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Russia’s war in Ukraine, explained

Putin’s invasion in February began Europe’s first major war in decades.

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Russia is bombarding major cities in Ukraine, more than a week into a war where Moscow has faced setbacks on the battlefield — yet seems undeterred from its campaign to take Ukraine.

Get in-depth coverage about Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Why Ukraine? 

Learn the history behind the conflict and what Russian President Vladimir Putin has said about his war aims .

The stakes of Putin’s war

Russia’s invasion has the potential to set up a clash of nuclear world powers . It’s destabilizing the region and terrorizing Ukrainian citizens . It could also impact inflation , gas prices , and the global economy. 

How other countries are responding

The US and its European allies have responded to Putin’s aggression with unprecedented sanctions , but have no plans to send troops to Ukraine , for good reason . 

How to help

Where to donate if you want to assist refugees and people in Ukraine.

On March 4, Russia seized Zaporizhzhia , one of Europe’s largest nuclear power plants. Russian shelling of the southeastern Ukraine facility set off a fire , which Ukrainian officials warned could set off a nuclear disaster. It took hours, but the fire was extinguished, and international monitors said that they do not detect elevated radiation levels and that the fire did not damage “essential” equipment. US officials have said Russia now appears to be in control of the plant.

But the incident was a reminder of how dangerous this war in Ukraine is becoming, and how uncertain and confusing things still are on the ground. Russian troops were advancing toward Kyiv, and thousands and thousands are fleeing in advance of a possible siege on the city.

The Russian military has made advances in the south, and are gaining in the area of Kherson, a port city on the Black Sea whose control is reportedly contested , and Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov. Russian bombardment of these cities has resulted in humanitarian issues , with bridges and roads damaged by the fighting and dwindling access to food, clean water, medicine, and electricity in certain areas. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, experienced heavy Russian fire this week, and strikes have heavily damaged residential areas .

Ukrainian and Russian officials met in early March, and tentatively agreed on the need to humanitarian corridors — basically, safe zones for civilians to flee and supplies to pass through — but did not reach agreements on a larger ceasefire. As of March 6, multiple attempts to evacuate Ukrainian civilians have been halted because of Russian shelling.

Putin’s attempt to redraw the map of Europe risks becoming the most devastating conflict on the continent since World War II. Already, it is causing an astounding humanitarian crisis: Hundreds, perhaps thousands , of civilians have died, and more than 1.5 million people have fled the violence so far, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, making it the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

The battle for Ukraine began in the early morning hours, local time, on February 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched what he called a “special military operation” into the country of about 40 million. He claimed the Russian military seeks “demilitarization and denazification” but not occupation; attacks shortly followed from multiple fronts and targeted toward multiple cities.

Ukraine’s resistance has complicated Russia’s efforts to seize the country. Russian forces have not made the progress they likely thought they would at the start of the campaign. The Russian military’s early strategy has perplexed some experts and observers . But the more protracted this war becomes, the more catastrophic it will be.

The United States and its allies in Europe and the United Kingdom imposed the toughest financial sanctions ever on Russia after the first incursion, and have only built on these penalties since. On February 26, the United States and European countries agreed to block some Russian banks from SWIFT, a global messaging system, which will essentially prevent those institutions from doing any global transactions, a punishment that allies had previously hesitated to pursue . Already, Russia’s economy is reeling from the impact of these penalties .

This sustained international pressure, and Ukraine’s resistance, may still not be enough to force Russia to end its military campaign. That leaves Ukraine — and the world — in a perilous and unpredictable moment.

Ukraine is under siege

After months of Putin building up tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border and a series of failed diplomatic talks, Russia is now waging a full-out war on Ukraine.

Tensions escalated quickly when, on February 21, Putin delivered an hour-long combative speech that essentially denied Ukrainian statehood . He recognized the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine where Moscow has backed a separatist rebellion since 2014 and sent so-called peacekeeping forces into the region. As experts said , that was likely just the beginning, setting the stage for a much larger conflict.

Days later, that larger conflict materialized. On February 24, Putin announced he was launching an assault “to defend people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime,” a reference to a false claim about the government in Ukraine. He demanded Ukraine lay down its weapons or be “ responsible for bloodshed .”

Soon after Putin’s speech, reports emerged of explosions around cities, including Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine and the capital Kyiv . The Ukrainian foreign minister called it “a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.” By the afternoon in Ukraine, Russian troops and tanks had entered the country on three fronts : from Belarus in the north, from the east of Ukraine, and from the south.

The Russian military has targeted critical infrastructure, like airports, with airstrikes and has launched more than 400 missiles , as of March 1. As a senior US defense official said on February 26, “There’s no doubt in our mind that civilian infrastructure and civilian areas are being hit as a result of these barrages.”

The main battlefronts are in Kyiv’s outskirts; in southern Ukraine, including the major city of Mariupol; and in eastern Ukraine around Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.

NEW #Ukraine Conflict Update; Click the link to read the latest assessment from @TheStudyofWar and @criticalthreats https://t.co/0Hb0nLSebU pic.twitter.com/RINKbJsJIM — ISW (@TheStudyofWar) March 4, 2022

“They had maximal war aims,” Michael Kofman, research director in the Russia studies program at CNA, said in an interview posted on Twitter on February 25. “They had a military operation that’s now in progress, first to try to achieve regime change, encircle the capital, and try to overthrow the Ukrainian government, and then a much larger set of pincer movements to encircle and envelope Ukrainian forces. Try to do this quickly and force surrender of isolated pockets.”

But the Russian army has not been able to completely roll over Ukrainian forces, and some analysts have suggested Moscow may have been surprised at Ukraine’s resistance. Pentagon officials said that, as of March 4, Russia has committed about 92 percent of its combat power so far. Ukraine’s airspace remains contested.

Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at RAND Corporation, told a panel of reporters on February 28 that Russia’s military performance has been odd. “In other words, some of the things that I would have expected — like the air force taking a major role — have not happened.”

“Seems to me there was a lot of war optimism and a sense that the [Ukrainian] government would fall with just a little push,” Charap continued. “And that didn’t happen. I wouldn’t read too much into that about the ultimate course of the war, though. This is still a situation where the deck unfortunately is stacked against the Ukrainians, despite their bravery.”

Putin himself has called on the Ukrainian army to “take power into their own hands and overthrow” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a sign that Putin remains focused on regime change. “According to the available intelligence, the enemy marked me as a target No. 1 and my family as the target No. 2,” said Zelenskyy, speaking on the night of February 24.

Efforts to stop the fighting have so far failed. On February 28, high-level officials from Russia and Ukraine met at the Ukraine-Belarus border, and again on March 3. Russia has continued to insist that a ceasefire requires “demilitarization” and neutrality for Ukraine, but Ukraine has only continued to push for more military aid and ascension into Western bodies like the EU, even signing an EU membership application amid the fighting .

Both Ukraine and Russia have suggested they will hold another round of talks in coming days. Across conflicts, there is usually a severe escalation in fighting before ceasefires, as everyone attempts to maximize their leverage. “I think that they want to inflict maximum damage to pressure the Ukrainian government to seek some sort of ceasefire that is effectively a surrender,” said Margarita Konaev, associate director of analysis and research fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

The toll of this young conflict is growing. The UN has said that, as of March 6, more than 350 civilians have been confirmed killed and hundreds more have been wounded; Ukraine’s emergency services puts the civilian death toll at 2,000 people as of March 2 . Ukrainian officials have said about 11,000 Russian troops have been killed in the fighting, as of March 6, but American and European estimates of Russian casualties have been substantially lower . The Russian government has reported nearly 500 soldier deaths . Experts said all these statistics should be treated with a great deal of caution because of the fog of war and the incentives both Russia and Ukraine have to push a particular narrative.

Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of war crimes after reports of a shelling of an orphanage and kindergarten outside of Kyiv . Across Ukraine, thousands of civilians of all ages are enlisting to fight . Ukrainian officials called on residents to “make Molotov cocktails” to defend against the invasion. More than 1.5 million Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries like Poland since the conflict began, according to a United Nations estimate .

The roots of the current crisis grew from the breakup of the Soviet Union

Russia’s invasion contravenes security agreements the Soviet Union made upon its breakup in the early ’90s. At the time, Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, had the third-largest atomic arsenal in the world. The US and Russia worked with Ukraine to denuclearize the country, and in a series of diplomatic agreements , Kyiv gave its hundreds of nuclear warheads back to Russia in exchange for security assurances that protected it from a potential Russian attack.

But the very premise of a post-Soviet Europe is helping to fuel today’s conflict. Putin has been fixated on reclaiming some semblance of empire, lost with the fall of the Soviet Union. Ukraine is central to this vision. Putin has said Ukrainians and Russians “ were one people — a single whole ,” or at least would be if not for the meddling from outside forces (as in, the West) that has created a “wall” between the two.

Last year, Russia presented the US with a list of demands , some of which were nonstarters for the United States and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Putin demanded that NATO stop its eastward expansion and deny membership to Ukraine, and also made other demands for “security guarantees” around NATO.

The prospect of Ukraine and Georgia joining NATO has antagonized Putin at least since President George W. Bush expressed support for the idea in 2008. “That was a real mistake,” Steven Pifer, who from 1998 to 2000 was ambassador to Ukraine under President Bill Clinton, told Vox in January. “It drove the Russians nuts. It created expectations in Ukraine and Georgia, which then were never met. And so that just made that whole issue of enlargement a complicated one.”

Ukraine is the fourth-largest recipient of military funding from the US, and the intelligence cooperation between the two countries has deepened in response to threats from Russia. But Ukraine isn’t joining NATO in the near future, and President Joe Biden has said as much. Still, Moscow’s demand was largely seen as a nonstarter by the West, as NATO’s open-door policy says sovereign countries can choose their own security alliances.

Though Putin has continued to tout the threat of NATO, his speech on February 21 showed that his obsession with Ukraine goes far beyond that. He does not see the government in Ukraine as legitimate.

“Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space,” he said, per the Kremlin’s official translation . “Since time immemorial, the people living in the south-west of what has historically been Russian land have called themselves Russians.”

The two countries do have historical and cultural ties, but as Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explained , Putin’s “basic claim — that there is no historical Ukrainian nation worthy of present-day sovereignty — is demonstrably false .”

As experts noted, it is difficult to square Putin’s speech — plus a 2021 essay he penned and other statements he’s made — with any realistic diplomatic outcome to avert conflict. It was, essentially, a confession that this wasn’t really about NATO, said Dan Baer, the acting director of the Europe program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “It was about that he doesn’t think Ukraine has a right to exist as a free country,” he said before Putin’s escalation on the night of February 23.

This is the culmination of eight years of tensions

This isn’t the first time Russia has attacked Ukraine. In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, invaded eastern Ukraine, and backed Russian separatists in the eastern Donbas region. That conflict has killed more than 14,000 people to date .

Russia’s assault grew out of mass protests in Ukraine that toppled the country’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, which began over his abandonment of a trade agreement with the European Union. US diplomats visited the demonstrations, in symbolic gestures that further agitated Putin.

President Barack Obama, hesitant to escalate tensions with Russia any further, was slow to mobilize a diplomatic response in Europe and did not immediately provide Ukrainians with offensive weapons.

“A lot of us were really appalled that not more was done for the violation of that [post-Soviet] agreement,” said Ian Kelly, a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Georgia from 2015 to 2018. “It just basically showed that if you have nuclear weapons” — as Russia does — “you’re inoculated against strong measures by the international community.”

Since then, corruption has persisted in the Ukrainian government, and the country ranks in the bottom third of the watchdog group Transparency International ’s index.

Ukraine’s far-right presence has grown and become somewhat normalized, and there are government-aligned fascist militias in the country. But Moscow has drawn out those issues to advance false claims about genocide and other attacks on civilians as a way to legitimize the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine and to create a pretext for invasion. In his prerecorded speech shared on the eve of the bombardment of Ukraine, Putin said he sought the “ denazification ” of Ukraine.

To be clear: The Ukrainian government is not a Nazi regime and has not been co-opted by the far right. Zelenskyy is Jewish; he speaks proudly of how his Jewish grandfather fought against Hitler’s army .

Yet, days earlier, Putin used these sorts of claims as part of his explanation for recognizing as independent the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic, the two territories in eastern Ukraine where he has backed separatists since 2014. “Announcing the decisions taken today, I am confident in the support of the citizens of Russia. Of all the patriotic forces of the country,” Putin said before moving troops into the regions for “peacekeeping” purposes.

At the time, most experts Vox spoke to said that looked like the beginning, not the end, of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.

“In Russia, [it] provides the political-legal basis for the formal introduction of Russian forces, which they’ve already decided to do,” Kofman, of CNA, told Vox on February 21 . “Secondarily, it provides the legal local basis for Russian use of force in defense of these independent republics’ Russian citizens there. It’s basically political theater.”

It set “the stage for the next steps,” he added. Those next steps are now clear.

How the rest of the world is responding

The United States and its allies around the world have condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and have since announced increasingly tough sanctions, intended to completely isolate Russia from the international community and inflict real economic costs.

Biden announced on the afternoon of February 24 that the United States would impose sanctions on Russian financial institutions, including cutting off Russia’s largest banks from the US financial system, and on Russian elites in Putin’s inner circle. America will also implement export controls on certain technologies . The United Kingdom and Europe added their own sanctions, imposing the “ massive ” penalties the West had been warning Putin about.

The US and its allies have only amped up the pressure since then. On February 25, the EU and US imposed sanctions on Putin himself . On February 26, the US and European countries announced an agreement to cut some (but not all) Russian banks off from SWIFT, the global messaging system that enables most international transactions, which will make it very difficult for Russia to make transactions beyond its borders. (Japan also signed on to SWIFT actions on February 27.) The US and its allies have said they will target Russia’s central bank , specifically its foreign reserves that Moscow needs to help support its currency. The US has continued to add penalties, including joining other countries in closing US airspace to Russian aircraft , and sanctioning more than a dozen oligarchs.

The United States has said it will not involve troops in any Ukrainian conflict, though more US military aid to Ukraine is on its way and the US has shored up its presence on NATO’s eastern flank. On February 24, the Pentagon said it would send 7,000 additional troops to Germany , and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on February 26 that he was authorizing “up to $350 million” in additional military aid to Ukraine, including “further lethal defensive assistance to help Ukraine address the armored, airborne, and other threats it is now facing.”

Such aid, according to a February 26 tweet by State Department spokesperson Ned Price, will be provided “immediately” and include “anti-tank and air defense capabilities.” Other European and NATO countries are also stepping up their assistance, including Germany , which reversed a long-standing policy of not sending lethal aid to conflict zones.

Russia knows that the US and its partners do not want to commit themselves militarily, and, as Putin launched his invasion, he offered an ominous warning as he touted Russia’s nuclear arsenal : “There should be no doubt that any potential aggressor will face defeat and ominous consequences should it directly attack our country.” On February 27, Putin escalated that threat by putting the country’s nuclear deterrent forces on high alert .

NATO has vowed to protect its members from any Russian aggression. On February 25, NATO announced that it was activating part of its NATO Response Force — a 40,000-troop unit modernized after the 2014 Crimea invasion — to protect allies on NATO’s eastern flank. “We are now deploying the NATO Response Force for the first time in a collective defense context. We speak about thousands of troops. We speak about air and maritime capabilities,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said .

Yet these are largely defensive measures, which means most of the punishment against Russia will come in the form of economic sanctions. Still, the West is starting to shift from an original hesitancy to impose the most severe costs on Russia over fears of what it might mean for Europe, the US, and the rest of the global economy — and what Russia might do to retaliate.

