Between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, the number of Russians classified by the Russian government as poor rose by 8.5 million, according to Russian government statistics, Maksim Blant of Radio Liberty reports (svoboda.org/a/armiya-bednyh-kak-voyna-vliyaet-na-urovenj-zhizni-rossiyan/31895963.html).
Russia claimed control Sunday over the last Ukrainian stronghold in an eastern province that is key to achieving a major goal of Moscow’s grinding war.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s military reported that its forces had withdrawn from Lysychansk in Luhansk province. President Volodymr Zelenskyy acknowledged the withdrawal but said the fight for the city was still raging on its outskirts.
Ukraine has asked Turkey to detain a Russian-flagged cargo ship it says is carrying Ukrainian wheat. The Russian-flagged cargo ship Zhibek Zholy is carrying 4,500 metric tons of Ukrainian grain taken from the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk, Ukraine’s foreign ministry has charged, according to Reuters. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office has charged that the cargo ship is carrying 7,000 metric tons of cargo and is heading to the port at Karasu, Turkey.
As Russia’s second invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth month, a significant date has recently passed in another country — Belarus. May 23 marked one year since Belarusian authorities hijacked a commercial Ryanair flight transporting passengers, including Belarusian opposition figure Roman Protasevich, from Athens to Vilnius. While the incident may have faded from popular memory in some parts of the world, the situation in Belarus and on its borders is still top of mind for its regional neighbors in the Baltic countries. Trapped between its desire to diversify partnerships and its alignment with its single supporter, Russia, Belarus has pursued toxic policies that have brought new security challenges to the Baltic region.
Migrant crisis: Testing the resilience of the Baltic countries and the solidarity of the EU
Ever since Russian troops first crossed the Ukrainian border on February 24, the Kremlin has employed characteristically euphemistic language in order to downplay the criminal nature of the unfolding invasion. This has led to the creation of an entire alternative reality where Russian troops are noble liberators waging a chivalrous campaign against dastardly Ukrainian Nazis who bomb themselves and stage fake atrocities by massacring their own civilian population.
Since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the United States and Europe have deployed tools of economic warfare with the explicit goal of crippling the Russian economy and rendering the Kremlin unable to wage its war of aggression. The alacrity and scale of the Western response—which has included freezing Russia’s foreign-currency reserves, cutting off many Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system, and coordinating export controls—shook the foundations of the Russian economy.
Cholera outbreaks in Ukrainian cities whose infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian forces has already attracted attention, but Natalya Vinograd, a Lviv epidemiologist warns that there are risks of tetanus and typhoid epidemics there as well for the same reason.
It’s impossible for either side to see, but Russia and NATO depend on each other.
Whichever side you’re on, you
Sticking to US President Joe Biden’s public pledge to “stay the course,” the White House has made clear both publicly and privately that it intends to sustain and even intensify its support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia. While military support remains the critical pillar of Western policy, especially in the short term, economic pressure is key to the longer-term goal of isolating Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Accounts from MSF’s patients reveal how children and elderly people are affected by heavy weaponry and indiscriminate attacks.
The war in Ukraine is indiscriminately harming civilians who are struck by heavy weaponry in their homes, shelters, and evacuation routes, according to a report released today by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which is based on the experiences of patients that the organization has evacuated from eastern Ukraine by train.