Why Crimea is so important in the Russia-Ukraine war
A series of blasts at Russian military sites in Crimea this month has put a spotlight on the contested peninsula, which until now had been spared the heavy fighting of the nearly six-month-long war in Ukraine.
Crimea is a symbolic and strategic asset in the war. Crimea served as a southern staging ground for Moscow’s February invasion of Ukraine. Its city of Sevastopol is home to a key port that provides Moscow access to the Mediterranean and is the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. It helped Russia maintain its wartime naval blockade that halted trade at Ukrainian ports.
Read the full story here.
A series of blasts at Russian military sites in Crimea this month has put a spotlight on the contested peninsula, which until now had been spared the heavy fighting of the nearly six-month-long war in Ukraine.
Crimea is a symbolic and strategic asset in the war. Crimea served as a southern staging ground for Moscow’s February invasion of Ukraine. Its city of Sevastopol is home to a key port that provides Moscow access to the Mediterranean and is the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. It helped Russia maintain its wartime naval blockade that halted trade at Ukrainian ports.
Read the full story here.
Putin revives Soviet ‘Mother Heroine’ award for women who have 10 children
Faced with a worrisome decline in Russia’s population, President Vladimir Putin this week revived a Soviet-era award launched in 1944, to encourage Russians to supersize their families.
The “Mother Heroine” award published in a decree on Monday goes to women who bear 10 or more children, offering financial incentives and social kudos in a bid to spur population growth.
The honorary medal was first established by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union and given to about 400,000 citizens, according to Russian media. The revived award will offer Russian citizens a one-time payment of 1 million rubles ($16,500) after their 10th child turns 1 year old — and only if the other nine children have all survived.
No mention of the war in Ukraine was linked to the medal.
Read the full story here.
Faced with a worrisome decline in Russia’s population, President Vladimir Putin this week revived a Soviet-era award launched in 1944, to encourage Russians to supersize their families.
The “Mother Heroine” award published in a decree on Monday goes to women who bear 10 or more children, offering financial incentives and social kudos in a bid to spur population growth.
The honorary medal was first established by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union and given to about 400,000 citizens, according to Russian media. The revived award will offer Russian citizens a one-time payment of 1 million rubles ($16,500) after their 10th child turns 1 year old — and only if the other nine children have all survived.
No mention of the war in Ukraine was linked to the medal.
Read the full story here.
In Ukraine, a Russian mercenary group steps out of the shadows
For years, the Wagner private military company has done Moscow’s dirty work in eastern Ukraine, Libya, Syria and parts of Africa. The Kremlin always officially denied any relationship with Wagner, whose soldiers for hire have been accused of massacres and other human rights violations.
But now, Wagner and its mercenaries have suddenly emerged from the shadows in the Ukraine war, openly celebrated on Russian state media and lauded as heroes of Putin’s bloody invasion. A recent special report on the most-watched state TV channel trumpeted the group’s gains on the Ukrainian front lines — an unthinkable acknowledgment of Wagner even a few months ago.
Pro-Kremlin reporters lionize the members of the group, named for the right-wing German composer Richard Wagner, as “musicians” in an “orchestra.” Wagner is using glitzy advertising across Russia to sign up new members. Its efforts include recruitment campaigns in prisons.
Read the full story here.
For years, the Wagner private military company has done Moscow’s dirty work in eastern Ukraine, Libya, Syria and parts of Africa. The Kremlin always officially denied any relationship with Wagner, whose soldiers for hire have been accused of massacres and other human rights violations.
But now, Wagner and its mercenaries have suddenly emerged from the shadows in the Ukraine war, openly celebrated on Russian state media and lauded as heroes of Putin’s bloody invasion. A recent special report on the most-watched state TV channel trumpeted the group’s gains on the Ukrainian front lines — an unthinkable acknowledgment of Wagner even a few months ago.
Pro-Kremlin reporters lionize the members of the group, named for the right-wing German composer Richard Wagner, as “musicians” in an “orchestra.” Wagner is using glitzy advertising across Russia to sign up new members. Its efforts include recruitment campaigns in prisons.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Drone attacks, including one on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, were reported in Crimea on Saturday.