They’re not all the way there, however. For example, even the SWIFT action is expected to leave some carve-outs so Russia can still export gas to Europe . The tougher the sanctions on Russia, the harder it will hit the US and especially European economies, so leaders are still trying to soften the impact. But the fallout from these punishments — along with other measures, like the EU and United States barring Russia from their airspace — is being felt in Russia, as the ruble crashes and analysts warn of a deep recession .

A way out of this war is difficult to contemplate as bombs are falling on Ukraine, but the US and its allies are going to have to do careful diplomacy to isolate and put pressure on Russia in the long term — and create incentives for Moscow to stop its assault on Ukraine . The US and its allies are also likely going to have to decide how much they want, or can, support Ukraine as it battles Russia.

“The real question, I think, is going to come down to what extent the West can and will try to support and supply a long-term insurgency against Russia,” said Paul D’Anieri, an expert on Eastern European and post-Soviet politics at the University of California Riverside. “And what level of success does Russia have in fighting back against? Unfortunately, it seems like the best strategy for peace right now is when enough Russians die, that the Russians decide it’s not worth it anymore.”

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EXPLAINER: Why Did Russia Invade Ukraine?

Experts say the cause of the military conflict can be tied to a complicated history, Russia’s tensions with NATO and the ambitions of Vladimir Putin.

Why Russia Invaded Ukraine

ARIS MESSINIS | AFP via Getty Images

A man sits outside his destroyed building after bombings on the eastern Ukraine town of Chuguiv, on Feb. 24, 2022.

Predictions of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine came true in the early morning hours of Feb. 24, 2022.

Russia had amassed up to 190,000 troops – according to reports from the U.S. – on Ukraine’s borders over the course of many months. The buildup of forces around Russia's neighbor and former Soviet Union state started in late 2021 and escalated in early 2022.

Prior to the invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the Russian-backed breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, both located in the disputed Donbas area, as “independent” people’s republics and ordered so-called “peacekeeping” troops into those areas.

What started as a concerning situation with hopes for dialogue and diplomacy then evolved into what the Ukrainian foreign minister described as the “most blatant act of aggression in Europe since” World War II.

While the invasion took some leaders by surprise, experts do have insight on the origins of the conflict. They say the roots of the tension can be tied to some combination of the complicated history between the two countries, Russia’s ongoing tensions with NATO and the ambitions of one man: Putin.

What Is the History Between Ukraine and Russia?

The latest photos from ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine have what either side might describe as a common or complicated legacy that dates back a thousand years. In the last century, Ukraine, known as the breadbasket of Europe, was one of the most populous and powerful republics in the former USSR as well as an agricultural engine until it declared independence in 1991, according to the Council on Foreign Relations . But Russia has kept a close eye on its neighbor to the West, while Ukrainians have found their independence to be tumultuous at times, with periods of protests and government corruption.

Ukraine’s ambitions to align itself more with Western countries – including its publicly stated interest in joining NATO , which itself was founded at least in part to deter Soviet expansion – has been met with aggression from Russia, the council notes. Tensions came to a head in 2014 after Ukrainians ousted a Russia-aligned president. Russia – under the dubious claim of protecting ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers from Ukrainian persecution – annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine in a move widely condemned by the international community.

At about the same time, Russia fomented dissension in the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine, backing a separatist movement in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk that resulted in armed conflict. The regions declared independence as both sides dug in for a protracted standoff. The conflict between the two countries has persisted since, with at least 14,000 people dying, according to the council.

When Did the Current Conflict Between Russia and Ukraine Begin?

Russia started growing its military presence around Ukraine – including in Belarus, a close Russia ally to the north of Ukraine – in late 2021 under various pretenses while remaining vague on its intentions. By December of that year, tens of thousands of Russian troops were hovering on the border, virtually surrounding the country and stoking tensions that led to a call between Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden.

Russia Invades Ukraine: A Timeline

Fears escalated in early 2022 as the number of Russian forces surrounding Ukraine increased. Biden and Putin talked again , U.N. Security Council sessions were called to address the crisis, and numerous leaders from NATO, the U.S. and other countries called on Russia to de-escalate or face retaliation in some form. The most recent estimates – prior to the invasion – put the number of Russian troops on the border at close to 200,000.

What Does Russia Want When it Comes to Ukraine?

A principal demand of Russia is to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO , a military alliance between 29 European countries and two North American countries dedicated to preserving peace and security in the North Atlantic area. Ukraine is one of just a few countries in Eastern Europe that aren’t members of the alliance. The Kremlin in general views NATO expansion as a “fundamental concern,” according to a translated readout of a Jan. 28, 2022, call between Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron.

It’s noteworthy, however, that NATO likely has “no intention right now” to admit Ukraine to the organization, says William Pomeranz, the acting director of the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, a non-partisan policy forum for global issues.

“I think NATO, and the invitation for Ukraine to join NATO at some point in the future, is simply just a pretext to potentially invade Ukraine,” he says, referring to Russia. “Ukraine is not a member of NATO, it doesn't have any of the NATO guarantees, and so there is no hint that Ukraine will become a member of NATO soon.”

Putin, specifically, does not want Ukraine to join NATO “not because he has some principled disagreement related to the rule of law or something, it's because he has a might makes right model,” adds Bradley Bowman, the senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a non-partisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.

“He believes, ‘Hey, Ukraine, I'm more powerful than you, and because I'm more powerful than you, Ukraine, I can tell you what to do and with whom to associate,’” Bowman says.

Beyond the concern around NATO and other demands related to weapons and transparency, Russia’s nature of expansion is also at play when it comes to Ukraine. Some Russians, Putin included, remain aggrieved by the collapse of the USSR, and feel Russia has a claim to the former Soviet republic.

“The imperialistic policy of the Russian Federation requires from us and all the allies complex activities and complex deterrence and defense,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during a Feb. 18, 2022, news conference .

What Does Vladimir Putin Want Out of Ukraine?

The demands of the Russian government are inseparable from those of its authoritarian leader. While analysts are quick to say that they cannot read Putin’s mind – Biden himself admitted as much during remarks on Feb. 18, 2022 – they note his broad ambitions, particularly those tied to his nostalgia for the territorial integrity of the USSR, that have been made clear by his actions.

“We know that Putin views the collapse of the Soviet Union as a disaster,” Bowman says. “We know he resents the success of NATO. We know that he genuinely reviles the expansion of NATO eastward. We know that he has an eye on history, he's getting older, he is mindful of how he's going to look in history books and he sees himself as kind of a neo-czar who would like to reconstitute as much of the Soviet Union as possible.”

Ukraine, in particular, is a “critical element” of this ambition, Bowman adds. Putin has a history of invading and occupying countries that approach NATO membership. Russian armies invaded the former Soviet state of Georgia in 2008 as that country was pursuing membership in the alliance. They briefly pressured the capital Tbilisi before withdrawing to separatist regions they still occupy today. The 2014 Crimea annexation is another example, Bowman notes, and Putin said on Feb. 22, 2022 , that he wants the world to recognize that territory as rightfully Russian. He rationalized in a 2021 essay that a common history and culture – which Ukrainians dispute – entitled Russia to exert its influence there.

“I think Ukraine has always been a sore spot for Vladimir Putin,” Pomeranz says. “He does not recognize its independence and its right to be a country, as he noted in his long article on Ukraine, where he said that, basically, Ukraine and Russia are one people in one country. There is this long-felt resentment about Ukrainian independence and the fact that the Soviet Union just let Ukraine go away, as it were. So I think he wants to end that independence.”

The Russian president, however, might not have predicted the type of strong response from the international community he saw to the buildup on the Ukraine border. Bowman says because of this, Putin “is the most persuasive billboard possible for the value of NATO membership.”

“What we’ve seen from President Putin is basically to precipitate everything he says he wants to prevent,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a Feb. 16, 2022, “Morning Joe” appearance on MSNBC. “He says he wants NATO further away from Russia. NATO has only gotten more united, more solidified as a result of the threat of Russian aggression, and of course, for defensive reasons, is moving more forces closer to Russia.”

Why Did Russia Invade Ukraine When it Did?

It all could have come down to Russia’s resources at that moment, Pomeranz says. It might have been the “most opportune time” from Putin’s perspective, he adds, because the country had $600 billion in foreign currency reserves and had already put significant resources into reconstructing Russia’s army.

“I think Vladimir Putin thinks this is the best time for him to right what he perceives as a great wrong and reverse Ukrainian independence and sovereignty,” says Pomeranz of the Wilson Center.

Putin likely also viewed the West – including the U.S., specifically – as weak, Pomeranz adds, which could have impacted how much help he thought Ukraine would actually get. Bowman echoes this sentiment and points to how the U.S. handled pulling troops out of Afghanistan in August.

“I don't know how he could have read that as anything other than American weakness,” says Bowman, who served as an adviser to Republican senators for years. “I think he wondered whether, frankly, the Biden administration would be as weak as the Obama administration was in dealing with aggression toward Ukraine.”

Biden administration officials would beg to differ on the U.S. response. Blinken, during a Feb. 23, 2022, appearance on “CBS Evening News” prior to reports of the invasion, said further Russian aggression in Ukraine would lead to “a price that Vladimir Putin and Russia will pay for a long, long time.”

“We’re not standing by and watching,” Blinken said. “To the contrary, we’ve spent months building with allies and partners these very significant consequences for Russia.”

Other reasons for action at the time could have been at play for Putin. A combination of factors – from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s lack of political experience – led to somewhat of a “perfect storm” for the Russian leader to act when he did, says Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, a presidential doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

“I think it's his magnum opus,” she says. “I think this is his crowning achievement of whatever Putinism is.”

How Have the U.S. and Other Countries Responded to Russia’s Invasion?

The response was swift at the outset. The North Atlantic Council, the political decision-making arm of NATO, held an emergency meeting on Feb. 24, 2022, at which it activated its defense plans, which include the NATO Response Force. Biden had said before Russia’s attack that he would be sending more U.S. troops to Eastern Europe to defend NATO allies such as Poland but has repeatedly stated he will not be sending U.S. troops into Ukraine.

Some countries had already responded to Putin’s actions related to the Donbas, which the U.S. called the “beginning of an invasion.”

Biden on Feb. 22, 2022, announced a series of sanctions against Russian financial institutions and the country’s elites. That followed an executive order he issued prohibiting new investment, trade and financing by U.S. persons to, from or in Donetsk and Luhansk. Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his own country’s sanctions that day, targeted against Russian banks and billionaires, the BBC reported .

The U.S. president also ordered sanctions against the Russian-built Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline company and its corporate officers on Feb. 23, 2022, prior to the invasion. The controversial project, which runs from Russia through Europe, is not yet online but is pivotal to both Moscow and Western Europe, which is becoming increasingly dependent on Russian supply to fulfill its growing energy needs. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had already said before Biden’s sanctions announcement that his country would halt certification of the pipeline due to Russia’s actions. In late 2022, there were explosions at the pipeline under mysterious circumstances .

Biden promised in a statement late on Feb. 23 of that year that he would announce “further consequences the United States and our Allies and partners will impose on Russia for this needless act of aggression against Ukraine and global peace and security.”

That promise was kept. Since the war began, the U.S. has imposed thousands of different sanctions on Russia, according to a tally kept by the Atlantic Council that was last updated in November 2023. And that doesn’t include the 500 new sanctions announced by the U.S. government on Feb. 23, 2024.

Punishments have focused on, for example, Russian oil and gas imports and Russian banks. Many countries, such as Canada, the U.K. and others in Europe, have followed suit. The European Union has also imposed its own sanctions, targeting Russian individuals – including Putin himself – and energy. Countries have also committed about $278 billion in aid to Ukraine collectively, as of Jan. 15, 2024.

Two years in, the sanctions have inflicted some financial pain on Russia but haven’t done much to hinder economic growth. The International Monetary Fund in January 2024 projected Russia’s real GDP to grow 2.6% in 2024, which was up from the 1.1% projection just months prior.

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Historical Background and General Information

Primer on the War in Ukraine

TCUP Director Emily Channell-Justice’s presentation, “ Russia’s War in Ukraine: What Everyone Should Know ,” covers the key facts about the war and historical context. This presentation was given on 4/21/22 at an event hosted by Flint Memorial Library in North Reading, MA.

Understanding Ukraine-Russia: A Thousand Years of History

Historian Kimberly St. Julian Varnon joins TCUP Director Emily Channell-Justice and Averpoint’s Shouvik Banerjee to discuss Ukraine’s historical relationship with Russia and the world and how this shapes present-day events. Audio event; listen here

The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine’s Past and Present

Serhii Plokhy, 2021

The Frontline  addresses key events in Ukrainian history, including Ukraine’s complex relations with Russia and the West, the burden of tragedies such as the Holodomor and World War II, the impact of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and Ukraine’s contribution to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Juxtaposing Ukraine’s history to the contemporary politics of memory, this volume provides a multidimensional image of a country that continues to make headlines around the world. The essays collected here reveal the roots of the ongoing political, cultural, and military conflict in Ukraine, the largest country in Europe.

Chapters available online (open access):

• Russia and Ukraine: Did They Reunite in 1654?
• The Russian Question

Watch : “ The Frontline: A Conversation on Ukraine’s Past and Present ” with Serhii Plokhy and Oleh Kotsyuba.

Teaching and Studying Ukraine: List of Resources

At the start of the COVID pandemic, HURI compiled  this list of online resources  that may be useful to those studying and teaching Ukraine. Although it extends beyond the current crisis, it may be of interest to those who want to learn more about Ukraine in general or identify core sources for ongoing information.

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Ukraine invasion — explained

The roots of Russia's invasion of Ukraine go back decades and run deep. The current conflict is more than one country fighting to take over another; it is — in the words of one U.S. official — a shift in "the world order." Here are some helpful stories to make sense of it all.

The ripple effects of Russia's war in Ukraine continue to change the world

Scott Neuman

Alyson Hurt

A year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, the repercussions continue to reverberate around the world. Not only has the war in Ukraine set off a geopolitical realignment, but it has caused economic hardship far from the epicenter of the fighting.

The Feb. 24, 2022, invasion has touched off a refugee crisis, as Ukrainians flee the conflict in their homeland and many Russian men seek to avoid conscription. Meanwhile, it has spurred a process toward expanding NATO, with Finland and Sweden pursuing membership after decades of official neutrality.

Ukraine and Russia are key exporters of wheat, barley, corn and cooking oil, particularly to African and Middle Eastern countries. Turkey and the United Nations brokered a deal last summer to allow Ukrainian grain to pass through Black Sea ports, but Russia is reportedly still hindering shipments . Russia is also a major producer of fertilizer and petroleum. Disruptions to the flow of these goods are compounding other supply chain and climate challenges, driving up food and gas prices and causing shortages in places such as Chad , Tunisia and Sri Lanka .

More than 8 million refugees have fled Ukraine in what the World Health Organization describes as "the largest movement of people in the European Region since the Second World War." Many have been involuntarily relocated by Russia. Others have put a strain on resources, as well as schools and hospitals, in Poland and Germany .

A 21st century war in Europe — led by a nuclear power — is pushing the world toward realignment. It has rattled NATO, the European Union and the U.N ., forcing countries to take sides in ways that have led to escalating tensions and diplomatic shifts. For example, Turkey , despite being a NATO member, has increased trade with Russia since the start of the war and has thrown up objections to allowing Sweden and Finland into the alliance.

Russia is one of the world's largest producers of oil and fuel. European countries have banned the Russian oil, gas and diesel they relied on, which initially caused a steep spike in prices. However, moves by European nations to lock in alternative sources , along with conservation efforts and a mild winter, have largely alleviated those price hikes. Now prices have returned to pre-invasion levels.

