UkraineKupiansk sty

An informal memorial next to the former 'PMC Wagner Centre's St.Petersburg, St Petersburg, Russian Federation - 24 Aug 2023

HANDOUT on 6/9/2023

How U.S. military aid has grown since the start of the war

The Washington Post

UKRAINE YOUNG SOLDIERS

UKRAINE DRONES PRODUCTION

Wagner fighters deployed in Rostov-on-Don

Russia Ukraine War

The potent U.S. arsenal for Ukraine’s counteroffensive

Ukraine southern front

Promo image for russia-ukraine-frontline-map 

Ruble Sinks as Russia Isolated by Sanctions

Bloomberg

FTWP

HOGP

United States Russia Nuclear Treaty

Ukraine Russia War Crimes Hospitals

For The Washington Post

U.S. Army M1 Abrams tanks from the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 163rd Cavalry Regiment prepare to conduct movement operations during Exercise Eager Lion in Jordan, Sept. 6, 2022

Task Force Spartan

handout

UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-WAR

Contributor

Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Zelensky’s chief aide flexes power, irks critics — and makes no apologies

IDF recovers bodies of 3 Israelis killed on Oct. 7

With its energy network nearly destroyed, Ukraine already fears the winter

Russia shows resilience. There is more to do for Ukraine.

Trump promises tax cuts and fewer rules. CEOs shouldn’t fall for it.

Tariffs against China hamstring the transition to a clean energy future

Blue Origin to fly again as space tourism struggles to get off the ground

Why this company’s biggest fans turned against it

Boeing delays spaceflight again as it continues to struggle with leak

The world’s coolest hotels want to tell you a story

Cruise ships to return to Baltimore two months after bridge collapse 

Some cruise prices are about to get a little more clear

She finished chemo then got a medical degree: ‘The dream is real now’

Puppy abandoned with heart-rending note is adopted, named Minerva

Man, 91, shocks tiny firehouse with $500K gift: ‘Nobody knew how much I’d saved’

Joey Gallo returns, but Nats endure another quiet offensive night

Walter Johnson’s jersey from 1920 showdown with Babe Ruth sold at auction

Bryce Harper, Joey Gallo and a bond forged by baseball since they were kids

Book Tour: At home with Amor Towles

In photos: The scene in Houston after severe storms killed at least 7 people

Deadly storm blasts Houston

At campus protests, ‘DO NOT TALK TO THE MEDIA’!

CNN gets a presidential debate — and a much-needed win

Netflix will air NFL’s Christmas games, a major step for streaming service

How Jim Jordan tried to connect the dots on Biden’s $8 million book deal

Biden’s false claim that inflation was 9 percent when he took office

Did Obamacare ‘massively’ increase the cost of health care?

‘Never Trump?’ ‘Never Biden’ voters might loom larger.

Ukraine gamble pays off: Republicans face little backlash in primaries

Carolyn Hax: Is it weird to ask other people to care about you?

Ask Amy: Can’t a single woman eat alone without interruption?

Miss Manners: Miss Manners: Gag gift falls flat

Trump

Europe

World

National Security

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ukraine-russia/

War in Ukraine

Yuri Kochetkov

The withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine by the end of the year is “out of the question,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, adding that any peace deal with Kyiv was “impossible.”

During a briefing with reporters, Peskov said that Kyiv needed to consider the “new realities” that had arisen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including Moscow’s illegal annexation of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine.

“Without taking these realities into account, any progress is impossible,” Peskov said.

Peskov issued his call for a reality check in Kyiv even as Moscow still insists on referring to its nearly 10-month-old war as a “special military operation” and as Russian forces do not fully control any of the four Ukrainian regions — Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — that President Vladimir Putin claims to have seized.

Responding to reporters’ questions about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky outlining “three steps to achieve peace” — which included the West providing more weapons to Kyiv and organizing a global peace summit — Peskov called them “three steps to the continuation of combat activities.”

As the end of the year approaches, the holidays during wartime are starting to look fittingly gloomy for many Russians, who have been asked by authorities to hold “modest” celebrations out of respect for soldiers fighting on the front.

They survived Russian occupation, then were hit by explosives left behind

The Kremlin also announced Monday that for the first time in a decade, Putin will not hold his marathon end-of-year news conference.

The move breaks with a tradition that started in the early years of Putin’s presidency, and the cancellation, which had been widely expected, was the latest indication that Russia’s strongman leader is becoming increasingly remote.