- Russian officials in Crimea are considering “strengthening security” on the peninsula amid the attacks, according to the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War, with forces there on “high alert.”
- The daughter of key Putin adviser Alexander Dugin was killed in an explosion Saturday night in the Moscow region, according to Russia’s state-run media outlet Tass.
- The city of Kharkiv will be under curfew all day on Ukrainian Independence Day, said its regional governor, Oleh Synyehubov. Starting Monday, the nightly curfew in Ukraine’s second-largest city will run from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and this week, it will also run from Tuesday night to Thursday morning.
More live updates here.
- Drone attacks, including one on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, were reported in Crimea on Saturday.
- Russian officials in Crimea are considering “strengthening security” on the peninsula amid the attacks, according to the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War, with forces there on “high alert.”
- The daughter of key Putin adviser Alexander Dugin was killed in an explosion Saturday night in the Moscow region, according to Russia’s state-run media outlet Tass.
- The city of Kharkiv will be under curfew all day on Ukrainian Independence Day, said its regional governor, Oleh Synyehubov. Starting Monday, the nightly curfew in Ukraine’s second-largest city will run from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., and this week, it will also run from Tuesday night to Thursday morning.
More live updates here.
War? Ordinary life? In Ukraine, it depends on where you call home.
KHARKIV — The two bartenders work for the same Ukrainian chain. But their lives are starkly different.
Vladyslav Nazarenko is in Kharkiv, about 30 miles from the Russian border. Here the 21-year-old can’t shake the fear of a Russian rocket or missile attack. His bar is one of the few open in the eerily quiet city, which Moscow bombarded in the spring and still strikes nightly.
“It’s life,” he said.
Pashchenko Denys is in Kyiv, Ukraine’s bustling capital, far from the front lines. There the 22-year-old serves a constant stream of customers looking to laugh and relax — up until the city’s 11 p.m. curfew.
“The war is ongoing,” he said. “But Kyiv continues to live.”
Nearly six months after Russia invaded, many Ukrainians are living — and struggling — with these split-screen realities.
Read the full story here.
KHARKIV — The two bartenders work for the same Ukrainian chain. But their lives are starkly different.
Vladyslav Nazarenko is in Kharkiv, about 30 miles from the Russian border. Here the 21-year-old can’t shake the fear of a Russian rocket or missile attack. His bar is one of the few open in the eerily quiet city, which Moscow bombarded in the spring and still strikes nightly.
“It’s life,” he said.
Pashchenko Denys is in Kyiv, Ukraine’s bustling capital, far from the front lines. There the 22-year-old serves a constant stream of customers looking to laugh and relax — up until the city’s 11 p.m. curfew.
“The war is ongoing,” he said. “But Kyiv continues to live.”
Nearly six months after Russia invaded, many Ukrainians are living — and struggling — with these split-screen realities.
Read the full story here.
Americans are paying for slogans on bombs aimed at Russians
KYIV, Ukraine — At a military position near the front line, members of a Ukrainian military unit snickered as a soldier with tattooed arms scrawled a phallic symbol on an artillery shell designed for an M777 howitzer cannon.
At a separate position, a Ukrainian soldier loaded a shell that read “Hello from Texas” into a medium-range cannon. Seconds before it fired with a loud boom, the operator announced, “from Texas” in a gleeful Slavic accent.
The emergence of slogans and symbols emblazoned on U.S.-made artillery — originally a creative outlet for Ukrainian soldiers serving in the country’s east — has become a growing and lucrative fundraising tactic for Ukrainians in the nearly six-month war.
Local crowdfunding websites have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the war effort since Russia invaded on Feb. 24.
Read the full story here.
KYIV, Ukraine — At a military position near the front line, members of a Ukrainian military unit snickered as a soldier with tattooed arms scrawled a phallic symbol on an artillery shell designed for an M777 howitzer cannon.
At a separate position, a Ukrainian soldier loaded a shell that read “Hello from Texas” into a medium-range cannon. Seconds before it fired with a loud boom, the operator announced, “from Texas” in a gleeful Slavic accent.