Russia has more nuclear weapons than any other country. Its attack on Ukraine has notably reenergized NATO, with the U.S. and other member states funneling tens of billions of dollars worth of military equipment into Ukraine. Early weapons deliveries included anti-tank rockets such as the U.S.-made Javelin. In the latest moves, the U.S ., Germany and Britain have promised to provide state-of-the-art tanks.

NPR's Will Chase, Alex Leff, Pam Webster, Desiree F. Hicks and Nishant Dahiya contributed to this report. The text and graphics build on previous work by Alina Selyukh, Connie Hanzhang Jin and Nick Underwood.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Key things to know about the conflict

Flowers are placed around the graves of Ukrainian military servicemen Roman Rak and Mykola Mykytiuk in Starychi, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Rak and Mykytiu were killed during Sunday’s Russian missile strike on a military training base in Yavoriv. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A volunteer of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces smokes in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko)

Funeral procession of Ukrainian military servicemen Roman Rak and Mykola Mykytiuk in Starychi, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Rak and Mykytiu were killed during Sunday’s Russian missile strike on a military training base in Yavoriv. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

People attend a funeral ceremony for Ukrainian military servicemen Roman Rak and Mykola Mykytiuk in Starychi, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Rak and Mykytiu were killed during Sunday’s Russian missile strike on a military training base in Yavoriv. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office and posted on Facebook, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to members of the U.S. Congress from Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Zelenskyy summoned the memory of Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in appealing to the U.S. Congress to do more to help Ukraine’s fight against Russia. President Joe Biden said the U.S. is sending more anti-aircraft, anti-armor weapons and drones. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

A man jokes as he reacts to the camera while building a trench with soldiers and neighbors, in Lityn, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

President Joe Biden speaks about additional security assistance that his administration will provide to Ukraine in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Ukrainian military servicemen prepare to fire salutes during the funeral of their comrades, Roman Rak and Mykola Mykytiuk, in Starychi, western Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Rak and Mykytiu were killed during Sunday’s Russian missile strike on a military training base in Yavoriv. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

FILE - A woman walks with a power plant in the background, in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, March 16, 2022. Ukrainian officials say Russian military hackers tried to knock out power to millions of Ukrainians last week in a long-planned attack but were foiled. However, the Ukrainians say the Russian hackers succeeded in penetrating and disrupting the industrial control system of one power station. The Ukrainians says the defenders were able to thwart any power loss. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

ADDS NAME OF REPRESENTATIVE - Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., center with hands up, and other members of the Congress, watch and react to video footage of the war in Ukraine being displayed as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy begins to deliver a video address to members at the Capitol in Washington. (Sarah Silbiger, Pool via AP)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., walks to watch the video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the U.S. Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

U.S. Secretary for Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, center, speaks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, front second left, during the North Atlantic Council meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made it clear Tuesday that the 30-nation military alliance is set to radically change its security stance in Europe in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys)

Ukraine’s Ambassador to the Holy See Andriy Yurash, fourth from left, and Russia’s Ambassador to the Holy See Alexander Avdeev, third from right, attend a mass, celebrated by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, for peace in Ukraine in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Several diplomats, including ambassadors to the Holy See from Ukraine and Russia, gathered to pray for the stop of war in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

A view of a bomb crater after Russian shelling in the central of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Pavel Dorogoy)

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invoked 9/11 during an urgent appeal Wednesday to the U.S. Congress for more weapons to stem the Russian assault. U.S. President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million for Ukraine’s military and said Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “war criminal.”

In the encircled city of Mariupol, a Russian airstrike destroyed a theater where hundreds of people were sheltering. Many people were buried in the rubble, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement, though the number of casualties wasn’t clear.

Putin, in a speech Wednesday to Cabinet members and regional leaders, warned against attempts by the West to use Russians who oppose his rule to bring about the “destruction of Russia.”

“But any people, and even more so the Russian people, will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and will simply spit them out like a gnat that accidentally flew into their mouths, spit them out on the pavement,” Putin said.

He added that “a natural and necessary self-purification of society will only strengthen our country.”

Here are some key things to know about the conflict:

WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THE GROUND?

Ten people were killed while standing in line for bread in the northern city of Chernihiv, the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office said.

Satellite images from the Maxar space technology company showed Russian self-propelled artillery and multiple-rocket launchers deployed on the outskirts of Chernihiv, their barrels and tubes aimed at the city.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter that the attack on the theater in Mariupol is a “horrendous war crime.” Maxar’s satellite imagery from Monday showed the word “children” written in large white letters in Russian in front of and behind the building.

The Russian defense ministry denied bombing the theater or anywhere else in Mariupol on Wednesday.

In central Kyiv, shrapnel from an artillery shell smashed into a 12-story apartment building early Wednesday, wiping out the building’s top floor and starting a fire. Emergency services reported two victims from the blaze, without specifying if they were killed or injured.

Fighting continued in Kyiv’s suburbs, depriving thousands of heat and clean water.

Powerful explosions thundered in the region around Kherson, a strategic port near the Black Sea. Ukrainian military forces have dealt a punishing blow to Russian air assets stationed at the airport in Kherson, which Russian troops seized early in the war, the Ukraine military’s General Staff said late Wednesday.

Satellite photos by Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show helicopters and vehicles on fire at the air base after what Ukraine said was its strike on Tuesday.

There were also explosions near a train station in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, home to several power stations.

WHAT HAS THE AP DIRECTLY WITNESSED OR CONFIRMED?

In Mariupol, workers afraid for their own lives brave relentless shelling to dump the bodies of children in a mass grave. Local officials struggle to account for the dead. Although they’ve tallied 2,500 deaths in the siege, many bodies crushed in the rubble can’t be counted because of the assault.

Bodies lie out in the street. Workers tell families to leave their dead outside because it’s too dangerous to hold funerals.

In Kharkiv, doctors are struggling to treat COVID-19 patients as the bombs fall outside. Several times a day, air raid sirens wail at the Kharkiv Regional Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital, sending feeble virus patients — some connected to ventilators and struggling to breathe — running for bomb shelters.

“Bombing takes place from morning into night,” hospital director Dr. Pavel Nartov said. “It could hit at any time.”

WHAT DETAILS HAVE EMERGED FROM NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE?

Zelenskyy’s adviser Mikhailo Podolyak said Ukraine is demanding a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and legal security guarantees for Ukraine from a number of countries. Ukrainian and Russian delegations held talks again Wednesday by video.

Another official in Zelenskyy’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said the main subject under discussion was whether Russian troops would remain in separatist regions in eastern Ukraine after the war and where the borders would be.

Just before the war, Russia recognized the independence of two regions controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014 and extended the borders of those regions to areas Ukraine had continued to hold, including Mariupol.

HOW IS THE WORLD RESPONDING TO THE WAR?

Six Western nations have called for a U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Thursday. The United Kingdom’s U.N. Mission tweeted Wednesday that the six countries asked for the meeting, saying: “Russia is committing war crimes and targeting civilians. Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine is a threat to us all.”

The mission said the meeting was requested by six Security Council members and posted their flags -- the U.K., United States, France, Ireland, Norway and Albania. It has not yet been officially scheduled.

Zelenskyy acknowledged in his speech to the U.S. Congress that the no-fly zone he has sought to “close the sky” over his country may not happen. Still, he said the U.S. must sanction Russian lawmakers and block imports, in addition to providing military assistance.

“We need you right now,” Zelenskyy said in remarks livestreamed to the U.S. Capitol, which were punctuated with a graphic video contrasting Ukraine before the invasion with the grisly aftermath.

In an unprecedented move, the Council of Europe expelled Russia from the continent’s foremost human rights body. Staff even went outside its headquarters in Strasbourg, France, and took down the Russian flag.

Tiny Kox, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said the expulsion “was necessary, and I am glad we dared to do so.”

Putin said Wednesday that the operation in Ukraine is unfolding “successfully, in strict accordance with pre-approved plans.”

But with the Ukrainian resistance frustrating Kremlin hopes for a lightning victory, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that a “business-like spirit” has emerged in talks with Ukrainian officials, which he described as focused on a “neutral status” for Ukraine’s military.

The leaders of three European countries , Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, returned on Wednesday from a risky trip to the besieged Ukrainian capital to show their support and meet with Zelenskyy.

Biden announced that the U.S. is sending an additional $800 million in military assistance — including anti-aircraft and anti-armor weapons and drones — to Ukraine, making a total of $2 billion in such aid sent to Kyiv since Biden took office more than a year ago.

Biden also plans to travel to Europe next week for talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion, and will attend an extraordinary NATO summit in Brussels. NATO has been bolstering its eastern flank with troops and equipment to deter Russia from invading any of its members.

Japan announced it will revoke its “most favored nation” trade status for Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war between Russia and Ukraine: http://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukraine war 12 months on: the role of the Russian media in reporting – and justifying – the conflict

Reader in International Journalism, City, University of London

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James Rodgers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

City, University of London provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK.

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The media war that has accompanied Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown how important a part of 21st-century conflict journalism is, and also demonstrated the power authoritarian regimes possess to restrict reporting – even in the age of smartphones and social media.

In a move that echoed the draconian censorship laws of earlier ages, the Russian government declared its media war just days after it invaded its neighbour. New legislation meant journalists risked jail if they refused to follow dutifully the official line that the war was “a special military operation”, and not a war at all.

As the BBC director general, Tim Davie, said at the time , the legislation “appears to criminalise the process of independent journalism”. The BBC temporarily suspended its reporting from Russia, presumably while it sought to establish the real extent of the risk to its reporters.

Since Vladimir Putin sent his war machine into Ukraine on February 24 2022, The Conversation has called upon some of the leading experts in international security, geopolitics and military tactics to help our readers understand the big issues . You can also subscribe to our weekly recap of expert analysis of the Ukraine conflict.

Eventually, they resumed their work, with Steve Rosenberg and his colleagues bringing to international audiences stories such as that of Denis Skopin , a university lecturer in St Petersburg, sacked for his protest against the war. For The Guardian, Andrew Roth has also reported on anti-war activism , including the quiet defiance of those who mourn Ukrainian victims of the Kremlin’s war machine.

Many others, though, left – often when their editors felt it no longer safe for them to stay – and are yet to return.

Echoes of 1920s Bolshevik ban

What is in effect a ban on independent journalism may be seen as a kind of compliment: a testament to the power that reporters have to challenge the Kremlin’s justification for making war.

Combined with the inaccessibility of many international news websites and social media platforms since the start of the war, the effect is that reliable reporting from Russia is more restricted than at any time since before the era of reform and openness that characterised the late Soviet period.

In fact, the situation today bears comparison with that of a century ago, when the fledgling Bolshevik government had banned international correspondents from Russia on the basis that their governments and newspapers had supported the wrong – the counterrevolutionary, “White” – side in the civil war. Then, as now by some correspondents, events in Russia were reported from Riga in neighbouring Latvia.

With the threats of punishment and prison , Russia’s approach to the media war has been crude – and also, in some respects, as explained below, effective.

Zelensky: consummate media performer

In others, much less so. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has shown great skill – and presumably drawn on his previous acting career –in using modern media and formats (his second world war “Victory Day” video , in which he drew parallels aimed at a Russian audience, between the second world war inflicted by Nazism and the invasion of his country, being a great example).

Zelensky’s surefooted and engaging media appearances have contrasted with videos of Putin that have prompted British tabloid speculation both about his health , and whether he is using actors in some of his TV appearances.

How Russia uses military and media in wartime

But if Ukraine is winning the war for western public opinion, Russia seems to be successfully shoring up public support at home.

This has been a long process. I visited Russia in 2019, for the fifth anniversary of the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and was struck by the prevalence of militaristic imagery and sentiment – not only in the news media, but in murals overlooking the streets of Moscow and other cities I visited.

This combination of media and militarism has been an indispensable, integral, part of Russia’s use of war in international relations in the Putin era, as my co-author, Dr Alexander Lanoszka, and I argued in our 2021 paper : Russia’s rising military and communication power: From Chechnya to Crimea.

The Kremlin’s biggest success has been placing 20th-century controls on 21st-century media. Yes, these can be circumvented. Russia is a highly technologically literate society (think how many incidents of hacking are blamed on Russians) and those who want to read news from the west can do so if they put in a little effort.

But many do not seem bothered to try. As Rosenberg discovered in a report for the BBC from Belgorod , not far from the Russian border with Ukraine, on February 10, official messaging seems largely to be taken at face value. “The west has always wanted to destroy Russia,” one resident of the city told him.

This is the stage which, 12 months since Russia’s large-scale invasion (Ukrainians will rightly point out that the war itself really began in 2014), the media war has reached. The rapid victory the Kremlin seems originally to have envisaged not having happened, the war has now been reframed – on the basis not only of Putin-approved versions of history, but also deliveries of western weapons to Ukraine – as a conflict between Russia and the west.

What next for the media war

Ukraine will need to keep international news organisations engaged. Zelensky’s speech in London on February 8 – that appeared so greatly to inspire the British parliamentarians who heard it – had to be on television and social media to have the desired impact, and for the visual gesture of handing over an airman’s helmet to make the desired impression.

There is one western policy that should change in the next stage of the media war, though I have little hope it will. The EU and the UK were wrong to ban Sputnik and RT. It gave them credit for greater reach and influence than they ever enjoyed. It allowed them the chance to masquerade – however absurdly – as martyrs for free speech. Western audiences need to see what Russian audiences are being told. In a media war, as in any war, the more you know of your enemy, the better.

As Vladislav Zubok, a professor of international history at the LSE, told me recently:

We still find even at the worst moments of the Cold War journalists talking to each other and acting as intermediaries. These people met. These people had a dialogue. Not any more.

That should change. One day this war will end, and the US, UK, EU and others will have to forge a new relationship with Russia. It is unlikely to be one of friendship – but even one accepting distance, division and discord can better be managed by the kind of dialogue of which journalism can be the starting point.

This level of mutual understanding must not be yet another casualty of this media war. Let journalists do their jobs.

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As many people, to their horror, saw the Russian leader Vladimir Putin publicly ordering military activities against Ukraine, its government, and its citizens, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 has galvanized the world. Teachers may discuss current events in the world every day in class, and the greatest way to see your perspective on a subject is to have you write an essay.

Ukraine and Russia War Essay

Wars are unavoidable evils, and there are no words to depict the sheer number and scope of their horrors adequately. In addition to impeding national progress, it undermines social cohesion. Wars happen in every generation in each country, but the most prominent of current wars is considered to be Russian-Ukrainian warfare. So, let’s have a look at the Russian-Ukrainian war background.

• In 1991, Ukraine became independent once the Soviet Union had fallen apart.
• Before the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, Ukraine was its part, and ever since, Russia has tried to keep it inside its sphere of influence.
• As a result of Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, a separatist uprising began in the Donetsk Basin, the country’s industrial heartland in the east of the country.
• Russia demands written security guarantees from NATO, claiming its interests have been jeopardized by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) “enlargement” to the east.

Because of this, the EU and the US have vowed to protect Ukraine’s borders’ integrity. As a result, the conflict in Ukraine is currently the subject of conversation worldwide, and many students in America and worldwide got a homework assignment in the form of an essay on the Russian invasion.

Peculiarities of Essay on Russia-Ukraine War

You can run into problems while writing an essay about the Russia and Ukraine war. However, the writing samples provided by GradeMiners authors have helped students succeed in their history coursework. To increase your knowledge and raise your scores, you can utilize our writings for human rights, military courses, or even international relations courses.

You could talk about how the president decides on wars or conflict solutions, but you’re unsure where to begin. However, you’re doing well so far. All scholarly papers on this topic have been compiled in one place.

How should I organize my topic?

Once more, we’re here to support you in exactly what format and subjects to use for your essay title. You could have a lot of ideas but need to learn how to put them into words or draw the appropriate conclusion. Use our Russia and Ukraine war essay examples to show how easy writing can be.