Yuri Kadobnov

The event is much anticipated by the Russian press corps and is known for stretching over several hours. In recent years, it has become a strange, often sycophantic spectacle with a smattering of more rigorous queries thrown in. It is one of the rare occasions journalists from outside the Kremlin pool, including foreign reporters, can ask Putin direct questions.

The lengthy session typically gives the Kremlin a chance to portray Putin as transparent, accountable and more accessible than his Western counterparts. In fact, attendance is carefully controlled and Putin has overseen increasingly harsh repression of independent Russian media.

Although Peskov did not give reasons for the cancellation, the announcement follows battlefield losses for Russia in Ukraine and rising domestic tensions after a military mobilization drive was launched in September and led hundreds of thousands of fighting-age men to flee the country.

The British Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Putin’s decision not to hold the news conference was “likely due to increasing concerns about the prevalence of antiwar feeling in Russia” and apprehension that the event “could be hijacked by unsanctioned discussion about the special military operation.”

Meanwhile, dozens of countries on Tuesday pledged more than $1 billion in additional aid to Ukraine at a conference in Paris, offering short-term support for Ukraine’s energy network and other civilian infrastructure, as the country faces a difficult winter.

Andrew Kravchenko

The conference, which brought together representatives from 24 international organizations and 46 countries, followed two months of sustained Russian missile and drone attacks that have decimated Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, disrupting electricity, water and heating as winter sets in.

Fierce claims to Crimea highlight slim chance of Russia-Ukraine peace deal

More than $440 million of the total aid pledged<i> </i>is expected to be directed to Ukraine’s energy network.

French officials said the total amount would likely rise, as millions of pledged dollars were still being allocated.<b> </b>In a video address earlier on Tuesday, Zelensky urged the international community to help repair his country’s energy systems, and he called for at least $850 million in assistance.

Donor countries also pledged at least $67 million for Ukraine’s water and food sectors, $18 million for health, and $23 million for transportation networks.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who attended Tuesday’s conference, pledged practical support. The European Union’s 27 countries, she said, were “working to increase the amount of electricity we can trade between Ukraine, Moldova and the rest of Europe.”

Von der Leyen added: “We need to keep the Ukrainian grid functioning, despite the Russian bombs.”

Heidi Levine

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk, who represented the Biden administration at the Paris conference, called it “a success,” highlighting the presence of countries such as India and Indonesia.

“The hope would be that countries, many countries across the world, not just in Europe, really step up and help the Ukrainian people,” Turk said in an interview. “And I think we made some progress on that front at this meeting.”

Turk said part of the broader U.S. contribution that was discussed in Paris was a shipment of power equipment that was already on its way to Ukraine, with a handover expected in Poland. It’s part of the<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/11/29/blinken-ukraine-energy-grid/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9"> Biden administration’s efforts </a>to help rebuild Ukraine’s battered grid. Further shipments are expected soon, and some of the sent items could be deployed immediately by the Ukrainians, Turk said.

The pledges made on Tuesday are contributions “that can be mobilized immediately, between now and the winter months,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said at a news conference.

The participating countries, mostly from the West, also included a number of Asian nations, which French President Emmanuel Macron said provided “tangible proof that Ukraine is not alone.”

Russia sends soldiers to war but ignores mental trauma they bring home

Macron has faced criticism for his efforts at diplomatic outreach to Putin, which have yielded little and failed to prevent Russia’s invasion in February. Most recently, Macron was criticized for saying that at the end of the war, Russia should be given security guarantees.

Speaking in Paris on Tuesday, Macron reiterated prior assurances that he and other Western nations would not pressure Ukraine into any peace deal or surrender of territory. “It is up to Ukraine, a victim of this aggression, to decide on the conditions for a just and lasting peace,” Macron said.

Cambridge University, BA in Modern and Medieval Languages (Russian, Ukrainian, French)

Francesca Ebel is The Washington's Post's Russia correspondent. Before joining The Post in 2022, Ebel was the Associated Press's Tunis correspondent.

Francesca Ebel

Sciences Po Paris, BA in political science

Johns Hopkins University, Aitchison Public Service Fellowship in Government

King's College London, MA in terrorism, security and society

Rick Noack is The Washington Post's Afghanistan bureau chief. Previously at The Post, he was the Paris correspondent, covering France and Europe, and an international affairs reporter based in Berlin, London and Washington.