engage in them very seriously.”

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    February 18, 2023
  • Transcript: Secretary of State Antony Blinken on

    Transcript: Secretary of State Antony Blinken on

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    The following is a transcript of an interview with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that’s scheduled to air Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, on “Face the Nation.”


    MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Germany attending the Munich Security Conference. Mr. Secretary, I know you just met with your Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, who has publicly said the U.S. response to the spy balloon was ‘absurd,’ ‘hysterical,’ and an ‘effort to divert attention away from domestic problems.’ Was he that dismissive to you in private?

    SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN: Margaret, I don’t want to characterize what he said, I can tell you what I said. I made very clear to him that China sending a surveillance balloon over the United States, in violation of our sovereignty, in violation of international law, was unacceptable, and must never happen again. We also had an opportunity to talk about what’s happening here in Munich, the focus of the conversation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and concerns that we have the China’s considering providing lethal support to Russia, in its efforts in Ukraine. And I was able to share with him, as President Biden had shared with President Xi, the serious consequences that would have for our relationship. Finally, it was important for me to underscore that we believe having lines of communication, engaging in direct diplomacy, is very important. We have a responsibility to manage our relationship in a responsible manner. That’s part of what this evening was about.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: Does that mean their defense minister will pick up the next phone call from Secretary Austin instead of refusing it?

    SEC. BLINKEN: Well, it’s one of the things that we talked about. The importance of having lines of communication, including military-to-military lines of communication. It’s vital to making sure that there aren’t miscommunications, misunderstandings, especially if you’ve got a crisis or some other situation on your hands. And so I tried to impress upon my Chinese counterpart the importance of having those contacts, including military-to-military.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: A senior Pentagon official said last week that President Xi Jinping was caught by surprise by the surveillance balloon and that he doesn’t trust his own military. Did the left and right hand of the Chinese government not know what was going on?

    SEC. BLINKEN: I can’t speak to that, Margaret. But what I can- what I can tell you is this. It doesn’t matter in the sense that China is responsible for this action. And ultimately, as the leader of the country, President Xi is responsible. It’s one of the reasons it was important for me on behalf of President Biden to share directly with the most senior Chinese foreign policy official, the very clear determination that this must not happen again.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, if Colin Kahl, this Pentagon officials’ comments are accurate, that would raise the risk of miscalculation if China doesn’t have control over its own military. That’s why I wanted you to clarify that.

    SEC. BLINKEN: So Margaret, I can’t again- I can’t speak to the- the Chinese views on this. I can only imagine that China must be in the process of trying to draw its own lessons from this incident. And of course, we’re not the only- the only ones concerned, Chinese use these surveillance balloons over more than 40 countries across five continents. So one of the things I’m hearing here in Munich, is real concern about the surveillance balloon program. I suspect the fact that it’s been exposed by us is going to have to cause China to take another look at this.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m going to come back to what you mentioned in terms of providing support to Russia. There is open-source reporting that Chinese companies are providing surveillance equipment to that mercenary group, the Wagner group fighting in Ukraine. Does the U.S. consider this to be providing military support to Russia?

    SEC. BLINKEN: We’ve been concerned from day one about- about that possibility. In fact, if you go back to the very first conversations that President Biden and President Xi had about Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, just a couple of weeks into the war, President Biden shared with with President Xi our deep concern about the possibility China would provide lethal support to Russia to- to Russia in this effort, as well as engaged in the systematic evasion of sanctions. And the reason for that concern was just weeks before the aggression, you’ll remember that President Xi and President Putin had a meeting in which they just talked about a partnership with no limits. And we were concerned that among those- among the lack of limits would be Chinese support for Russia in the war. We’ve been watching this very closely. To date, we have seen Chinese companies and of course, in China, there’s really no distinction between private companies and the state. We have seen them provide non-lethal support to Russia for use in Ukraine. The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support, and we’ve made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: Lethal support, what would that entail? What do you think–

    SEC. BLINKEN: Weapons. Weapons.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: That’s ammunition, that’s–

    SEC. BLINKEN: Primarily weapons. 