We offer information and sample essays

You can learn about the economic difficulties caused by war from our specialists. In addition, numerous academic essays are gathered here about war depending on your opinion. Pick the one that you find the most endearing.

Review each essay on the war between Russia and Ukraine

Writers from the United States and European countries are battling to write your essay. To view one of the samples, click on it. Consider how many sleepless nights our writers endured for everyone to understand this global issue better.

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Ukrainians suffer Russia-imposed ‘violence, intimidation, and coercion’

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UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Tuesday called for the fighting and occupation of Ukraine to end, so the country can begin “healing the deep wounds and painful divisions” caused by Russia’s invasion.

Over two years since the invasion began, “harrowing stories of human suffering” unfold in the country every day, High Commissioner Türk told the UN Human Rights Council via a video statement, expressing concern that “the world has grown numb to this crisis ”.

More than 10,500 civilians have been killed, more than 20,000 injured over the past two years of “immense suffering, bloodshed, loss and grief”, the UN rights chief reminded, noting that actual figures are likely to be “significantly higher”.  

Ten years of occupation in Crimea

The rights violations began 10 years ago with the occupation of Crimea by Russian forces, he reminded citing  a recent report by the UN Human Rights Office ( OHCHR ).

“The imposition of the Russian Federation’s legal and administrative systems has resulted in people in Crimea being charged and convicted, sometimes retroactively, for acts that are not crimes under Ukrainian law,”   Mr. Turk said.

The occupation has expanded to parts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions since the February 2022 invasion.

He also noted the conscription of men in Crimea, forced to fight against their own country.  

Generalized impunity

Russian armed forces, the Human Rights Commissioner said, have committed widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including unlawful killings, torture, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detention in occupied areas.

Targeting of individuals deemed “pro-Ukrainian” and posing security risks have expanded while Russia has closed down Ukrainian internet providers, mobile networks, TV, and radio, rerouting communications through Russian networks.

“Russian occupying authorities have quashed peaceful protests, restricted free expression, imposed strict controls over residents’ movements, and pillaged homes and businesses”, he said.

“They have actively encouraged people to inform on one another, breeding fear and distrust between neighbors and friends,”  he added.

In an atmosphere of “generalized impunity”  those actions have created “ a pervasive climate of fear , which has allowed the Russian Federation to solidify its control”.

Holding Russian citizenship is increasingly necessary to access vital services, social security, and employment, Volker Türk noted, saying also that people in the occupied territory were pressured to vote in Russian elections.

He highlighted the plight of prisoners of war and Russia’s ongoing abuses: “My Office has recorded allegations of the executions of at least 32 captured Ukrainian PoWs in twelve separate incidents”.

Collaborators facing reprisals

After Ukraine reclaimed territories previously held by Russia, many of these violations ceased. However, some residents deemed to be collaborators have suffered a backlash, he continued. 

Some have been prosecuted for performing routine tasks in their communities during the occupation, often under pressure or coercion, said Mr. Türk. 

Others have been convicted for actions permissible under international humanitarian law when compelled by an occupying power. Additionally, instances of torture, arbitrary detention, and infringements on fair trial rights were documented by OHCHR against some accused of collaboration.

‘Commence healing’

“The tragedy in Ukraine has gone on for too long. I call – again – on the Russian Federation to cease its armed attack,” Mr. Türk said, imploring the Russian authorities to take immediate action to conduct investigations into each allegation of execution of PoWs, and to take steps to end their torture and ill-treatment. 

“ It is time to put an end to this war and occupation and to commence healing the deep wounds and painful divisions they have caused,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights underscored.

“History has shown us that the legacy of occupation is painful, complex and long-lasting ,” he added, encouraging Ukraine to adopt a comprehensive approach to accountability, based on broad and inclusive consultations. 

• human rights council

Russia-Ukraine war latest: Zelenskyy responds to Trump's 'peace plan'

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to alleged comments from Donald Trump about how to end the war in Ukraine. Moscow has accused Kyiv of attacking a nuclear plant for three days in a row. Plus, our question form is open again to submit a question for our military analysts.

Wednesday 10 April 2024 16:30, UK

• Zelenskyy responds to Trump 'peace plan'
• Sharp increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine
• The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
• The big picture : Everything you need to know about the war this week
• Your questions answered: Is it too late to save Ukraine?
• Live reporting by Emily Mee

Ask a question or make a comment

Our comments box is open once again for you to submit a question on the Ukraine war for Sky News military analysts or correspondents.

We'll pick the best one to answer each week.

Thanks for following along today - here is a quick reminder of what has been happening. 

We've been hearing from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who pushed back on alleged comments from Donald Trump saying Ukraine should cede some of its occupied territory to Russia. 

Mr Zelenskyy said this was a "primitive" suggestion, but added he would be willing to listen to Mr Trump's ideas if he had "strong arguments". 

He was not the only prominent politician to criticise the former US president's alleged remarks. 

Lord Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, said peace in Ukraine could only come from backing Kyiv, rather than through "appeasement" of Russia. 

Elsewhere, a top US general warned Ukraine will run out of air defences "in fairly short order". 

General Christopher Cavoli said the "stakes are very high" for Ukraine. 

• The UN recorded a sharp increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine in March 
• A child was killed in Kharkiv after Russia launched an attack using guided aerial bombs 
• Switzerland will host a high level Ukraine peace conference in June. 

Members of the Siberian Battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' International Legion have been pictured taking part in military exercises at an undisclosed location in the Kyiv region today.

A top US general has warned Ukraine will run out of artillery shells and air defence interceptors "in fairly short order" without further American support. 

They told Congress the "stakes are very high" for Ukraine. 

The comments echo those by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who warned over the weekend that Ukraine could run out of air defence missiles if Russia keeps up its intense bombardment campaign. 

"If they keep hitting [Ukraine] every day the way they have for the last month, we might run out of missiles, and the partners know it," he said.

In an update to our last post, the regional governor of Ukraine's Kharkiv region has said this afternoon's airstrike in the village of Lyptsi killed three people.

In a post on Telegram, Oleh Synehubov said that as well as the 14-year-old girl's death we reported earlier, two women were killed in the attack.

Two more people were injured, and rescuers continue searching through the rubble for victims.

Local authorities are reporting a child has been killed and at least three others injured in an attack on the Kharkiv region. 

Russian guided aerial bombs struck the Lyptsi, Mala Danylivka, and Vovchansk settlements, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. 

The governor said the local shop and pharmacy caught fire during the attacks. 

A 14-year-old girl was killed and at least two people - a 33-year-old female pharmacy worker and a 16-year-old boy - were injured in Lyptsi. 

In Vovchansk, a 34-year-old man was taken to hospital with a shrapnel wound. 

Mr Syniehubov said the local health centre was destroyed. 

The Swiss government has said it will host a high-level Ukraine peace conference in June.

It said that the conference's aim is to create a concrete roadmap for Russia's participation in the peace process. 

But Russia has made clear it will not take part in the initiative. 

The conference will take place on 15 and 16 June outside the city of Lucerne. 

A G7 summit is taking place in neighbouring Italy between 13 and 15 June.

Switzerland had said in January it would host a peace summit at the request of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and has since held talks with the EU, G7 member states and countries such as China and India to garner their support. 

"There is currently sufficient international support for a high-level conference to launch the peace process," the Federal Council said in a statement. 

It acknowledged "some unknowns" leading up to the conference, "but in view of Switzerland's long-standing diplomatic tradition and the encouraging feedback received during the exploratory phase, it considers it its responsibility to contribute to the peace process in Ukraine."

The UK foreign secretary has said peace in Ukraine can only come from backing Kyiv, rather than through "appeasement" of Russia. 

His comments appear to be a rebuttal of alleged remarks from Donald Trump that Ukraine should give up some of its occupied territory to end the war. 

Lord Cameron told CNN: "Without saying what I spoke [about] with Donald Trump, fundamentally, this year - and you heard from Zelenskyy this morning - there's a risk that Ukraine will lose more ground to [Vladimir] Putin.

"No one wants to be in a situation in November where we could have acted, we could have helped, we could have beaten back Putin, we could have started the process of getting a Ukraine win and getting a just peace but we failed to do that."

Asked about Mr Trump's alleged comments, he said everyone wants to see an end to the war "but you only get that by backing Ukraine, by showing strength". 

"Peace comes through strength, not through appeasement and weakness," he said. 

Over the past week we've been asking for your questions on the war for our military analysts and international correspondents.

Every week we're picking one or two to answer - starting with this...

With the (lack of) speed of Western policies being implemented and the speed of Russian military production increasing, isn't it already too late to save Ukraine even if European countries agreed on a huge increase in military spending? Andy

Military analyst Sean Bell answers this one...

Thank you, Andy, for this very topical question. 

Wars at scale involve the consumption of huge amounts of weapons, ammunition and military equipment - far beyond the scale that can be held in peacetime stockpiles, and also beyond the capacity of a peacetime defence industrial base. To meet the demands of a modern battlefield, political masters need to make swift decisions about where to invest and what existing production capability can be paused to create capacity to surge military production.

Russia recognised early that it would be involved in a long-term military campaign, and has surged its defence industrial base by at least three times its pre-war size. In addition, Russian oil revenues are funding vast imports of ammunition and missiles from North Korea and Iran.  

In contrast, Ukraine's own defence industrial base remains vulnerable to Russian attack, and it remains increasingly dependent on Western military support to survive. 

Although Western industrial capacity is an order of magnitude greater than Russia's, Russia is ramping up production where the West has been slow to respond.

Western nations now recognise the wider threat that Russia poses to European security, and defence budgets are rising accordingly.  But this represents long-term investment in domestic security, rather than providing a near-term supply of weapons for Ukraine.  

The only credible solution in the near-term - the coming year - is for the US to approve the $60bn military aid package which would enable the rapid deployment of off-the-shelf weapons and ammunition. If that is not forthcoming, the coming summer could prove very difficult for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, continues to argue the West should not rule out putting "boots on the ground" - a view supported by former UK defence secretary Ben Wallace.  Although this would be a significant escalation, it would enable the West to deploy modern weapons from its inventory which - to date - have not been sent to Ukraine for fear of them ending up on the black market.

The West could also implement a no-fly zone over all or part of Ukraine. Given the poor performance of the Russian air force, this would almost certainly turn the tide of the war in Ukraine's favour.  

But is there the political appetite to take such a step - even if it would almost certainly halt Vladimir Putin's brutal war in Ukraine?

The two countries have signed a framework agreement to cooperate in the defence and arms production sectors, officials in Kyiv have said. 

The document was signed at a military industry conference in the Ukrainian capital that was attended by about 30 British defence companies. 

British firms were there to discuss potential joint ventures with Ukrainian weapons and defence producers.

The UK's minister for trade policy Greg Hands said he hoped the agreement would bring gains for Ukraine on the battlefield and also help its economy in the longer term. 

Ukraine has been ramping up efforts to produce its own weaponry as it appears outgunned and outmanned on the battlefield. 

It is hoping also to lure major Western producers to set up repair and production facilities in Ukraine, despite the threat of Russian bombardment. 

British defence company BAE Systems, one of the first Western producers to set up a local entity in Ukraine, signed an agreement with the UK's defence ministry to conduct maintenance, repair and overhaul of light guns on the ground in Ukraine. 

Officials also said they hoped for more projects this year in the drone production sector. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has responded to alleged comments from Donald Trump about how to end the war in Ukraine. 

The former US president, who wants to make it into the White House again in November, reportedly said privately that both Ukraine and Russia "want to save face, they want a way out".

Mr Trump allegedly added that Ukraine should cede part of its occupied territories to Moscow, claiming Ukrainians there would not object to being part of Russia, according to the Washington Post.

His adviser later denied these claims in a comment for the New York Post, calling the article "fake news". 

Mr Zelenskyy said in an interview with Bild that he is sceptical of this reported peace plan. 

"If the deal and the idea is simply to give our territories, then it is very primitive," Mr Zelenskyy said. 

The Ukrainian president said he was willing to listen to Mr Trump's ideas for ending the war if he had "strong arguments". 

"We don't need a fantastic idea, but a real one. This is about human lives; we cannot make jokes, and we cannot take risks," he said. 

He also pointed out Kyiv had invited Mr Trump to Ukraine, publicly and non-publicly, to see the situation with his own eyes. 

The US politician has not accepted the invitation so far. 

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Russia-Ukraine war: Volodymyr Zelenskiy discusses drone production with military and government officials – as it happened

Ukrainian president says officials discussed project to build integrated electronic warfare control system to protect against Russian attacks

• 1 Apr 2024 Closing summary
• 1 Apr 2024 Russian court extends pre-trial detention of US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva
• 1 Apr 2024 Iran says it tipped off Russia about possibility of major 'terrorist operation' ahead of concert hall attack in Moscow
• 1 Apr 2024 Volodymyr Zelenskiy discusses drone production with military and government officials
• 1 Apr 2024 Japan gives Ukraine's ministry of finance £93m grand for healthcare and housing
• 1 Apr 2024 Russia has used five hypersonic missiles to attack Kyiv since the start of the year, says Ukraine
• 1 Apr 2024 Opening summary

Russian court extends pre-trial detention of US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva

A Russian court on Monday extended the pre-trial detention of US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who faces 15 years in prison on charges of spreading “false information,” according to her employer.

In court in the western city of Kazan on Monday, Kurmasheva smiled but complained about the poor state of the cell where she was being held, an AFP reporter said.

A journalist at the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), she was arrested last year for failing to register as a “foreign agent”.

RFE/RL says she was subsequently charged with spreading false information under new censorship laws following Russia’s military offensive on Ukraine in 2022.

Her pre-trial detention has now been extended until 5 June. The hearing did not concern the substance of the case.

In 2022, Kurmasheva edited a book titled, “ Saying No to War ” – a collection of interviews and stories from Russians opposed to Moscow’s campaign against Ukraine.

RFE/RL on Monday called her imprisonment “outrageous” and said she had been locked up “simply because she holds an American passport.”

“The charges against Alsu are baseless. It’s not a legal process, it’s a political ploy, and Alsu and her family are unjustifiably paying a terrible price,” RFE/RL head Stephen Capus said.

“Russia must end this sham and immediately release Alsu without condition,” he added.

Kurmasheva, who lives in Prague with her husband and two children, had her US and Russian passports confiscated last June after travelling to Russia for a family emergency.

She was then arrested for failing to register as a “foreign agent” in October while awaiting the return of her passports.

That charge carries up to five years in prison while spreading “false information” has a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Rights groups have accused Russia of using oppressive legislation to target regime critics and independent journalists.

Kurmasheva is the second US journalist to be arrested in Russia since the start of Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has spent more than a year in jail in Moscow on espionage charges: he too has denied the charges.

Kurmasheva’s lawyers had called for her to be released from prison and put under house arrest pending the trial.

The US state department said last year that Kurmasheva’s arrest “appears to be another case of the Russian government harassing US citizens”.

Washington has accused Moscow of arresting US citizens without evidence to swap for the release of Russians jailed abroad.

A car bomb in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine’s eastern Lugansk region killed a Moscow-appointed government official on Monday, local authorities said.

The local branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said the deputy head of a state-run education agency was killed when “an unidentified device detonated in a car” on Monday afternoon, Agence France-Presse reported.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced that it has arrested four alleged accomplices of the terrorist attack on the concert hall in Moscow, according to the Russian state-run media RIA Novosti.

The FSB said the four suspects, who were arrested in southern Russian republic of Dagestan, were plotting another attack in the Dagestani city of Kaspiysk, according to The Kyiv Independent.

Iran says it tipped off Russia about possibility of major 'terrorist operation' ahead of concert hall attack in Moscow

Iran tipped off Russia about the possibility of a major “terrorist operation” on its soil ahead of the concert hall massacre near Moscow last month, according to a Reuters report.