The emergence of slogans and symbols emblazoned on U.S.-made artillery — originally a creative outlet for Ukrainian soldiers serving in the country’s east — has become a growing and lucrative fundraising tactic for Ukrainians in the nearly six-month war.
Local crowdfunding websites have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the war effort since Russia invaded on Feb. 24.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has drawn another red line in potential negotiations with Moscow to end the war. Russian-backed authorities are reportedly planning to hold a trial on Aug. 24 — Ukraine’s Independence Day — for the fighters captured during their final defense of the Azovstal steel plant in the battle for Mariupol.
- Zelensky warned of stepped up strikes from Moscow as Kyiv prepares to celebrate Independence Day this week.
- A number of theories, as yet unsubstantiated, are circulating about the cause of a car bomb that killed the daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin outside Moscow on Saturday. It could create a flash point, even as Ukrainian officials denied any involvement in the blast.
- Authorities in areas occupied by Kremlin forces have “intensified filtration measures and abductions” in the lead-up to Ukraine’s Independence Day, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a D.C.-based think tank.
More live updates here.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has drawn another red line in potential negotiations with Moscow to end the war. Russian-backed authorities are reportedly planning to hold a trial on Aug. 24 — Ukraine’s Independence Day — for the fighters captured during their final defense of the Azovstal steel plant in the battle for Mariupol.
- Zelensky warned of stepped up strikes from Moscow as Kyiv prepares to celebrate Independence Day this week.
- A number of theories, as yet unsubstantiated, are circulating about the cause of a car bomb that killed the daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin outside Moscow on Saturday. It could create a flash point, even as Ukrainian officials denied any involvement in the blast.
- Authorities in areas occupied by Kremlin forces have “intensified filtration measures and abductions” in the lead-up to Ukraine’s Independence Day, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a D.C.-based think tank.
More live updates here.
Car explosion kills daughter of Putin ally Alexander Dugin, Russia says
The daughter of Alexander Dugin, a far-right Russian nationalist who helped shape the Kremlin’s narrative about Ukraine, was killed Saturday when the car she was driving exploded near Moscow, according to Russia’s main investigative authority.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was looking into the incident and had opened a criminal murder case.
A Toyota Land Cruiser “went off at full speed on a public highway” and caught fire, it said, after an “explosive device planted under the bottom of the car on the driver’s side” blew up. The driver, identified by the committee as “journalist and political scientist Daria Dugina,” died at the scene. It said early evidence pointed to “a murder for hire.”
Read the full story here.
The daughter of Alexander Dugin, a far-right Russian nationalist who helped shape the Kremlin’s narrative about Ukraine, was killed Saturday when the car she was driving exploded near Moscow, according to Russia’s main investigative authority.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was looking into the incident and had opened a criminal murder case.
A Toyota Land Cruiser “went off at full speed on a public highway” and caught fire, it said, after an “explosive device planted under the bottom of the car on the driver’s side” blew up. The driver, identified by the committee as “journalist and political scientist Daria Dugina,” died at the scene. It said early evidence pointed to “a murder for hire.”
Read the full story here.
A Putin ally’s daughter was killed near Russia’s capital: What to know
The daughter of Alexander Dugin, a Russian nationalist and self-styled philosopher whose ideas helped shape the Kremlin’s narrative about Ukraine, was killed in a car explosion near Moscow on Saturday night, in what Russian investigative authorities said looked like a “murder for hire.”
The incident already appears poised to become a flash point, as pro-Russian factions blame Ukraine without evidence — and Ukrainian officials deny any involvement.
Daria Dugina, 29, was driving her father’s car from a festival they both attended when the blast occurred, engulfing the car in flames. Some outside analysts and friends of the family suspect that Dugin was the real target.
Read the full story here.
The daughter of Alexander Dugin, a Russian nationalist and self-styled philosopher whose ideas helped shape the Kremlin’s narrative about Ukraine, was killed in a car explosion near Moscow on Saturday night, in what Russian investigative authorities said looked like a “murder for hire.”