    MARGARET BRENNAN: Primarily–

    SEC. BLINKEN: There’s a whole gamut of things that- that fit in that category, everything from ammunition to the weapons themselves.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: Iran is also accused of providing more weaponry to Russia here. So they are–

    SEC. BLINKEN: That’s right. We’ve seen Iran provide–

    MARGARET BRENNAN: They are building an alliance.

    SEC. BLINKEN: We’ve seen Iran provide drones that Russia is using in Ukraine to attack civilian infrastructure, to kill civilians. This is something that’s been going on for months. We’ve been working to expose that, to take action against it, to sanction it. There’s an increasingly noxious relationship between Russia and Iran. And it’s actually a two way street. Not only is Iran providing this- this equipment to Russia, but Russia is also providing military equipment to Iran, including, it looks like, sophisticated fighter planes. That’s something that looks like it may be happening, which would make Iran an even greater threat, if it acquires that technology. So this is something that we’ve been talking about with allies and partners around the world. That relationship is a growing concern.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: And that would make them party to this conflict directly. In other words, this isn’t just a war between Russia and Ukraine.

    SEC. BLINKEN: Well, what we’ve seen with Iran is that the malicious activities that it’s engaged in, through – throughout the region, and it’s been engaged in for years, we now see that expanding out to other parts of the world, and particularly in this case, to Russia’s war against Ukraine. And that’s, of course, a real concern. We’ve also seen them targeting opponents of the regime, including in the United States, as you know, some individuals were arrested just a short while ago for trying to assassinate an Iranian journalist in New York, who opposes the regime.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: So from your conversation with your Chinese counterpart, do I understand that usually, when you say it’s a direct conversation, that’s “diplo-speak” for it didn’t go very well? It was pretty heated? Or did you make plans to visit Beijing in the near future?

    SEC. BLINKEN: It’s “diplo-speak” for saying it was very important to speak very clearly, very directly, about the deep concerns we have. The concerns that we have about this surveillance balloon, and the entire program, the concerns we have about the possibility that China will provide lethal material support to Russia and its war effort against Ukraine–

    MARGARET BRENNAN: But there was no apology?

    SEC. BLINKEN: And it’s important that- again, don’t want to characterize what they said, although it’s safe to say there was no apology. But again, it’s also important, and this is why it was also useful to have this meeting this evening, also important to have these direct lines of communication, to make sure that- that we are talking to engage in diplomacy. We have to manage this relationship responsibly. We have to make sure that the competition that we’re clearly engaged in, does not veer into conflict, into a- into a new Cold War. It’s not in our interest, I won’t speak to theirs, but it’s not in ours. But at the same time, we will very resolutely stand up for our interests. We will resolutely stand up for our values. That’s what we’ve been doing over the last couple of years and that’s what we’ll continue to do.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: In terms of Russia’s war, 97% of its military is already engaged in this fight in Ukraine, according to the UK, but they have substantial airpower they haven’t tapped into yet. Do you see evidence that Russia is preparing an aerial attack on Ukraine?

    SEC. BLINKEN: Russia’s losses have been horrific. You’re right that 90- 97 percent or so of their ground forces have been engaged in this war, which is extraordinary. And the losses to date have been horrific. Public figures suggest 200,000 casualties, that is a combination of those killed, and those wounded. The destruction of their war machine itself, the tanks, the armored vehicles, the missile launchers, etc, has also been extensive. In terms of airpower, they tried some of this early on. Ukraine’s air defenses were actually successful in shooting down a lot of Russian aircraft. So they backed off of using aircraft. That doesn’t mean that they won’t try to do that going forward. But at least to date, Ukraine has had air defenses that have allowed it to pose such a threat to Russian aircraft that they haven’t really been flying.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: So do you see a change in the U.S. position to greenlight other countries to provide fighter jets to Ukraine? Do you expect any policy change when President Biden visits Poland in the days to come?