On 22 March, gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at concertgoers, killing at least 144 people.

Russia has sought to place the blame on Ukraine for the attack, even though the Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for it and released footage of its gunmen filming themselves in the hall as they hunted victims to kill and shot them at point-blank range.

Three sources have told Reuters that Iran – a diplomatic ally – shared intelligence with Russia about the upcoming attack.

“Days before the attack in Russia, Tehran shared information with Moscow about a possible big terrorist attack inside Russia that was acquired during interrogations of those arrested in connection with deadly bombings in Iran,” one of the sources told Reuters.

A second source, who also requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said the information Tehran provided to Moscow about an impending attack had lacked specific details regarding timing and the exact target.

“They [the terrorists] were instructed to prepare for a significant operation in Russia … One of the terrorists [arrested in Iran] said some members of the group had already travelled to Russia,” the second source said.

A third source, a senior security official, said: “As Iran has been a victim of terror attacks for years, Iranian authorities fulfilled their obligation to alert Moscow based on information acquired from those arrested terrorists.”

Asked about the Reuters report, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday: “I do not know anything about this.”

The US had also warned Russia about a likely militant Islamist attack, based on interceptions of “chatter” among Islamic State militants.

According to Reuters, Moscow as “deeply distrustful” of the intentions of the US state officials, and so played down the intelligence.

Iran’s foreign ministry did not reply to a Reuters request for comment on the story and The White House offered no comment on it.

Russia has attacked the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, injuring a 27-year-old woman, according to The Kyiv Independent.

⚡️ Russia launched an attack against the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast on April 1, injuring a 27-year-old woman, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Russian forces carried out the attack at 1:20 p.m. local time, reportedly targeting residential buildings. — The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 1, 2024

Russia has used five hypersonic missiles to attack Kyiv since the start of the year, says Ukraine

Russia has used five hypersonic Zircon missiles to attack Kyiv since the start of the year, the city’s military administration has said.

It has, in total, launched 180 weapons of various types, including missiles and drones, at the Ukrainian capital in the first three months of the year.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries are pushing up the cost of crude oil, Reuters reports.

Brent crude was 25 cents, or 0.3%, higher at $87.25 a barrel this morning, after rising 2.4% last week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $83.44 a barrel, up 27 cents, or 0.3%, after a 3.2% gain last week.

Russian Deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said on Friday that the country’s oil companies will focus on reducing output rather than exports in the second quarter in order to evenly spread production cuts with other OPEC+ members.

Drone attacks from Ukraine have knocked out several Russian refineries, which is expected to reduce Russia’s fuel exports.

“Geopolitical risks to crude and heavy feedstock supplies add to strong (second-quarter) demand fundamentals,” Energy Aspects analysts said in a note.

Almost 1m barrels a day (bpd) of Russian crude processing capacity is offline from the attacks, affecting its high-sulphur fuel oil exports which are processed at Chinese and Indian refineries, the consultancy added.

A Ukrainian sculptor who fled to the UK when his studio was destroyed has been accepted into the Royal Society of British Artists.

Alex Lidagovsky was forced to leave Kyiv with his wife, Dasha Nepochatova, and 16-year-old stepdaughter after the Russian invasion began on 24 February 2022.

Speaking to the PA news agency, the sculptor said his friends had sent him photos of his bombed studio. Lidagovsky, whose words were translated by his wife, said: “When we were leaving Ukraine to save our daughter, we never thought it would be for so long.

“Now, because I’m so far away from my country and it looks like I live another life, I try not to think about it, to deny it, to drive this pain into the depths of my consciousness and give myself more time to reflect on it.” Read more

Opening summary

Welcome to our live coverage on Ukraine . It is just after 10am in Kyiv and in Moscow and I’m Donna Ferguson . Here are the headlines:

Russian attacks killed at least three people in different regions of eastern Ukraine, local officials said on Sunday, and two more in Lviv region , far from the frontlines. In the centre of the north-eastern city of Kharkiv , a frequent target of Russia’s attacks on energy and other infrastructure, a strike hit civilian targets in the evening, said the regional governor, Oleh Synehubov. Regional news outlets said bombs were dropped on different areas of the region. No injuries were reported. Earlier on Sunday, heavy shelling killed a man in the town of Borova, south-east of Kharkiv , local prosecutors said.

Police in the Donetsk region, in Ukraine’s south-east, said Russian shelling hit 14 towns and villages, with two dead reported in Krasnohorivka , west of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk.

Russian attacks on infrastructure extended well behind the frontlines. The Lviv regional governor, Maksym Kozitskyi, said two bodies were pulled from rubble after cruise missile strikes.

Russian forces bombed the border territories and settlements of the Sumy region 39 times on Sunday, the Ukrainian local regional military administration said. There were 157 explosions recorded from ordnance including artillery shells, mortars, exploding drones, drone-dropped mines and grenades, and rockets fired from helicopters. Sumy has been pounded by Russian attacks in recent weeks, forcing evacuations .

Over the border in Russia’s Belgorod region , the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said a woman was killed when a border village came under attack . The accounts of military action from either side were not independently confirmed.

“Our spirit does not give up,” Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in an Easter message. “There is no night or day when Russian terror does not try to break our lives,” Zelenskiy wrote to Ukrainians on social media, following Russian missile strikes.

Zelenskiy was in Bucha on Sunday alongside the prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, and several foreign ambassadors to mark two years since the city and surrounding areas’ were liberated from a brutal month-long occupation by Russia at the start of the war. The Ukrainian leader laid a lamp at the town’s wall of remembrance, which names the 509 civilians who have so far been identified of those killed during Bucha’s occupation.

France will deliver hundreds of old armoured vehicles and new surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine. The French defence minister, Sebastien Lecornu, told a French newspaper that the president, Emmanuel Macron, had asked him to prepare a new aid package, which will include old but still functional equipment, as well as new missiles.

Protesters in Kyiv have demonstrated for the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war from the Azov brigade. Relatives and friends of captured soldiers, some dressed in military clothing, waved placards at passing traffic.

• Ukraine war live

Most viewed

Ukraine-Russia war live: Zelensky invites Trump for visit as Kyiv developing ‘unstoppable’ AI-powered drone

LIVE – Updated at 08:35

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Donald Trump to visit Ukraine amid concerns about the former US president’s ideas about the war.

Speaking to Politico, Zelensky rejected proposals , backed by the likes of Trump , that Ukraine could end the war with Russia by making territorial concessions.

“If the deal is that we just give up our territories, and that’s the idea behind it, then it’s a very primitive idea,” he said.

He added: “We said that we would like Donald Trump to come to Ukraine, see everything with his own eyes and draw his own conclusions. In any case, I am ready to meet him and discuss the issue.”

Trump has reportedly expressed interest in the offer. David Cameron appeared to have failed in his own attempts to persuade Trump to help bring $60bn in military aid to Ukraine when he visited him at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.

It comes as Ukraine revealed they were developing “unstoppable” AI-powered drones in a push to create an image recognition targeting system to hunt targets.

The Telegraph reported that the development is being backed by more than £200 million in Western finance.

Zelensky visits trenches in Kharkiv

Ukraine struck russian aviation factory in voronezh region, ukrainian spy source says.

• US slams Russia’s ‘dangerous game’ at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
• Lord Cameron to meet Blinken in Washington today over Ukraine aid

Zelensky invites Trump to Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky invited US presidential candidate Donald Trump to Ukraine, saying he was open to hearing his proposal for ending the war.

The Ukrainian president, however, was sceptical about suggestions involving giving up the captured region to Russia, saying such a deal would pave the way for more Russian conquest in the future.

“If the deal is that we just give up our territories, and that’s the idea behind it, then it’s a very primitive idea,” Mr Zelensky told The Politico.

“I need very strong arguments. I don’t need a fantastic idea, I need a real idea, because people’s lives are at stake.”

Russians stage a rare protest after a dam bursts and homes flood near the Kazakh border

Russians in the city of Orsk gathered in a rare protest Monday calling for compensation following the collapse of a dam and subsequent flooding in the Orenburg region near the border with Kazakhstan.

Protests are an unusual sight in Russia where authorities have consistently cracked down on any form of dissent following President Vladimir Putin ‘s invasion of Ukraine . Hundreds of people gathered in front of the administrative building in Orsk Monday, Russian state news agency Tass said, while videos shared on Russian social media channels showed people chanting “Putin, help us,” and “shame.”

Russia has penetrated US politics, says Zelensky

Russian influence has penetrated American political system, claimed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

“They have their lobbies everywhere: in the United States, in the EU countries, in Britain, in Latin America, in Africa,” Mr Zelensky told The Politico while referring to Russia.

“When we talk about the Congress – do you notice how they work with society in the United States?”

He also warned against the Russia’s information warfare and its influence on American media and citizens.

“They pump their narratives through the media,” Mr Zelensky said. “These are not Russian citizens or natives of Russia, no. They are representatives of certain media groups, citizens of the United States. They are the ones in the media with the appropriate messages, sometimes very pro-Russian.”

Ukraine ‘hits’ aviation training center in Russia’s Voronezh Oblast

Ukraine hit Russian aviation training center in Voronezh Oblast overnight on 9 April, a representative of Ukraine military intelligence (HUR) told Kyiv Independent on the condition of anonymity.

Two drones over Belgorod Oblast and two over Voronezh Oblast were shot down by Russian air defences, claimed Moscow.

The Ukrainian strikes on Russian military and industrial target have intensified in recent weeks, with Russia allegedly losing seven military aircraft during drone attacks, according to HUR.

US Department of Defense sees ‘huge’ increase in military sales since Ukraine invasion

The US Defense Department set a record for sales of military equipment and hardware last year, especially among European partners and allies, said the director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

“We’ve had a huge increase in demand from our European allies and partners over the last few years since the ... invasion by the Russians in Ukraine,” James Hursch said yesterday during the 2024 Sea-Air-Space maritime exposition just outside of Washington. These include Sweden, Poland and the Netherlands.

In the fiscal year of 2023, the US did more than $80bn in business through the foreign military sales system, including grant assistance. “That is a record,” Mr Hursch said.

Western leaders face hard choices to help Ukraine resist Putin’s aggression

Editorial : The British people want to support the Ukrainians, but they must bear the cost

Editorial: Western leaders face hard choices to help Ukraine resist Putin

David Cameron holds talks with Donald Trump in Mar-a-Lago surprise meeting

Lord Cameron has held face to face meetings with Donald Trump in Florida during his push for the US to back more funding for Ukraine.

The foreign secretary is visiting the former US president despite previously calling him “divisive, stupid and wrong”. It was the first meeting between a senior British minister and the former Republican president since he left office in 2021.

Lord Cameron is on a high profile visit to the US to press Congress to pass the blocked aid package for Ukraine and will also discuss Israel ’s war in Gaza .

Editorial: David Cameron was quite right to drop in on Donald Trump

The former president and his supporters in Congress need to hear the message that the support for Ukraine is not only just, but also in America’s interest.

David Cameron was quite right to drop in on Donald Trump

Lord Cameron expected to meet other US politicians as he seeks support for Ukraine

David Cameron was expected to meet key lawmakers and senators during his US trip following his meeting with former president Donald Trump.

The British foreign secretary said: “I always do this with great trepidation. It’s not for foreign politicians to tell legislators in another country what to do.

“It’s just that I’m so passionate about the importance of defending Ukraine against this aggression that I think it is absolutely in the interests of US security that (Vladimir) Putin fails in his illegal invasion, I think it’s good for US jobs, that we continue to back Ukraine with the weapons that they need.“

And I think in terms of how the United States, the United Kingdom, as allies are seen around the world. There will be people in Tehran, in Pyongyang, in Beijing looking at how we stand by our allies, how we help them, how we stop this illegal and unprovoked aggression, and working out whether we are committed, whether we’re prepared to see it through.

”Secretary of state Antony Blinken said the request for the extra Ukraine funding was “urgent” and “we look to see that brought before the House and to get a vote as quickly as possible”.

He added: “The overwhelming majority of the resources in the supplemental budget request will actually be invested right here in the United States, in our own defence industrial base, to produce what Ukraine needs, but providing in the meantime good American jobs.”

Cameron pleads US to back extra funding for Ukraine

Foreign secretary Lord David Cameron has urged US politicians to release billions of dollars of extra funding to boost Ukraine’s military, warning that failing to do so would put Western security at risk.

The former prime minister insisted he did not want to “lecture” Republican politicians who have blocked the package, but warned about the consequences of failing to support Ukraine’s fight against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

He said countries including China, Iran and North Korea would be looking intently at how much support the US was actually prepared to give to its allies.

Lord Cameron, who visited former president Donald Trump in Florida as part of his trip to the US in an effort to encourage support for Ukraine, said it was “right to send this very clear message to all those watching around the world, including China, that we stand by our allies, that we don’t reward aggression, that we help those who are trying to fight it off”.

A $60bn (£47bn) supplemental funding package for Ukraine has been stalled for months amid US political wrangles.

Making the point that US arms firms would be supported by the funding, he said: “We know that it is right to stop Putin’s aggression. We know it’s right for our own militaries and our own production bases to ramp up production, not just for Ukraine, but for our own stocks.”

Ukraine races to fix and shield its power plants after Russian onslaught

When a Russian attack plunged a Ukrainian thermal power plant into darkness on March 29, 51-year-old Ihor did not have time to think.

He grabbed a flashlight and made his way through the dust-filled control room to save the remains of the system as the walls of the station fell, calling out to see if the other essential staff had survived the blast.

“We are scared, like all normal people would be, but this is our work,” said Ihor, who has been at the plant for 23 years.

Russia has said the energy system is a legitimate military target and described last month’s attacks as “revenge strikes“ to punish Ukraine for attacking Russian border regions

.A complete collapse of the system that could cut off electricity and water supplies to towns and cities is unlikely for now, the head of national grid company Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi told Reuters.

China reiterates calls for Ukraine-Russia ceasefire

Wang Yi repeated China’s calls for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia and “an end to the war soon” in his joint conference with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

“China supports the convening at an appropriate time of an international meeting that is recognised by both Russia and Ukraine, in which all parties can participate equally and discuss all peace solutions fairly,” he said.

China’s peace proposal has found little traction, in part due to the country’s continuing support for Russia and lack of vision for what a future resolution would look like, particularly the fate of occupied Ukrainian territories and their residents.

Mr Wang also said Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin would continue to maintain close exchanges this year amid expectations of visits to each other’s capitals.

“China and Russia have gone through ups and downs, and both sides have drawn lessons from historical experience and found a correct path to promote the healthy and stable development of bilateral relations,” Mr Wang said.

“Today’s good relations between China and Russia are hard-won and deserve to be cherished and carefully maintained by both sides.”Mr Lavrov arrived in China on Monday while Mr Wang and other leading Chinese figures have recently visited Russia and maintained China’s line of largely backing Russia’s views on the cause of the conflict.

Zelensky’s peace formula detached from realities, says Lavrov

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s “so-called peace formula” was “completely detached from any realities”, said Sergey Lavrov.

Mr Zelensky has called for the withdrawal of Russian forces and the return of all occupied Ukrainian territory, but is heavily reliant on support from the US, where the Republican Party majority in the House of Representatives has been holding up a new military aid package.

While China has not provided direct military support for Russia, it has backed it diplomatically in blaming the West for provoking Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch the war and refrained from calling it an invasion in deference to the Kremlin.

China has also said it isn’t providing Russia with arms or military assistance, although it has maintained robust economic connections with Moscow, alongside India and other countries, amid sanctions from Washington and its allies.

