Vladimir Putin Russia-Ukraine War

CIA analysts do not see how Putin can accomplish his goal of taking Kyiv and replacing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government with a pro-Moscow or ...

And third, I think they’re a little bit unsettled by the way in which Vladimir Putin has driven Europeans and Americans much closer together,” Burns said. “They did not anticipate the significant difficulties the Russians were going to run into. Berrier said the United States did not have evidence that Russia had committed war crimes beyond what has appeared on social media. But with supplies being cut off, it will be somewhat desperate in, I would say, 10 days to two weeks,” Berrier said. “I think Putin is angry and frustrated right now. Berrier said that “the bombing of schools and facilities that are not associated with the Ukrainian military certainly would indicate that he is stepping up right to the line if he hasn’t done so already.”

Thanks to Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine, Russia is now more isolated than it has ever been. The economy is under sanctions and international ...

I fear that from the point of view of Mr. Putin and Mr. Kovalchuk, this will only make Russia stronger. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. As the casualties mount in Ukraine, the president appears to be digging in his heels; he says that the sanctions on his country are a “declaration of war.” Now he has really and truly come to believe that only he can save Russia. In fact, he believes it so much that he thinks the people around him are likely to foil his plans. All of them understood their task and submissively tried to describe the president’s thoughts in their own words. As I have reported for years, some members of Mr. Putin’s entourage have long worked to convince him that he is the only person who can save Russia, that every other potential leader would only fail the country. In recent years — and especially since the start of the pandemic — he has cut off most contacts with advisers and friends. According to people with knowledge of Mr. Putin’s conversations with his aides over the past two years, the president has completely lost interest in the present: The economy, social issues, the coronavirus pandemic, these all annoy him. This was the message that the president heard going back to 2003, when he contemplated stepping down, only to be told by his advisers — many of whom also had backgrounds in the K.G.B. — that he should stay on. In Mr. Putin’s view, the situation today is the opposite: It is the West that’s weak. Mr. Kovalchuk has a doctorate in physics and was once employed by an institute headed by the Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov. But he isn’t just a man of science. But by 2020, according to my sources, he had established himself as the de facto second man in Russia, the most influential among the president’s entourage.

As Wednesday draws to a close in Kyiv and in Moscow, here are the key developments of the day: A maternity hospital in besieged Mariupol was hit in what ...

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If you're hoping that the instability that Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine has wreaked on global markets and geopolitics has peaked, your hope is in vain.

Incidentally, the way things are going on the ground in Ukraine right now, it is not out of the realm of possibility that Putin could actually lose early and big. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Why do I say that defeat in Ukraine is Putin’s only option, that only the timing and size are in question? Wait until Putin fully grasps that his only choices left in Ukraine are how to lose — early and small and a little humiliated or late and big and deeply humiliated. But because this is solely his war and he cannot admit defeat, he could keep doubling down in Ukraine until … until he contemplates using a nuclear weapon. If you’re hoping that the instability that Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine has wreaked on global markets and geopolitics has peaked, your hope is in vain.

Ukrainian president calls bombing in Mariupol 'beyond atrocity' and urges world to 'stand united in condemning Russia for this crime'

European Union leaders will phase out buying Russian oil, gas and coal, a draft declaration showed on Thursday, as the bloc seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian sources of energy. The result of the shelling killed three villagers, including a minor boy,” he said. A 13-year-old boy and 2 women were killed as a result of an artillery shelling.” “This is the beast that Putin is,” Pelosi said. Also partially destroyed police department,” Sumy regional state administration head Dmytro Zhyvytsky said, citing a report from the Sumy regional military administration. The House approved the overall bill in two separate votes. Still, the news is raising concerns that a lack of external power to the site could compromise nuclear safety. Kuleba warned in a Facebook video his expectations were “limited”. The Guardian was unable to fully verify Ukrainian officials’ accounts, but video published by the Associated Press showed multiple injured people at the site of the hospital attack. Footage of the attack shared online by Zelenskiy shows the hospital’s windows being blown out, and parts of the structure collapsing. Were there little Banderovites? Were pregnant women going to shoot on Rostov? Did anyone in the maternity ward humiliate Russian speakers? How did they threaten the Russian Federation?” Zelenskiy added.

Experts analyse the Russian president's claims of 'genocide' as justification for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

How would the state perpetrate a genocide on the territories it doesn’t even have access to?” So, answering your question, only genocide is committed with the intent to erase a group,” she said. If it had proof, you can be sure Russia would have provided it long ago.” None. Russia has made vague references to mass graves and civilian attacks. The definition of genocide, according to the UN, is “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such”. Russia has been arguing that what was happening to the residents of the Donbas region was a genocide, and it had a responsibility to step in and help them.