    SEC. BLINKEN: Margaret, what we’re focused on is trying to the best of our ability to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, when it needs it, to deal with the challenge it faces in the moment. And all along, we’ve been very clear that we shouldn’t fixate or focus on any particular weapons system, because it’s not just the weapon system. You’ve got to make sure that the Ukrainians are trained to use it, you’ve got to make sure they have the capacity to maintain it, because if they’re not trained to use it, it’s not going to do them a lot of good. If they can’t maintain it and it falls apart in a week, it’s not going to do them a lot of good. And so, some of these weapons systems of one kind or another, are highly sophisticated, things that they haven’t used in the past, we’ve got to make sure that- that they have the capacity to use them and use them effectively–

    MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re talking about U.S. jets there, it sounds like, versus- versus the Soviet-era jets–

    SEC. BLINKEN: Well, I’m talking about any- any–

    MARGARET BRENNAN: that Poland has, for example, that could be transferred, that they’ve offered to transfer–

    SEC. BLINKEN: I’m talking about any sophisticated piece of military equipment that the Ukrainians haven’t had practice using in the past. But the other thing is this, we’re also very focused on the here and now and the months to come. Right now, what’s going on is this. The Russians are engaged in an offensive along the eastern front, and they’re putting a huge amount into it and they are suffering terribly for that effort, as I said, losing a huge number of forces, using- losing a huge number of pieces of equipment. And the Ukrainians are doing everything that they can with our assistance to withstand that, and they’re doing that very, very well. But in the months ahead, we fully anticipate that Ukraine will engage in its own counter offensive. And what’s vitally important is that they have what they need for that counter offensive, not what they may need in a year or two years. We’re working on that too, but the focus now has to be on what would they be able to use right now to defend themselves against the Russian offensive, and to engage in their own offensive to take back more of the land that was seized by Russia by force.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: I’m going to ask you, lastly, about this designation of crimes against humanity that the Vice President announced. She cited horrific things like a four-year-old girl being raped by Russian soldiers, thousands of Ukrainian children being taken from their families, to say that this constitutes legally crimes against humanity. President Biden has already used the term genocide. Is the State Department working on a genocide determination?

    SEC. BLINKEN: We will, as always, look at every legal possibility when it comes to going after the atrocities that Russia is committing in Ukraine. The determination that- that we made crimes against humanity that the Vice President announced today is unfortunately, starkly clear. And we’ve seen that almost from day one. We saw it in Bucha, when the Russian tide receded, we saw what was left in its wake, and it’s horrific. And we continue to see it across the country, the fact that they’re targeting civilians, targeting civilian infrastructure, so that people freeze to death, don’t have the lights on.This practice that, as a parent, is almost impossible to fathom, of literally seizing Ukrainian children, sending them to Russia, sending them to centers, there are about 43 of them that we found. There was a project undertaken by Yale University with our support that has documented this, to 43 centers in Russia and some in Ukrainian territory that Russia now holds. Some of these places are closer to Alaska than they are to Ukraine. Separating them from their families and then having them adopted by Russians. This is in and of itself, horrific. It also speaks to the fact that President Putin has been trying from day one to erase Ukraine’s identity, to erase its future. That’s what’s going on, and that too, is a crime against humanity.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: Some of what you described is consistent with the statutory basis for the Genocide Convention. So I’m hearing what you’re saying as you are potentially looking at that?

    SEC. BLINKEN: We will look at every possible determination, but we’re going to follow the facts, and we’re going to follow the law. These are very serious determinations, and we will engage in them very seriously.

    MARGARET BRENNAN: Secretary Blinken, thank you for your time today. 

    SEC. BLINKEN: Good to be with you. Thanks, Margaret. 

    MARGARET BRENNAN: Thank you.

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    February 18, 2023
  • Blinken warns Chinese foreign minister balloon incursion

    Blinken warns Chinese foreign minister balloon incursion

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    Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Saturday at an international security conference in Munich, marking the first high-level contact between the U.S. and China since the U.S. shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon two weeks ago. 

    In their hourlong meeting, Blinken told Wang that Beijing’s surveillance program had been “exposed to the world.”

    “I condemned the incursion of the PRC surveillance balloon and stressed it must never happen again,” Blinken said in a tweet, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

    State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement that Blinken “made clear the United States will not stand for any violation of our sovereignty, and that the PRC’s high-altitude surveillance balloon program — which has intruded into the airspace of over 40 countries across five continents — has been exposed to the world,” Price said.