China’s Xi meets Russian foreign minister in show of support against Western democracies

Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday in a sign of mutual support and shared opposition to Western democracies amid Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We would like to express our highest appreciation and admiration for the successes that you have achieved over the years and, above all, over the last decade under your leadership,” Mr Lavrov told the Chinese leader, according to Russian media.

“We are sincerely pleased with these successes, since these are the successes of friends, although not everyone in the world shares this attitude and are trying in every possible way to restrain the development of China — in fact just like the development of Russia,” Mr Lavrov said.

He also held a news conference earlier yesterday with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at which they reaffirmed solidarity in international affairs.

Mr Lavrov said Russia and China oppose any international events that do not take Russia’s position into account.

Child among those trapped under rubble in Kostiantynivka, with one dead

A man has been killed with others trapped under the rubble after a Russian airstrike in Donetsk region, the State Emergency Service reported on Facebook.

They added emergency rescue operations are ongoing but due to the threat of repeated shelling, they have to be constantly suspended.

The service said missiles struck a residential section of Kostiantynivka with the number of injured increasing to three.

According to preliminary information, there may be 2 more people under the piles of rubble, of which 1 is reportedly a child.

In total, 27 private residential buildings, 3 multi-storey buildings, 2 infrastructure facilities and an administrative building were damaged in the shelling with fires breaking out across the scene.

Georgians protest outside parliament against 'Russian law' on foreign agents

Several thousand protesters rallied outside Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday, denouncing government plans to resurrect a bill requiring groups funded from abroad to register as foreign agents, which they likened to Russia’s suppression of dissent.

The ruling Georgian Dream party announced last week it intends to bring back the bill, which it abandoned last year after violent protests.

The legislation would require organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from overseas to register as “agents of foreign interests”, wording similar to a law enacted in Russia under President Vladimir Putin.

Demonstrators marched through central Tbilisi, shouting slogans against “the Russian law”. Russia, which invaded Georgia in 2008, is widely unpopular there for its support of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Georgian Dream rejects the comparison between its bill and Russia’s, and says it is necessary to combat foreign influence.

6 northern European nations sign a deal to protect North Sea infrastructure from hostile actors

Six northern Europe countries bordering the North Sea said Tuesday that they have signed an agreement to work together to protect underwater infrastructure in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean from an increased risk of sabotage.

The Danish Ministry for Climate, Energy and Utilities called the North Sea a hub for critical infrastructure that connects Europe through electricity cables, gas pipes and telecommunications connections and is an important source of renewable energy.

Water level in Ural river near Russia's Orenburg above critical level, mayor's office says -RIA

The water level in the Ural River near the Russian city of Orenburg has risen above the critical level of 9.3 metres and is currently at 9.31 metres, state-run RIA news agency reported on Tuesday citing Orenburg Mayor Sergei Salmin’s office.

Earlier Salmin had described the flood situation in Orenburg as “very serious” and said local authorities could begin emergency evacuation at any time.

US lawmakers urge release of Russia critic Kara-Murza on the anniversary of his imprisonment

Members of Congress on Tuesday called for the immediate release of Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. as lawmakers marked the second anniversary of his imprisonment, part of the Kremlin’s sweeping crackdown on critics of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The bottom line is that Vladimir Kara-Murza will not be forgotten,” Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said at an event on Capitol Hill. “We are going to work to set him free and to set Russia free.”

Kara-Murza, a journalist and opposition activist, was jailed in April 2022 and convicted of treason last year for denouncing the war in Ukraine. He is serving 25 years, the stiffest sentence handed down to a Kremlin critic in modern Russia. He is among a growing number of dissidents held in increasingly severe conditions under President Vladimir Putin’s political crackdown.

Two people, in 30s, hospitalised after Russian strike on Kharviv

The head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleh Syniehubov, reported that two people were taken to hospital after a Russian strike on central Kharviv on Telegram .

“Among the victims of the shelling of Kharkiv are two men and one woman. A 31-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman were hospitalised with shrapnel wounds and explosive injuries. A 55-year-old man was treated at the site,” his statement said.

It came as Russian attacks dispersed through different regions of Ukraine killed five people on Monday, officials said.

A missile strike killed three people and injured at least eight in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.

An industrial building, seven apartment blocks, as well as medical and educational facilities were damaged, authorities said. They did not disclose the nature of the industrial site.

Two injured in industrial air strikes

The head of the Sloviansk City Military Administration, Vadym Liakh, said on Telegram , the city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk regions suffered two airstrikes in the industrial zone.

He said: “Unfortunately, it was not without casualties. Two residents of the community, who were on the street during the shelling, received leg injuries.”

“The number of shelling in neighboring communities is increasing. For the first time in a long time, in Slovyansk, shelling is heard during the day, and during peak hours.

“Therefore, I ask you to take a responsible approach to security issues. In the coming days, it is better not to leave the house without an urgent need.”

Cameron urges Congress to approve aid for Ukraine, calling it critical for world security

David Cameron urged Congress on Tuesday to approve new military aid for Ukraine, saying the stalled funding is critical for U.S., European and world security.

Speaking after a meeting at the State Department, Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeated long-standing appeals for lawmakers to unblock the assistance that President Joe Biden has sought for months, while Cameron said he would make the same case in meetings on Capitol Hill “as a great friend” of the United States.

“I come here with no intention to lecture anybody or tell anybody what to do or get in the way of the process of politics and other things in the United States,” he said. “I just come here as a great friend and believer in this country and a believer that it’s profoundly in your interest, in your security, and your future and the future of your partners to release this money and let it through.”

Cameron is just the latest of numerous foreign government officials who have urged American lawmakers to act swiftly to approve the assistance amid increasing concern over the U.S. role. Last week in Brussels, nearly all NATO member foreign ministers said the U.S. contribution is essential, echoing comments by Biden, Blinken and other administration officials.

UN nuclear watchdog's board sets emergency meeting after Zaporizhzhia attacks

The UN nuclear watchdog’s Board of Governors will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday at the request of both Ukraine and Russia to discuss attacks on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, after the enemies accused each other of drone attacks.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said drones struck the Russian-held facility in southern Ukraine on Sunday, hitting one reactor building. It has not ascribed blame but has demanded such attacks stop.

Russia said on Tuesday that Ukraine had again attacked the plant with drones, for a third day. Kyiv said it had nothing to do with any such attacks, and any incidents were staged by Moscow.

Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused one another of targeting Zaporizhzhia since it was captured by Russian forces in the first weeks of Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour in 2022; both sides deny attacking it.

Russia, Kazakhstan evacuate over 100,000 people amid worst flooding in decades

Russia and Kazakhstan ordered more than 100,000 people to evacuate after swiftly melting snow swelled mighty rivers beyond bursting point in the worst flooding in the area for at least 70 years.

The deluge of melt water overwhelmed scores of settlements in the Ural Mountains, Siberia and areas of Kazakhstan close to rivers such as the Ural and Tobol, which local officials said had risen by metres in a matter of hours to the highest levels ever recorded.

The Ural River, Europe’s third longest which flows through Russia and Kazakhstan into the Caspian, burst through an embankment dam on Friday, flooding the city of Orsk just south of the Ural Mountains.

Downstream, water levels in Orenburg, a city of around 550,000, rose towards the critical level of 9.3 metres as sirens warned major floods were imminent. The water level is currently 9.14 metres.

Sirens in Kurgan, a city on the Tobol river, a tributary of the Irtysh, warned people to evacuate immediately. An emergency was also declared in Tyumen, a major oil producing region of Western Siberia - the largest hydrocarbon basin in the world.

UN records sharp rise in civilian deaths, injuries in Ukraine in March

United Nations monitors have recorded a sharp increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine last month as Russian forces have stepped up attacks, the UN Human Rights Office said on Tuesday.

The toll included at least 57 children killed or injured in March, double the number from February, it said.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission had verified at least 604 civilians killed or injured in Ukraine in March, a 20 per cent increase from February.

“The March increase in civilian casualties was mainly due to attacks by the Russian armed forces using missiles and loitering munitions across Ukraine and increased aerial bombardments near the frontline,” the Rights Office said.

The mission found that most civilian casualties - 93.5 per cent - as well as most damage to educational and health facilities and to critical infrastructure occurred in government-controlled areas.

Ukraine sustained particularly heavy attacks last month, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the country could run out of air defence missiles if Russia keeps up its intense long-range bombing campaign.

He said last week that Russia fired over 3,000 guided aerial bombs, 600 drones and 400 missiles at Ukraine in March alone.

Britain should consider Swedish-style military conscription system, says former MI6 chief

Britain should consider a Swedish -style military conscription system, says the former chief of MI6 .

Sir Alex Younger said the UK needs to be thinking of ways in which “the broader country would participate in an emergency”.

Sir Alex appeared on The Today Podcast with Nick Robinson on Tuesday (9 April), as tensions between Russia and the West continue to escalate.

Sir Alex said: “I think we need to be looking at something like the model in Sweden, where the government theoretically has the power to compel people to give their service one way or another, but doesn’t exercise it, except in areas where it’s really needed.”

Britain should consider military conscription system, says former MI6 chief

Serbia announces a possible purchase of French-made fighter jets that would mark a shift from Russia

Serbia is close to signing a deal on the purchase of 12 French Rafale multi-purpose fighter jets, the Serbian president announced Tuesday, in what would mark a shift from its traditional military supplier Russia.

President Aleksandar Vucic spoke during his two-day visit to Paris and talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as well as French defense officials including Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation.

UK Foreign Secretary to urge US speaker to back help for Ukraine

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron is expected to urge U.S. lawmakers to approve a new package of aid for Ukraine when he visits Washington this week, warning Congress that it is putting the security of the West at risk by continuing to hold up the funding.

The trip is a chance for Cameron to personally deliver the message he posted on social media last week in which he called on Western leaders to put pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans in Congress to approve additional aid for Ukraine, as Britain and the European Union have already done.

Russia says Ukraine struck nuclear plant again, Kyiv denies the attack

Russia has claimed that Ukraine attacked the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant for a third day with a drone - but Ukrainian military intelligence denied that Kyiv had anything to do with the attacks.

Ukraine has denied it is behind a series of drone attacks on the plant over the past three days, including three drone attacks on Sunday, which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said had endangered nuclear safety.

“The unique training center of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was attacked,” the Russian-controlled plant said in a statement.

The drone fell on the roof of the training centre, it said. No one was injured.

The Kremlin has said the drone attacks on the nuclear plant were carried out by Ukraine and said they were very dangerous with extremely grave potential consequences.

Ukrainian military intelligence said Kyiv does not take part in action against nuclear facilities.

“Ukraine‘s position is clear and unequivocal: we do not commit any military actions or provocations on nuclear facilities,” Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s military intelligence, said on national TV.

Russia floods: Thousands evacuated after burst dam worsens record water levels and threatens city

Thousands more people have been warned to evacuate immediately in southern Russia , as two major rivers swelled beyond bursting point in the worst flooding in the area for decades .

A state of emergency has been declared in multiple regions of southern Russia after two dams on the Ural River burst in Orsk over the weekend, exacerbating an already difficult situation in the area caused by extreme seasonal floods.

Russia floods cause thousands to flee after dam bursts and threatens Orenburg city

Two killed by shelling in Russia's Bryansk region, governor says

A woman and a child were killed when Ukrainian forces shelled the village of Klimovo in Russia’s Bryansk region, governor Alexander Bogomaz has claimed.

He alleged that artillery hit the “very centre of the village”, causing a building to catch fire and damaging several cars.

He did not provide any images detailing the destruction. The Independent could not verify his claims.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited near the frontlines in Kharkiv, where the construction of fortifications is ongoing.

The exact location of his visit was not disclosed but the region has come under increasing pressure from Russian missiles and drones over the past few weeks.

Russian land forces are also continuing a lengthy attempt to surround the city of Kupyansk towards the southeastern corner of the region.

Three killed by shelling in Russian-held part of Kherson region, official says

Three people were killed in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine‘s southern Kherson region by Ukrainian shelling on Monday, the Russian-installed regional head Vladimir Saldo has claimed.

Ukraine‘s military spy agency GUR struck a main production facility of a Russian aviation factory in Russia’s Voronezh region, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters .

Russia’s defence ministry said earlier on Tuesday that two drones were downed over the region.

The source said the 711th aviation repair plant in the town of Borisoglebsk was hit. It did not provide any details of the scale of the damage.

The town is at least 350 kilometres away from the Ukrainian government-held side of the front line in the northeast.

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts.

Kyiv has recently stepped up attacks deep in Russia’s territory, targeting military facilities and energy infrastructure that helps Moscow’s war effort. It mostly uses various types of long-range domestically produced drones.

IAEA Board to meet on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, diplomats say

An extraordinary meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors called by Russia to discuss attacks on the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine is due to be held on Thursday, three diplomats said on Tuesday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has yet to announce a date for the meeting. The Board’s rules state that any country on it, including Russia, can call a meeting. Russia’s ambassador to the IAEA said on Monday that Russia had done so.

UN warns of ‘reckless’ Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant drone attacks

The United Nations has urged restraint from Russia and Ukraine after numerous drones were shot down over Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – as the organisation warned that such activity around the plant risked causing a “major nuclear accident”.

Russia claimed on Monday that it had shot down a Ukrainian drone over the roof of reactor 6 at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP), less than 24 hours after the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirmed three earlier attacks on Sunday.

China supports holding of timely conference between Russia and Ukraine, foreign ministry says

China supports the holding of a timely conference between Russia and Ukraine, which will recognise equal participation of all parties and discuss all peace proposals on an equal footing, the Chinese foreign ministry quoted Foreign Minister Wang Yi as saying on Tuesday.

Wang made the remarks in a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Beijing, ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a press briefing.

Here are some of the latest photos from Ukraine

Below are some of the latest photos from Ukraine

Russia says it destroys Ukraine anti-ship missile, downs four drones

A Ukraine-launched, anti-ship Neptune missile was destroyed over the Black Sea, and four drones were downed over the Belgorod and Voronezh regions, the Russian Ministry of Defence has claimed.

“Duty air defence systems destroyed four Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the territories of the Belgorod (2 UAVs) and Voronezh (2 UAVs) regions, and (the Neptune) Ukrainian missile was destroyed over the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Cameron to urge US speaker to back help for Ukraine

Read the full story here:

Wider war in Europe ‘no longer a fantasy’, warns EU’s top diplomat3

A wider war in Europe is “no longer a fantasy” and the continent must prepare for war with Russia, the EU’s top diplomat has warned.

“Russia threatens Europe,” both through its ongoing war in Ukraine and hybrid attacks on EU member states, Josep Borrell said.

“War is certainly looming around us,” Mr Borrell added. “A high-intensity, conventional war in Europe is no longer a fantasy.”

World Brief: Biden-Kishida Summit Secures New Defense Cooperation

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Biden-Kishida Summit Secures New Defense Cooperation

The united states and japan aim to counter beijing’s influence in the south china sea..

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Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at how the U.S.-Japan summit is countering China , parliamentary elections in South Korea , and the European Union ’s new asylum policies.

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An ‘unbreakable’ partnership.

U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Wednesday to announce a more than 70-point plan to bolster bilateral defense and intelligence cooperation. The multiday summit aims to address rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, including Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea and concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program.

The U.S.-Japan partnership is “unbreakable,” Biden said, celebrating the “monumental alliance between our two great democracies.”

Biden and Kishida also planned to discuss upgrading the United States’ military command headquarters in Japan to better coordinate with Japanese forces. The two leaders also announced a “military industrial council” to explore what types of defense weapons Washington and Tokyo can jointly produce. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara are expected to finalize the details over the next few months.

Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, the country established a pacifist constitution that limits its military to self-defense. Kishida, however, has continued a shift away from that doctrine that began under his predecessor, Shinzo Abe. Since coming to office in 2021, Kishida has eased restrictions on lethal weapons exports, promised to raise defense spending to 2 percent of GDP by 2027, purchased U.S. Tomahawk missiles to increase counterstrike abilities, and helped establish security groupings such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

“Today the world faces more challenges and difficulties than ever before,” Kishida said . “Japan will join hands with our American friends, and together, we will lead the way in tackling the challenges of the Indo-Pacific region and the world.”

During the summit, Biden and Kishida announced plans for a joint lunar space mission; research cooperation on artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and clean energy; and a new scholarship for U.S. high schoolers to participate in exchange programs with Japanese schools. Much of the two leaders’ conversation also touched on ways to boost Tokyo’s sensitive intelligence protection efforts. Japan has long sought to join the Five Eyes intelligence network (consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to better combat perceived Chinese provocations.

On Thursday, Kishida will become the second Japanese leader in history to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. He will also attend a trilateral meeting with Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to discuss repeated hostile encounters between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels in the South China Sea. Biden’s planned meeting with Kishida and Marcos aims to “flip the script and isolate China,” a U.S. official told Reuters .

Today’s Most Read

• The New Idea of India by Ravi Agrawal
• How a Culture Shift in the Israeli Military Helps Explain Gaza’s Death Toll by Yagil Levy
• Ukraine’s Cheap Drones Are Decimating Russia’s Tanks by Jack Detsch

What We’re Following

Expected opposition victory. South Korea held legislative elections on Wednesday to determine all 300 seats in the country’s unicameral National Assembly. Early exit polls predicted that the opposition Democratic Party and its allies would secure at least 178 seats—granting them majority control. President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative People Power Party is likely to only win around 100 seats. Final results are expected on Thursday.

Yoon won the presidency in March 2022 by the narrowest margin in the country’s history. Since then, he has relied heavily on presidential decrees to pass laws, as they don’t require legislative approval. During his first year, Yoon issued 809 executive orders compared to his two immediate predecessors’ 660 and 653 decrees, respectively. Analysts said the opposition’s expected win on Wednesday will deliver a significant blow to Yoon’s administration as he faces decreasing public approval and a cost-of-living crisis in Seoul.

EU migration policies. The European Parliament passed a wide-ranging legislative framework on Wednesday that restructures how the bloc handles asylum cases. Under the new policies, which took years to finalize, European Union member states are no longer solely responsible for processing asylum-seekers who arrive at their borders. Instead, responsibility will be shared across all 27 members to ease the burden that southern states—such as Greece, Malta, and Italy—have faced, whether that be through relocation or other types of financial or physical assistance.

EU leaders, including European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, praised the vote, calling it a “historic day for Europe.” However, rights groups accused the bloc of signing a deal that could cause suffering in the long run. “These reforms will mean less protection and a greater risk of facing human rights violations across Europe—including illegal and violent pushbacks, arbitrary detention, and discriminatory policing,” said Eve Geddie, the head of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

Chinese cybercrime. Zambian authorities uncovered a “sophisticated internet fraud syndicate” during a raid on a Chinese-run company outside the capital of Lusaka on Tuesday. Officials arrested 77 people, including 22 Chinese nationals. This is a “significant breakthrough in the fight against cybercrime,” authorities said. The monthslong intelligence mission was led by Zambia’s Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) alongside local police and the nation’s immigration department and antiterrorism unit.

The Chinese company, known as Golden Top Support Services, allegedly used equipment to disguise call agents’ locations to commit internet fraud and other online scams, DEC chief Nason Banda said. People in Singapore, Peru, the United Arab Emirates, and numerous African countries were reportedly targeted. Chinese cyberattacks have increased in recent months, with the United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand all accusing China of espionage and data theft, among other cyberthreats.

Odds and Ends

After years without a career breakthrough, an aspiring German artist decided to take matters into his own hands. On Feb. 23, a staff member at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne’s installation team hung his own artwork in the museum’s modern and contemporary art gallery. The installation shared a space with the likes of pop art icon Andy Warhol for eight hours before museum authorities removed the piece. Pinakothek der Moderne confirmed on Tuesday that the man was fired. “All I can say is that we did not receive any positive feedback on the addition from visitors to the gallery,” the museum’s spokesperson said.

Alexandra Sharp is the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy. Twitter:  @AlexandraSSharp

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Arizona Republicans Are in an Absolute Panic on Abortion

The Arizona Republican Party was in full-scale meltdown Wednesday afternoon after the state’s highest court banned virtually all forms of abortion there. If the issue weren’t so serious, it would be comical to watch Republican leaders scurrying away from one of their most fervently held positions once they realized how devastating the ruling could be to their political prospects, and particularly to Donald Trump’s chances of winning the crucial swing state in November.

There were chaotic scenes on the floor of the Arizona House as Republican legislators argued with one another over whether to repeal the 1864 abortion ban that was upheld by the state Supreme Court the day before. At one point, according to The Arizona Republic , Representative Matt Gress, a Phoenix Republican, brought up a bill to repeal the law, but Democratic lawmakers ran over and reminded him that he had sponsored fetal personhood bills . “Do not fall for it,” yelled one Democrat, in a video taken on the House floor. Without a plan, Republicans, who control the chamber, were so shaken that they quickly recessed the House for a week, preventing a repeal vote.

The party’s panic was led, naturally, by Trump, who is most vulnerable to the anger by virtue of his appointment of three anti-abortion justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, leading to the repeal of Roe v. Wade and thus the re-imposition of old state bans like Arizona’s. On Wednesday, Trump said the Arizona ban went too far , and he predicted the state would fix it. But the hypocrisy of state leaders was, if anything, even more egregious. Kari Lake, a Trump acolyte and U.S. Senate candidate, quickly denounced the court ruling, though she had said less than two years ago that the ban was a “great law.”

Juan Ciscomani, a Republican congressman from the state, who had supported a 15-week abortion ban and has repeatedly voted to restrict abortion access, called the court ruling “a disaster.” His Arizona colleague David Schweikert, who has an A+ rating from anti-abortion groups, said the issue shouldn’t be “legislated from the bench” and demanded the legislature take action.

But Democrats — and hopefully state voters — aren’t going to let Republicans run away from their own records. As a beautifully made Biden campaign ad on the terrible dangers of abortion bans said this week, “Donald Trump did this.” And so did his party.

Pamela Paul

Opinion Columnist

Europe Is Making Progress on Gender Medicine. The U.S. Should Catch Up.

Yesterday marked the release of the long-awaited Cass Report , a four-year review of the National Health Service’s gender medicine program for minors in England.

As a result of this review, conducted by Hilary Cass, an independent pediatrician, the health service will no longer offer puberty-blocking drugs except for patients enrolled in clinical trials and will offer cross-sex hormones to children only with extreme caution. This makes England the fifth country in Europe to restrict the medical treatment of gender dysphoria in minors, or part of what proponents refer to as “gender-affirming care.”

According to the report, there is no good evidence that these treatments — specifically, the use of puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones — have significant positive impact on physical or mental well-being. And the risk of long-term harms remains largely unknown.

For those who have followed the medical research, and for parents concerned about the quality of care for their children, this was overdue and welcome news. Parents and caregivers have been frustrated by activists and a compliant medical establishment that insist medically and surgically altering their kids’ bodies and brains, sometimes primarily based on a child’s self-diagnosis, was the proper course of treatment. And that to raise any questions was akin to child abuse and transphobia.

To quote from the review : “There are few other areas of health care where professionals are so afraid to openly discuss their views.” The vilification and bullying, it said, “must stop.”

Fortunately, England has recognized the problem. But the American Academy of Pediatrics has dug in its heels. Last summer, despite finally ceding to a systematic review (with no results yet), it reaffirmed its commitment to “gender-affirming care,” describing such treatment as essential .

Why has the United States remained so stubbornly behind?

One reason is that American medical institutions have largely relied on sporadic studies conducted in the United States or on the guidelines of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health , an organization whose mission, based on criticism and leaked files , has slipped from transgender medical care into advocacy.

Instead of demanding strong, evidence-based medicine, the Biden administration and the medical establishment have left a vacuum for ideologues, activists and politicians to dictate protocols. Republican lawmakers have stepped in with bans of gender medicine in ways that have also threatened rights and protections for transgender adults. Instead of a dispassionate assessment of evidence, we have a partisan culture war.

It’s hard to imagine any other childhood condition, illness or disorder being treated with such cavalier indifference to the human beings in question. Children deserve progress and proven health care, not political gamesmanship.

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Opinion Writer

Why Does Inflation Persist? Nobody Knows for Sure.

The surprisingly hot inflation numbers that the government put out Wednesday show, once again, how little we understand what makes prices go up (and sometimes down).

By “we,” I mean everyone, including officials of the Federal Reserve, which is trying, without complete success, to get inflation back down to its target rate of 2 percent annually.

“As is often the case, we are navigating by the stars under cloudy skies,” Jerome Powell, the chair of the Fed, said at the annual monetary policy conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., in August.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.4 percent in March from February, above the 0.3 percent that many economists had predicted. Monthly core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was also 0.4 percent. Over the past year, the index for all items rose 3.5 percent.

Each inflation report is fresh fodder for the argument between economists who worry that inflation will persist at well above the Fed’s target and those who expect it to resume its downward trend soon.

Nervous investors may be overreacting to Wednesday’s data, according to David Rosenberg, the president of Rosenberg Research, based in Toronto. In a client note, he wrote that “the report showed plenty of deflationary thumbprints where it matters — in demand-sensitive areas.” Prices of sporting goods, toys, appliances and vehicles fell in March, he noted.

There’s always a lot of noise in the monthly data. Over the longer term, the mystery isn’t why inflation is high but the opposite: why it fell so much from its pandemic peak, even though labor markets have remained tight. Conventional wisdom is that when workers are scarce, they use their bargaining power to demand higher wages, which fuels inflation. That hasn’t happened much.

Servaas Storm, a senior lecturer of economics at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, wrote this week in an article for the Institute for New Economic Thinking that the behavior of inflation has discredited conventional New Keynesian theories about why prices rise and fall.

Storm wrote that central bankers such as Powell “are clear that standard macro models are of little use to them in the current macroeconomic environment.”

That’s a strong claim — perhaps too strong — but it does fit with Powell’s Jackson Hole metaphor about navigating by the stars under cloudy skies. Inflation remains poorly understood.

Meher Ahmad

Opinion Staff Editor

For Muslims, It’s Hard to Celebrate This Eid

Wednesday is the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the beginning of jubilant Eid al-Fitr celebrations around the world. After 30 days of fasting and prayer, Muslims put on their best clothes, prepare their best foods and spend time with friends and family.

But this Eid is more somber than any other in recent memory. The war in Gaza is now more than six months old. Reports of famine-like conditions appear as often as images of Palestinians performing janaza , Islamic funeral prayers, over their relatives’ bodies.

Not all Palestinians are Muslim, but the plight of the Palestinians is tied intrinsically to the ummah , or Muslim community. Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is the third-holiest site in our religion. For decades, as wars erupted in the region, imams would tell their congregations to witness the injustice Palestinians experienced there. Whether you grew up in Jakarta or Cairo or, as I did, in Carmel, Ind., solidarity with Palestinians was part of being Muslim.

As the war in Gaza roiled communities across the United States, this year’s Ramadan gave Muslims an opportunity to gather at mosques or at iftar dinners when we broke our fasts. If the rest of the world felt hostile, there we could openly share our anguish and talk about how we have navigated our workplaces and social lives. I almost didn’t realize how often I had my guard up until I walked into these spaces.

I’ve seen American Muslim spaces become a refuge this way before. During the height of the war on terrorism, when our faith felt so fundamentally misunderstood by the country we lived in, our community felt like a place of respite. I’ve thought about those days often during this war. As much as I cherish the ability of Muslims to come together in times of conflict, I also remember how the hostility of those years led many Muslims to retreat into tradition and community rather than engage with the outside world.

I don’t see the same shift happening this Ramadan. While Islam offers me community, it also has given me the strength to engage with those who aren’t like me.

So often, we’re made to remember how we are different from others. But Islam teaches us not just how to be Muslim among other Muslims but also how to live and engage with the world outside the ummah. My hope for this Eid is that other Muslims — and non-Muslims — take this lesson with them.

Farah Stockman

Editorial Board Member

A Useful Guide to the History of U.S.-China Relations

There’s no more important relationship in the world than the one between the United States and China, the world’s two largest economies. And yet not enough Americans know about the history of confrontations — and human connections — between those superpowers that have brought us to the current level of political tension and economic cooperation.

Americans who got outraged about China’s spy balloon in 2023 should know about the long history of American spying on China. Those who hope to avoid military conflict with China in the future ought to consider how one was avoided when a Chinese fighter pilot confronted — and then collided with — a U.S. military spy plane in 2001.

As China grows more powerful, we had better get far more familiar with the events that have shaped how we are viewed by friends and adversaries alike.

One useful guide to the subject is Jane Perlez, a former New York Times Beijing bureau chief, who has spent much of her time in recent years producing podcasts about the hidden history that has led to the current moment.

In 2022, Perlez created “ The Great Wager ,” a five-part podcast series from NPR about President Richard Nixon’s historic 1972 trip to China. And on Tuesday, she dropped a new eight-part series called “Face-Off: U.S. vs China,” available on Apple and Spotify .

Want to know how China managed to uncover a network of American spies in 2010, and the ramifications that reverberate to this day? Ever wondered about the personal chemistry (or lack thereof) between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping? Or how one of the most important companies in the United States — Apple — came to rely so heavily on the Chinese Communist Party? The podcast has you covered.

I’ve known Perlez since my days as an unpaid intern in the Nairobi bureau of The Times in the 1990s, and there are few people I consider more knowledgeable about China. An old-school reporter, Perlez avoids inserting her own opinion into her podcasts, but her devotion to unearthing hidden gems from this rapidly evolving relationship reveals a point of view that is rarely heard in Washington these days: History matters, and Americans ought to get far more familiar with it.

Opinion Researcher

The Global Competition at the Heart of ‘3 Body Problem’

In the early 1940s, the British scientist Joseph Needham roamed the Chinese countryside. After his travels, he wrote a book series asking why China didn’t beat Europe to the scientific revolution, since China was so inventive throughout its history.

This Needham question, long debated by historians, gets an update in Netflix’s “3 Body Problem,” which adapts the Chinese author Liu Cixin’s book for a Western audience. In the story, aliens known as San-Ti are bound to conquer Earth in 400 years. They’re light-years ahead technologically, having mastered quantum computing, artificial intelligence and space travel. Humanity’s only chance to mount a planetary defense is to dive headfirst into technological development at an exponential pace.

As many book readers and series viewers have pointed out, the impending alien invasion is a fitting allegory for U.S.-China competition. There’s a looming conflict against a technologically adept superpower, and it will take rapid scientific innovation to survive. Who the aliens represent depends on which side of the Pacific you’re on.

This is the new Needham question: Which country is poised to beat the other to the next scientific revolution of computing, A.I. and space travel?

The San-Ti launch subatomic supercomputers at Earth to keep Earth’s technology stunted; the Biden administration has a similar strategy to keep China’s semiconductors several generations behind those of the United States. The Netflix series’s imagery of a hidden but all-seeing alien supercomputer conjures fears of Chinese surveillance infiltrating Western research institutions.

However, the most important conflict in the story unfolds between the two rival human approaches to defeating the aliens. The first camp is ruthless, willing to sacrifice the few for the perceived benefit of the many. The second camp represents a more humanistic approach, seeing value in all human life.

In Liu’s telling, the ruthless rationalists win out. The story has become a popular text among Chinese nationalists who revel in authoritarianism as a justification for scientific development. The Netflix show has not taken a firm side in this debate, though it has been more sympathetic to the humanists.