The incident already appears poised to become a flash point, as pro-Russian factions blame Ukraine without evidence — and Ukrainian officials deny any involvement.
Daria Dugina, 29, was driving her father’s car from a festival they both attended when the blast occurred, engulfing the car in flames. Some outside analysts and friends of the family suspect that Dugin was the real target.
Read the full story here.
Russia blames Ukraine for car explosion that killed Putin ally’s daughter
Russia blamed Ukraine for a car explosion that killed the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a Russian nationalist and fervent ideological ally of President Vladimir Putin, prompting Dugin to issue a statement calling for military “victory” as vengeance — an exhortation that could lead to an escalation in the war.
“Our hearts yearn for more than just revenge or retribution,” Dugin said in the statement. “It’s too small, not the Russian style. We only need our Victory. My daughter laid her maiden life on its altar. So win, please!” In the statement, which portrayed Russians as victims rather than the aggressor-invaders perpetrating a war, Dugin called the bombing that killed his daughter, Daria Dugina, “a terrorist attack carried out by the Nazi Ukrainian regime.”
Read the full story here.
Russia blamed Ukraine for a car explosion that killed the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a Russian nationalist and fervent ideological ally of President Vladimir Putin, prompting Dugin to issue a statement calling for military “victory” as vengeance — an exhortation that could lead to an escalation in the war.
“Our hearts yearn for more than just revenge or retribution,” Dugin said in the statement. “It’s too small, not the Russian style. We only need our Victory. My daughter laid her maiden life on its altar. So win, please!” In the statement, which portrayed Russians as victims rather than the aggressor-invaders perpetrating a war, Dugin called the bombing that killed his daughter, Daria Dugina, “a terrorist attack carried out by the Nazi Ukrainian regime.”
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine.
- The FSB claimed that “Ukrainian special services” killed Dugina outside Moscow.
- Dugin called the bombing that killed his daughter “a terrorist attack carried out by the Nazi Ukrainian regime.”
- This week marks six months since the Russian invasion, with no end in sight.
- Despite a request by Zelensky, the United States won’t impose a total ban on Russian visas, a State Department spokesperson said Monday.
- Zelensky drew another red line in potential negotiations with Moscow to end the war.
- Russia’s State Duma is set to hold a special meeting on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Thursday.
- Nearly 1,000 children have been confirmed killed or injured since the war began in Ukraine, UNICEF Director Catherine Russell said.
More live updates here.
- The FSB claimed that “Ukrainian special services” killed Dugina outside Moscow.
- Dugin called the bombing that killed his daughter “a terrorist attack carried out by the Nazi Ukrainian regime.”
- This week marks six months since the Russian invasion, with no end in sight.
- Despite a request by Zelensky, the United States won’t impose a total ban on Russian visas, a State Department spokesperson said Monday.
- Zelensky drew another red line in potential negotiations with Moscow to end the war.
- Russia’s State Duma is set to hold a special meeting on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Thursday.
- Nearly 1,000 children have been confirmed killed or injured since the war began in Ukraine, UNICEF Director Catherine Russell said.
More live updates here.
Car-bomb killing sows unease among cheerleaders of Putin’s war
A top Russia propagandist who cheerleads for the war against Ukraine was walking in a Moscow park this weekend when one of her personal security guards sprinted ahead, alarmed by a child’s ball on a nearby bench. It could have been a bomb.
“If I had the task of eliminating you, I would have done just that — I would have put just a ball along your path,” the bodyguard told Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of the state-owned RT television network who recounted the episode on Telegram.
Hours after Simonyan’s park stroll, another strident pro-war propagandist, Daria Dugina, was killed by a car bomb in a Moscow suburb. The daughter of far-right nationalist Alexander Dugin died in a fiery blast near one of the most exclusive enclaves for the capital’s powerful, wealthy elite.
Read the full story here.
A top Russia propagandist who cheerleads for the war against Ukraine was walking in a Moscow park this weekend when one of her personal security guards sprinted ahead, alarmed by a child’s ball on a nearby bench. It could have been a bomb.