    Blinken canceled a trip to Beijing earlier this month because of the balloon incident, which has become a major issue of contention between the two countries. A meeting at the conference in Germany had been widely anticipated.

    Blinken also told Wang that the U.S. does not seek conflict with China, repeating a standard talking point that the Biden administration has provided since it has come into office.

    “The United States will compete and will unapologetically stand up for our values and interests, but that we do not want conflict with the PRC and are not looking for a new Cold War,” Price said. Blinken “underscored the importance of maintaining diplomatic dialogue and open lines of communication at all times.”

    In addition to the balloon incident, Price said Blinken had reiterated a warning to China on providing assistance to Russia to help with its war against Ukraine, including assisting Moscow with evading sanctions the West has imposed on Russia.

    “I warned China against providing materiel support to Russia,” Blinken said in his tweet. “I also emphasized the importance of keeping open lines of communication.”

    Earlier Saturday, Wang had reiterated Beijing’s criticism of the United States for shooting down the balloon, arguing that the move did not show U.S. strength.

    Beijing insists the white orb shot down off the Carolina coast on Feb. 4 was just an errant civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research that went off course due to winds and had only limited “self-steering” capabilities. But U.S. officials said that the balloon had equipment that was “clearly for intelligence surveillance,” including “multiple antennas” that were “likely capable of collecting and geo-locating communications,” according to a statement by a senior State Department official. 

    Wang, the director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, repeated the claim in a speech at the conference and accused the U.S. of violating international legal norms in destroying the object with a missile fired from an U.S. fighter jet.

    “The actions don’t show that the U.S. is big and strong, but describe the exact opposite,” Wang said.

    Wang also accused the U.S. of denying China’s economic advances and seeking to impede its further development.

    “What we hope for from the U.S. is a pragmatic and positive approach to China that allows us to work together,” Wang said.

    His comments came shortly before an address to the conference by Vice President Kamala Harris, who didn’t mention the balloon controversy or respond to Wang’s comments. She stressed the importance of upholding the “international rules-based order.”

    She said Washington is “troubled that Beijing has deepened its relationship with Moscow since the war began” in Ukraine and that “looking ahead, any steps by China to provide lethal support to Russia would only reward aggression, continue the killing and further undermine a rules-based order.”

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    February 18, 2023
  • U.S. officials believe China may be providing Russia non-lethal military assistance in Ukraine war

    U.S. officials believe China may be providing Russia non-lethal military assistance in Ukraine war

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    A Ukrainian serviceman of an artillery unit throws an empty shell as they fire towards Russian positions on the outskirts of Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine on December 30, 2022.

    Sameer Al-doumy | Afp | Getty Images

    The U.S. believes China may be providing non-lethal military assistance to Russia for use in Ukraine, according to four U.S. officials, and the administration is concerned they are considering sending lethal aid.

    While China has provided some help to Russia, including parroting Russian disinformation campaigns about the war, this is more tangible assistance for use by Russian troops in Ukraine.

    The officials declined to provide specifics about the non-lethal military assistance, but said it could include gear for the spring offensive like uniforms or even body armor. 

    A spokesperson for National Security Council declined to comment.

    U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, have warned China not to supply Russia with military assistance or there would be consequences.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Wang Yi are both at the Munich Security Conference today, but have not yet met today.

    Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the Conference Saturday and said China has grown closer to Russia since the war began.

    It’s not clear if the support violates any sanctions, the officials said, or if the U.S. would impose sanctions or costs on China for this support.

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    February 18, 2023
  • U.S.: Russia Has Committed Crimes Against Humanity In Ukraine

    U.S.: Russia Has Committed Crimes Against Humanity In Ukraine

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    MUNICH (AP) — The United States has determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday, insisting that “justice must be served” to the perpetrators.

    Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Harris said the international community has both a moral and a strategic interest in pursuing those crimes, pointing to a danger of other authoritarian governments taking advantage if international rules are undermined.