Ursula Le Guin has framed science fiction as a thought experiment better suited to describing the present than to forecasting. But what does Liu, a shrewd engineer-turned-novelist, make of bleak moral and geopolitical interpretations of his work? His first edition’s postscript offers a clue. He wrote , “It’s just science fiction, no need to take it seriously. :)”

Serge Schmemann

Havana Syndrome and Russia’s Unit 29155

A joint investigation by Russian, American and German reporters has produced evidence that is chilling and plausible, albeit not conclusive, that Havana syndrome — painful and debilitating medical episodes experienced by scores of American diplomats and intelligence officers over the past decade — is the work of a special Russian spy unit dedicated to assassination and mayhem.

The reporting by The Insider , a Russia-focused investigative news outlet, in collaboration with the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel and CBS’s “ 60 Minutes ,” sharply challenges earlier assertions by U.S. intelligence agencies that what they called anomalous health incidents were very unlikely to be the work of a foreign power.

In typical cases, victims reported sudden and acute pain, usually to one side of the head, followed by prolonged bouts of headaches and dizziness. The Biden administration and Congress have nonetheless enacted legislation providing compensation to victims, some of whom have been unable to continue work.

Drawing on interviews with victims and an impressive mastery of online snooping, the investigative reporters found various links between the attacks and Unit 29155, a division of the Russian military intelligence agency G.R.U., known to U.S. intelligence agencies for conducting lethal operations and sabotage the world over. Operatives of Unit 29155 were placed at sites of several anomalous health incidents; more damningly, the reporters discovered that senior members of the unit had received awards for work on “nonlethal acoustic weapons,” which in Russia refers to directed-energy devices based on sound or radio frequencies.

One of the key pieces in the puzzle was supplied by the wife of an official at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia, who was struck with acute pain in her head while doing laundry at home. Spotting a car on the house’s security camera, she managed to get to the street in time to see a tall, thin man and to photograph his car. She subsequently identified a photograph of Albert Averyanov, an operative of Unit 29155 and the son of the founding commander of the unit, Gen. Andrei Averyanov.

The pattern of the attacks suggested the targeted American intelligence officers and diplomats were working or had worked on Russia matters, including C.I.A. officers who worked with Ukraine.

The full report of The Insider is a gripping read. The question it leaves unanswered is whether the U.S. government knew what the reporters discovered and, if so, whether the government was hiding it. Either way, the victims, many still suffering, deserve a thorough investigation.

David French

More College Men Should Do What Caitlin Clark Did

It’s hard to wrap your mind around the television ratings for Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the women’s college basketball tournament. Her Elite Eight game against her rival Angel Reese and Louisiana State University was the highest-rated college basketball game in ESPN history . More than 12 million people tuned in, and the audience peaked at 16.1 million. Then, days later, Clark’s team broke the record again . This time more than 14 million people watched, and the audience peaked at 17 million.

The ratings for Sunday night’s final were even more impressive. An incredible 18.7 million people watched . The game was the most-watched basketball game in America — N.C.A.A. or N.B.A. — since the 2019 men’s N.C.A.A. final.

There is a lesson in those ratings, one that goes beyond Clark’s generational talent. If she’d been a man, she’d have had one good year in college, perhaps enjoyed a decent tournament run, and then dashed off to the N.B.A. Fans wouldn’t know they’d witnessed greatness.

That’s the nature of the one-and-done men’s college game. Transcendent talents don’t stay, and teams with longstanding rosters don’t have transcendent talents. And so you’re left with a sport that both lacks stars and (relatedly) puts an inferior product on the court.

There are obvious economic reasons for the current reality. Young men have immediate access to huge professional salaries. The average N.B.A. salary is more than $10 million. The W.N.B.A. average barely tops $100,000. It’s financially irrational for a young man to stay in the N.C.A.A. when vast wealth awaits him for turning pro. But the cost to the N.C.A.A. and the N.B.A. is real. If players stayed, college ball would benefit from having better play on the court, and pro ball would benefit from drafting players who are already household names and bring a fan base with them into the league.

With the advent of compensation for name, image and likeness, one wonders: Can the N.B.A. and the N.C.A.A. recreate that Caitlin Clark magic, but for men? Let’s have the players stay in college longer, compensate them fairly while they’re in school, and then let them loose on the N.B.A. after they’ve built their game and their name. The women have shown the way.

Ross Douthat

Pope Francis Finds a Limit to His Liberalism

“How Far Can You Go?” is the title of a novel by David Lodge, published in 1980 and portraying the lives of young English Catholics from the 1950s through the Second Vatican Council and its aftermath. The titular question refers to both sex and faith — what kinds of intimacy are allowed to Catholic couples before marriage, and what remains of belief after a period of dramatic religious change?

Lodge’s title could also usefully refer to the pontificate of Pope Francis, whose style has been to consistently push at the boundaries of his office, testing how far a pope can go in altering Catholic teaching.

Can divorced and remarried Catholics receive communion without an annulment? Sometimes, maybe, no: It depends on how you interpret a papal footnote. Is the death penalty intrinsically immoral? Almost certainly, but with just a tiny bit of wiggle room to preserve continuity with the church’s past teachings. Can same-sex couples receive a blessing? Well, you see, it depends on the meaning of “blessing” and “couple”….

In the first two cases, divorce and the death penalty, the pope’s pushing and prodding mostly survived objections from the church’s conservatives. In the third case, the recent document that maybe, sort-of allowed for blessings of gay couples, his fingers got burned; there was a conspicuous revolt by bishops worldwide (not just his reliable foils among American conservatives), a hasty attempt at clarification and water-calming, and a sense that the pope had gone too far.

That’s the background for the Vatican document issued on Monday on human dignity, Dignitas Infinita , apparently many years in the making but probably not coincidentally timed to the current moment in the Francis papacy. The document is prolix enough to contain multitudes, but it comes across as an unusually sharp condemnation of transgender identity, surrogacy and abortion, a clearer-than-usual line against developments in progressive thought and culture.

It’s still very much a Francis-era document: His condemnation of the death penalty is especially emphasized, his rhetoric of inclusion and critiques of anti-gay discrimination are still present. But the fact that it’s attracted more praise from conservative-leaning theologians and more disappointment or “whiplash” from groups seeking changes around issues of sexuality is pretty clearly an intended outcome.

Francis has spent years balancing between conservatives and progressives but favoring the latter. This document puts a limit to that favoritism, a this-far-no-further, at least when it comes what the Vatican teaches. What it will tolerate, from the more liberal branches of the church especially, is the key question that remainder of his pontificate will answer.

Neel V. Patel

The Greatest Lesson of the Solar Eclipse

Six years as a space reporter taught me that chaos reigns supreme. I have watched enough go wrong to know no mission or any view of a celestial event is ever truly promised to us terrestrial observers.

So when my mother and I decided to drive out to Erie, Pa., to see Monday’s solar eclipse within the path of totality, I knew this would be a trip of two clashing attitudes. I’d be pessimistic about the weather and convinced we’d be victims of the randomness that governs the world; my mom would have strong faith that order would triumph and the skies would let us glimpse an eclipse like this for the first time in our lives. I told her not to count on the universe for this one; she told me she wouldn’t count on anything else.

I was once again humbled into a lesson I’ve learned time and time again: Mama knows best. Erie’s forecast this morning was looking abysmal, but by the time first contact began a little after 2 p.m., the clouds over the city’s bay front began to disperse. The pale yellow sun under the eclipse lenses rapidly crested, concentrating into a fierce orange glow.

Totality struck at 3:16 p.m. A thin white glow pierced out from the edge of a clean black circle. The colors of the sunset eerily bloomed in the distance. Clamoring sea gulls took a haphazard flight. I could spot solar prominences (regions of intense magnetism) jutting from the sides of the sun in tiny hints of bright red and pink. Jupiter and Venus made cameos. It felt like bearing witness to something close to a miracle.

Four minutes later, totality ended. The sun brightened again. And the clouds returned with a vengeance, swallowing up the moon and the sun and sky in gray. But for four incredible minutes, the universe seems to have made good on a promise to my mother.

Zeynep Tufekci

To Remember the Eclipse, Share It With Someone Close

I remember fairly little of the celestial details of my first total solar eclipse, which I saw with my mother and brother. Even so, my memory of that day is indelible.

My brother and I had some qualms about making the trip. My mother’s alcoholism wasn’t stable at all — she could be all smiles, charming and funny, and she’d disappear for three minutes and chug vodka straight out of the bottle. But somehow, the day of the eclipse went beautifully. It was the last time I saw my mother when she was happy, with family, outdoors and sober.

All that got overshadowed when just one week later there was a major earthquake in Izmit, Turkey, near a town I had spent many years in as a child. I traveled to the region and spent two weeks pulling people from the rubble. Tens of thousands had died.

Just three months later, my mother was found dead. I rushed back to Istanbul to comfort my grandmother and for the funeral. While I was in my mother’s flat, I felt another rumble. It turned out to be a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Duzce , Turkey. I went there too, but I didn’t stay long.

Now whenever I see photos of rubble or pancaked buildings from an earthquake, I smell the unmistakable stench of corpses trapped in the wreckage, rotting in the summer sun. A hallucination, but of smell.

Last Friday, amid preparations for another trip to see the eclipse, again with my family, I felt another rumble. An unexpected earthquake, this time in New York City, my home.

There are many theories and superstitions about eclipses and earthquakes that geologists don’t put much stock in, but in my case, there had been a very personal triad of eclipse, earthquake and death. I was rattled.

Later, I made tea and spinach pastries, an afternoon ritual that reminds me of my grandmother. Then it hit me. I was trying to clear one association in my head — the eclipse-earthquake-tragedy triad — with another one, my grandmother’s love.

What else is life but building good associations to chase away the bad?

It’s corny but it’s true: It’s not the events themselves that matter but who we are with to share the wonder of how the sun and the moon align to cast an enchanting shadow on our miraculous planet full of life.

Gail Collins

Trump Takes Another Position on Abortion … but It’s Only Monday

Donald Trump now says he wants to leave abortion up to the states. People, would you say this is:

A. His third position on abortion

B. His fifth position on abortion

C. Somewhere from fifth to 47th.

Yeah, definitely in the whole-bunch arena. Back in the day, he thought it was a woman’s right. “I’m very pro-choice,” he said in 1999 . He wouldn’t even denounce those late-term, “partial birth” abortions that people were yelling about at the time. “I hate the concept of abortion,” he said, “but still, I just believe in choice.”

He did, like almost all the folks he’d hung out with in his New York celebrity-keen prepolitics life. But once he started running for president, Trump seemed to notice that people at right-wing political gatherings put ending abortion very, very high on their priority lists.

Suddenly he was a believer; he bragged that his Supreme Court nominations were going to turn the law around. And gee whiz, they did.

Thanks to Trump, there’s no national protection of a woman’s right to choose. The states have started to do their own things, and as abortion access dwindled, Trump discovered that — new surprise! — Republicans were losing elections over the issue. It’s arguably one of the top reasons the House of Representatives, which was supposed to get a big influx of Republicans in 2022, wound up split almost down the middle. Trump’s party now has a majority thinning faster than his hair.

He was reportedly considering a national abortion ban as recently as February and hasn’t ruled out signing one. What else could he do now? How about … try to push the whole issue onto the state legislatures?

Think about this. Maybe, like many Trump Republicans, you believe that human life has to be protected from the moment of conception. Maybe, like many, many other Americans, you believe a decision about continuing or ending pregnancy should be a woman’s personal, private issue.

Or maybe you believe it should all boil down to the state representative from East Kumquat, who chairs one particular subcommittee.

Not that one? Tell it to Donald. I’m sure he’s open to a mind change.

Not Everybody in the Zone of Totality Wants to Rip You Off

Susan and Martin Cherry were perfectly placed to cash in on Monday’s eclipse. Their Cherry House Bed and Breakfast in St. Johnsbury, Vt., is in the zone of totality. They’ve known an eclipse was coming since 2017. When people started inquiring years ago about reservations for April 7 and 8, 2024, they knew exactly why.

So they raised their rates … not a penny.

“Not a bit. Not even a little,” Susan Cherry told me. “We don’t think we should make anybody else pay extra for something that’s going to be absolutely phenomenal.”

Journalists have collected lots of stories about crazy-high rates for lodging in the zone of totality. The Times reported last week on a Super 8 in Grayville, Ill., that was advertising a room for $949 a night for Sunday to Tuesday, 10 times the usual nightly rate.

But it turns out the Cherrys aren’t so unusual in failing to exploit the profit opportunity that fell from the sky into their laps. According to AirDNA, which tracks the posted rates by property owners on Airbnb and VRBO, as of last week the average daily rate for bookings for the eclipse was up only 20.5 percent from the same time a year ago, adjusting for time of week.

I asked Jamie Lane, AirDNA’s chief economist, why lodging owners are leaving $100 bills on the sidewalk. Nothing new, he said: “Most people don’t adjust their rates a lot in response to changes in demand.”

I asked him whether some lodging owners filled up their rooms at the standard rate before they realized why April 7 and April 8 were so popular. Lane said that explanation makes sense to him. “Something as obscure as a celestial event I think caught people off guard,” he said.

That doesn’t explain the Cherrys’ pricing decision, though, since they did know about the eclipse. Maybe, then, the explanation is altruism, or something else that economics doesn’t account for very well. “It’s a personal thing,” Susan Cherry told me. “We want to be affordable.”

Patrick Healy

Deputy Opinion Editor

Congress Is Back. Three Reasons That’s Good for Biden.

Every Monday morning on The Point, we kick off the week with a tipsheet on the latest in the presidential campaign. Here’s what we’re looking at this week:

Congress is back in session after a two-week Easter break, with a bunch of issues that I think, if played correctly, will help President Biden more than Donald Trump in the 2024 race. Why? Most swing voters and independents ultimately prefer leaders who act like adults, not children, and who pursue America’s long-term interests, not short-term partisan politics. That should benefit Biden if he and his team can get swing voters to listen to them and to see Capitol Hill Republicans as focused on silly sideshows rather than serious statesmanship.

House Republicans may have to deal with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to oust Speaker Mike Johnson , just six months after a few conservatives toppled the party’s last speaker, Kevin McCarthy. Many Republicans dismiss Greene’s attempt as an empty threat , but that’s what some people said at first about Representative Matt Gaetz’s efforts to remove McCarthy. Even if Greene stands down this week, she could revive her threat to Johnson (Gaetz gave McCarthy heartburn for months), letting Biden appear to be the adult in D.C.

On Wednesday the House will send articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate, and Democrats will probably dismiss it quickly, defusing the spectacle. Biden’s team will frame Republicans as more interested in the sideshow, though he will still be vulnerable to any rise in illegal crossings and security chaos at the border this summer.

The House and Senate will soon have to sort out military assistance to Ukraine and Israel. Biden has positioned himself as a one-man American bulwark for democracy against Vladimir Putin. I think Biden has a more appealing pitch to independents and swing voters as the man who stood with Ukraine than Trump will have as the man who … stood with Putin? I’ve interviewed a lot of independent voters in my five presidential races; all but surrendering Ukraine to Putin is not a winning message with most of them.

As we pass the six-month mark since Oct. 7, Israel is the big challenge for Biden. Whatever Congress does on military aid to Israel will matter less, I think, than whether Biden pauses, stops or puts conditions on the 2,000-pound bombs, F-15 fighter jets and other munitions that the United States is transferring to Israel.

In last week’s tipsheet, I asked whether swing voters had stopped listening to Biden. I think more of them will listen to him if Capitol Hill Republicans prove to be, in the words of Logan Roy, “ not serious people .”

Speaking of which: Trump will have his final pre-criminal-trial campaign rally on Saturday night in Schnecksville, Pa., outside Allentown. More on that next Monday.