“If I had the task of eliminating you, I would have done just that — I would have put just a ball along your path,” the bodyguard told Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of the state-owned RT television network who recounted the episode on Telegram.
Hours after Simonyan’s park stroll, another strident pro-war propagandist, Daria Dugina, was killed by a car bomb in a Moscow suburb. The daughter of far-right nationalist Alexander Dugin died in a fiery blast near one of the most exclusive enclaves for the capital’s powerful, wealthy elite.
Read the full story here.
Analysis: Six months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the world is on a knife edge
This week marks six months since the start of Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine. The resulting war has dominated international headlines, disrupted global supply chains and galvanized a new spirit of solidarity in the West. For many Europeans, the moment marked a “turning point in history” — as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared in the early weeks of the conflict.
The stark moral dimensions of the war — the brazen, destructive Russian advance and the courageous Ukrainian response — led to the scales falling off the eyes of European elites who had sought peaceful accommodation with Russia. What was unleashed was on a scale not seen in the heart of Europe in decades. It definitively ended, as the New Statesman’s Jeremy Cliffe wrote, “the easy optimism of the immediate post-Cold War years.” But, he added, even as we drift “towards something new,” its contours are “still hazy.”
Read the full analysis here.
This week marks six months since the start of Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine. The resulting war has dominated international headlines, disrupted global supply chains and galvanized a new spirit of solidarity in the West. For many Europeans, the moment marked a “turning point in history” — as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared in the early weeks of the conflict.
The stark moral dimensions of the war — the brazen, destructive Russian advance and the courageous Ukrainian response — led to the scales falling off the eyes of European elites who had sought peaceful accommodation with Russia. What was unleashed was on a scale not seen in the heart of Europe in decades. It definitively ended, as the New Statesman’s Jeremy Cliffe wrote, “the easy optimism of the immediate post-Cold War years.” But, he added, even as we drift “towards something new,” its contours are “still hazy.”
Read the full analysis here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Russia is preparing to launch more strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv warned ahead of Ukrainian Independence Day on Wednesday.
- Kyiv banned public Independence Day celebrations in the capital this week, citing heightened risks of attack.
- Alexander Dugin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, called for “more than just revenge” after his daughter, Daria Dugina, editor of a Russian disinformation website, was killed in a car explosion outside Moscow on Saturday.
- Russia has used almost 3,500 cruise missiles against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Monday.
Read the full story here.
- Russia is preparing to launch more strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv warned ahead of Ukrainian Independence Day on Wednesday.
- Kyiv banned public Independence Day celebrations in the capital this week, citing heightened risks of attack.
- Alexander Dugin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, called for “more than just revenge” after his daughter, Daria Dugina, editor of a Russian disinformation website, was killed in a car explosion outside Moscow on Saturday.
- Russia has used almost 3,500 cruise missiles against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Monday.
Read the full story here.
Russians at Daria Dugina memorial call for victory over Ukraine
Russians on Tuesday bade farewell to Daria Dugina, daughter of far-right ideologue Alexander Dugin, as calls grew in Russia for a tougher approach in the war against Ukraine, and the United States Department warned that Moscow would likely step up attacks on civilian targets and government institutions in coming days.
The ceremony reinforced calls from Russian hawks for the country to take stronger action to crush Ukrainian resistance.
Dugina died Saturday in a car-bomb attack in central Moscow, which Russia’s security service, the FSB, blamed on Ukraine’s security service Monday. Ukrainian officials have denied the attack, calling it the result of internal Russian struggles.
Read the full story here.
Russians on Tuesday bade farewell to Daria Dugina, daughter of far-right ideologue Alexander Dugin, as calls grew in Russia for a tougher approach in the war against Ukraine, and the United States Department warned that Moscow would likely step up attacks on civilian targets and government institutions in coming days.
The ceremony reinforced calls from Russian hawks for the country to take stronger action to crush Ukrainian resistance.
Dugina died Saturday in a car-bomb attack in central Moscow, which Russia’s security service, the FSB, blamed on Ukraine’s security service Monday. Ukrainian officials have denied the attack, calling it the result of internal Russian struggles.
Read the full story here.