    “Russian forces have pursued a widespread and systemic attack against a civilian population — gruesome acts of murder, torture, rape, and deportation,” Harris said. She also cited “execution-style killings, beatings, and electrocution.”

    The Biden administration formally determined last March that Russian troops had committed war crimes in Ukraine and said it would work with others to prosecute offenders. A determination of crimes against humanity goes a step further, indicating that attacks against civilians are being carried out in a widespread and systematic manner.

    dpatop – 18 February 2023, Bavaria, Munich: Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States, attends the Security Conference. The 59th Munich Security Conference (MSC) will take place from February 17 to 19, 2023, at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa (Photo by Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)

    picture alliance via Getty Images

    “Russian authorities have forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of people, from Ukraine to Russia, including children,” Harris said. “They have cruelly separated children from their families.”

    She also pointed to the attack in mid-March on a theater in the strategic port city of Mariupol where civilians had been sheltering, which killed hundreds, and to the images of civilians’ bodies left on the streets of Bucha after the Russian pullback from the Kyiv area last spring.

    Harris said that, as a former prosecutor and former head of California’s Department of Justice, she knows “the importance of gathering facts and holding them up against the law.”

    “In the case of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, we have examined the evidence, we know the legal standards, and there is no doubt,” she said. “These are crimes against humanity.”

    The United States will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will always stand on the side of freedom, democracy, and justice. pic.twitter.com/fo8mFvKxao

    — Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) February 18, 2023

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also was attending the Munich conference, said in a statement issued as Harris spoke that “we reserve crimes against humanity determinations for the most egregious crimes.”

    The new determination underlines the “staggering extent” of suffering inflicted on Ukrainian civilians and “also reflects the deep commitment of the United States to holding members of Russia’s forces and other Russian officials accountable for their atrocities,” he said.

    Russia’s nearly yearlong invasion of Ukraine, has dominated discussions at the Munich conference, an annual gathering of security and defense officials from around the world. Harris told the assembled participants: “Let us all agree — on behalf of all the victims, both known and unknown, justice must be served.”

    Ukrainian emergency services employees prepare to load the remains of an S-300 missile fired by Russian forces onto a truck in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. Russia pummeled Ukraine with a barrage of cruise and other missiles on Thursday, hitting targets from east to west as the war's one-year anniversary nears, one of the strikes killed a 79-year-old woman and injured at least seven other people, Ukrainian authorities said. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
    Ukrainian emergency services employees prepare to load the remains of an S-300 missile fired by Russian forces onto a truck in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. Russia pummeled Ukraine with a barrage of cruise and other missiles on Thursday, hitting targets from east to west as the war’s one-year anniversary nears, one of the strikes killed a 79-year-old woman and injured at least seven other people, Ukrainian authorities said. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

    “Such is our moral interest,” she said. “We also have a significant strategic interest.”

    “No nation is safe in a world where one country can violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another, where crimes against humanity are committed with impunity, where a country with imperialist ambitions can go unchecked,” Harris added.

    If Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds in attacking international rules and norms, “other nations could feel emboldened to follow his violent example,” she said. “Other authoritarian powers could seek to bend the world to their will, through coercion, disinformation and even brute force.”

    Harris’ audience Saturday didn’t include any Russian officials. Conference organizers decided not to invite them this year.

    Amid the Western officials defending arms supplies to Ukraine, China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, stood out by calling for an end to the war through peace talks, saying Beijing was “deeply worried about the expansion and long-term effect of this war.”

    China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or to impose sanctions on Moscow like Western nations have done. Without naming any countries, Wang said “there may be forces” that don’t want the war to stop anytime soon.

    “What they care about is not the life and death of the Ukrainian people, nor the increasing damage to Europe. They probably have bigger strategic goals than Ukraine,” he said.

    A building destroyed by shelling is covered by snow in Siversk on February 17, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP) (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)
    A building destroyed by shelling is covered by snow in Siversk on February 17, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA / AFP) (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)

    YASUYOSHI CHIBA via Getty Images

    Wang said Beijing planned to present a “position paper on the political settlement of the Ukraine issue” that would reiterate proposals made by President Xi Jinping.

    Asked on the sidelines of the event about the U.S. determination of crimes against humanity, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba replied that “Russia waged a genocidal war against Ukrainians because they do not recognize our identity and they do not think we deserve to exist as a sovereign nation.”

    “Everything that stems from that is crimes against humanity, war crimes and various other atrocities committed by the Russian army in the territory of Ukraine,” he said. “Let lawyers sort out specifically which act belongs where in terms of legal qualification.”

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Western allies in a video address to the Munich conference on Friday to quicken their military support for Ukraine, declaring that “it’s speed that life depends on.”

    Kuleba voiced confidence that Ukraine would eventually receive fighter jets from its partners, despite their current reluctance. He noted that they initially pushed back on providing other heavy weapons that were later delivered or promised, “so the only outstanding type of weapon is planes.”

    In Munch on Friday, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, called for cluster munitions and phosphorous bombs, German media reported. Cluster munitions are banned by an international treaty.

    Asked whether he supported calling for such weapons, Kuleba said Ukraine has evidence that Russia uses them.

    “We are not party to the convention on the prohibition of cluster ammunition, so legally there are no obstacles for that,” he said. “And if we receive one, we will be using it exclusively against military forces of the Russian Federation.”

    Geir Moulson contributed to this report from Berlin.

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    February 18, 2023
  • Opinion: ‘The arc of history will not go Putin’s way.’ 7 voices on one year of war | CNN

    Opinion: ‘The arc of history will not go Putin’s way.’ 7 voices on one year of war | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    It’s the evening of February 23, 2022. In Kyiv, the boss of a news site relaxes with a bath and candles. In Zaporizhzhia, a young woman goes to bed planning to celebrate her husband’s birthday in the morning. In Moscow, a journalist happens to postpone his travel plans to Kyiv.

    Within hours, their lives are dramatically and radically transformed. The next day, Russian President Vladimir Putin launches his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    In the space of a year, the war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions more. It has unleashed unfathomable atrocities, decimated cities, driven a global food and energy crisis and tested the resolve of western alliances.

    We asked seven people close to the conflict – from “fixers” in Ukraine, to commentators in Moscow – to reflect on the first anniversary of the invasion. The views expressed in this commentary are their own.

    Opinion by Diliara Didenko

    Diliara Didenko is a PhD candidate in sociology and a mother of two. She works in social media marketing.

    Zaporizhzhia, February 23, 2022. I went to bed thinking that I would celebrate my husband’s birthday the next day. Our life was getting better. My husband was running his own business. Our daughter had started school and made friends there. We were lucky to have arranged support services and found a special needs nursery for our son. I finally had time to work. I felt happy.

    Could I imagine that, 22 days later, I would be starting my life over in the Czech Republic, and my country would be set on fire?

    Completely exhausted, crushed and scared, we had to brace ourselves and come to terms with our forced displacement. I will be forever grateful to all those who helped us come to Prague and adjust to a new life in a foreign land.

    Thanks to the opportunities for Ukrainians provided by the Czech Republic, my husband got a job. I found special needs classes for my son. He now attends an adaptation group for Ukrainian children and has a learning support assistant. My daughter goes to a Czech school while studying in her Ukrainian school remotely.

    We are trying to live in the here and now. But the truth is, we are heartbroken. While physically we are in Prague, our hearts have remained in Ukraine.

    Mikhail Zygar headshot

    Opinion by Mikhail Zygar

    Mikhail Zygar is a journalist and former editor in chief of the independent TV news channel Dozhd. He is the author of “All the Kremlin’s Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin” and upcoming book “War and Punishment. Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.”

    On February 24, 2022, I was supposed to be in Kyiv. But a few days before that, my husband broke his shoulder and we had to stay in Moscow. At 9:00 a.m. that day he had surgery.

    That morning we woke up to learn that the invasion started. I wrote an open letter denouncing the war, which was co-signed by 12 Russian writers, directors and cultural figures. Soon it was published, and tens of thousands of Russian citizens added their signatures.

    I am guilty for not reading the signs much earlier. I too am responsible for Russia’s war against Ukraine.

    Mikhail Zygar

    On the third day we, my husband and I, left Russia. I felt that it was some kind of moral obligation. I could no longer stay on the territory of the state that has become a fascist one.

    We moved to Berlin. My husband went to work as a volunteer at the refugee camp next to the main railway station, where thousands of Ukrainians had been arriving every day. And I started writing a new book. It starts like this:

    “This book is a confession. I am guilty for not reading the signs much earlier. I too am responsible for Russia’s war against Ukraine. As are my contemporaries and our forebears. Regrettably, Russian culture is also to blame for making all these horrors possible.”

    I know that Russian people are infected with imperialism. We failed to spot just how deadly the very idea of Russia as a “great empire” was – now we have to come a long way, healing our nation from that disease.

    Michael Bociurkiw headshot

    Opinion by Michael Bociurkiw

    Michael Bociurkiw is a global affairs analyst who in summer relocated from Canada to Ukraine. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

    As I write, Russia has just fired dozens of Kalibr missiles towards several cities in Ukraine, including my adopted city of Odesa. Air raid sirens blare as we bolt for shelter into enclosed hallways. My landlady brings me a pot of borscht to help create a sense of normalcy.

    If anything, for me, the son of Ukrainian immigrants in Canada, this has been a war of history repeating itself – from the forced deportation of upwards of 2.5 million Ukrainians, including 38,000 children, to the stealing of Ukrainian grain to the wanton destruction of Ukrainians museums, libraries, churches and monuments.

    Time and again since the Russian invasion started, I’m haunted by the darkness in my father’s eyes during the re-telling of chilling dinnertime stories of relatives shipped off to the Soviet gulag, never to return. Stories of millions of Ukrainians who starved to death in Stalin’s manmade famine of 1932-33.

    What’s changed since Russian missiles first began falling on February 24, 2022? The fear felt by Ukrainians has been replaced with anger as they stand up to barrages of rockets and drones.

    An expert from the prosecutor's office examines collected remnants of shells and missiles used by the Russian army to attack the second largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, on Decmber 7.

    Whether it’s going through with a wedding in the aftermath of a rocket attack, pitching in to make Molotov cocktails, shifting classes to a Kyiv subway station as missiles fly or keeping a family business open against all odds, one thing Putin’s invasion has done is galvanize the Ukrainian people like never before.

    It’s an unmistakable, irrepressible resilience that convinces me the arc of history will go anything but Putin’s way.

    Opinion by Sasha Dovzhyk

    Sasha Dovzhyk is a special projects curator at the Ukrainian Institute London and associate lecturer in Ukrainian at the School of Slavonic and East-European Studies, University College London. She divides her time between London and Ukraine where she works as a “fixer“– a translator and producer for foreign journalists.

    A year into the full-scale invasion, my passport is a novel in stamps. My life is split between London, where I teach Ukrainian literature, and Ukraine, where I get my lessons in courage.

    My former classmates from Zaporizhzhia whom, based on our teenage habits, I expected to perish from addictions a long time ago, have volunteered to fight. My hairdresser, whom I expected to remain a sweet summer child, turned out to have fled on foot from the Russia-occupied town of Bucha through the forest with her mother, grandmother and five dogs.

    Sasha Dovzhyk's work on Ukraine is supported by the IWM project, Documenting Ukraine.

    My capital, which the Kremlin and the West expected to fall in three days, has withstood 12 months of Russia’s terrorist bombings and energy blackouts. These dark winter nights, one sees so many stars over Kyiv which the Russians have only managed to bring closer to eternity.

    Ukrainians have learned that they are stronger than was expected of them. Have those who have underestimated them learned their lessons? Military aid has been enough for Ukraine to survive but not to crush the enemy.

    For the outside world, the idea of a defeated Russia is still scarier than the sight of Ukraine half-ruined. Just like a year ago, Ukraine is calling on the rest of the world to find courage.

    Andrei Kolesnikov headshot

    Opinion by Andrei Kolesnikov

    Andrei Kolesnikov is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of several books on the political and social history of Russia, including “Five Five-Year Liberal Reforms.” Origins of Russian Modernization and Egor Gaidar’s Legacy.”

    It seems that since February 2022 we have experienced several eras. The first was euphoric, when Putin suddenly, after a significant time of stagnant ratings, received more than 80% approval from the population.

    It seemed to many at the time that the campaign would be short, like the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

    Then, beginning in late spring, came a period of apathy, when people tried not to pay attention to what was being done in Ukraine.

    And in the fall, public demobilization was replaced by mobilization – Putin demanded that citizens share responsibility for the war with him with their bodies. This provoked unprecedented anxiety, but instead of serious protests, the bulk of the population again preferred adaptation.

    Among Putin’s supporters there is also a group of aggressive conformists who have become supporters of total war.

    Veterans and guests attend the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow on May 9, 2022.

    But everyone experienced the shock of war differently. For millions of people in Russia, what happened was an absolute catastrophe: Putin not only destroyed all the achievements of previous life, he aborted the country’s history.

    By aborting the past, he canceled the future. Those who were disoriented, preferred to support Putin: it is easier to live this way when your superiors decide everything for you, and you take for granted everything you are told by propaganda.

    For me personally and my family, what happened was a catastrophe to which it is impossible to adapt. As an active commentator on the events, I was labeled by the authorities as a “foreign agent,” which increased personal risk and reinforced the impression of living in an Orwellian anti-utopia.

    Daryna Shevchenko head shot

    Opinion by Daryna Shevchenko

    Daryna Shevchenko is chief executive officer of The Kyiv Independent, an English-language news site in Ukraine.

    On the evening of February 23 I washed my dog, cleaned the house, took a bath and lit candles. I have a cozy, one-bedroom apartment in a northern district of Kyiv. I loved taking care of it. I loved the life I had. All of it – the small routines and the struggles. That night was the last time my life mattered.

    The next morning my phone was buzzing from all the messages and missed calls. A red headline in all caps on the Kyiv Independent website read: “PUTIN DECLARES WAR ON UKRAINE.”

    I remember talking to colleagues, trying to assemble and coordinate a small army of volunteers to strengthen the newsroom. And calling my parents to organize buying supplies.

    We’d been expecting a battle for quite some time and knew it would be an uphill one. I had a solid plan, and it was working.

    The aftermath of a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Dnipro, in January 2023.

    The life I knew started falling apart soon after, starting with the small things. It no longer mattered what cup I used to drink my morning tea, or how I dressed, or whether or not I took a shower. Life itself no longer mattered, only the battle did.

    Just a few weeks into the full-scale invasion it was already hard to remember the struggles, sorrows and joyful moments of the pre-war era. I would remember being upset about my boyfriend, but I could no longer relate. My life didn’t change on February 24, it was stolen from me on that day.

    And besides the obvious battles, there was another one to fight – trying to claim my life back. The life Russia stole from me and millions of Ukrainians.

    Anna Ryzhykova profile picture

    Opinion by Anna Ryzhykova

    Anna Ryzhykova is a Ukrainian track and field athlete, Olympic bronze medalist and multiple European Championships medalist.

    By March, my initial shock and fear of the war turned into a desire to act through sports. Athletes could fight against Russian propaganda in the best way. We just had to tell the truth about the war and Ukrainians – how strong, kind and brave we are. How we have united to defend our country.

    I was no longer concerned with my personal ambitions. Only the common goal was crucial – to raise our flag and show that we are fighting even under these circumstances.

    I couldn’t enjoy my victories on the track. They were only possible because so many defenders had laid down their lives. But I got messages from soldiers on the frontline. They were so happy to follow our achievements, and it was my primary motivation to continue my career.

    This whole year has been full of tears and worries. I read the news about people close to me killed by Russians – a teammate, the director of a sports school, or a friend’s parents.

    After each attack, I call my family and friends to ensure they are alive. The seconds of waiting for their voices are excruciating.

    Life values have changed. Like never before, I enjoy every opportunity to see or talk to relatives and friends. And like other Ukrainians, I believe in our victory and that all of us will return to our beloved country. But we need the world’s help.

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    February 18, 2023
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