#russia-war

#russia-war

Papperger dismissed the work of Ukrainian drone makers as child's play, stating, 'This is how to play with Legos.' His comments were met with outrage from Ukrainian officials.

In 2021, when Olga Rudenko and other journalists launched the Kyiv Independent, they were committed to making a publication that wouldn't face political pressure from an owner. A few months later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the Independent began reporting breaking news from the front lines.

So we have sanctions on some countries. We're going to take those sanctions off until the strait [of Hormuz] is up. He declined to provide further details. The move could mean a further easing of sanctions on Russian oil, Reuters reported, citing multiple sources, which in turn could complicate efforts to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine.

What many in the West perceived as a strategic blunder is increasingly seen in Moscow as a costly but necessary and ultimately successful gamble. As the all-out war in Ukraine enters its fifth year, Russian political elites remain convinced that their leader, Vladimir Putin, did not make a grave error by launching it in February 2022. Instead, they are looking back with a sense of achievement, and they have good reason to believe that the war is ending on their terms, perhaps even soon.

Ukraine's air force said Moscow launched 50 ballistic and cruise missiles and 297 drones overnight, the majority of which were intercepted. Moscow continues to invest in strikes more than in diplomacy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that this past week alone, Russia launched more than 1,300 drones, more than 1,400 guided aerial bombs and 96 missiles against Ukraine. The president added that Sunday's attacks targeted the Dnipro, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Poltava and Sumy regions.

Vladimir Putin is trapped. Despite staggering losses and mounting international pressure, the Russian President shows no sign of ending the war in Ukraine - and experts say he likely can't. The Kremlin's grip on power depends on projecting strength. Analysts warn that any attempt to pull back would be seen as weakness, sparking unrest among elites and ordinary Russians alike. "For Putin, capitulation isn't an option," said a senior European security source. "Backing down would be political suicide."

"pseudo-historical."

A 52-year-old woman died in hospital after being injured by Russian shelling in the Dniprovskyi district of Ukraine's Kherson region, the regional prosecutor's office wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Ukraine's Ukrinform news agency said Russian forces dropped 768 guided missiles and high-explosive aerial bombs over the past 10 days in areas of Ukraine's Donetsk region still controlled by Ukrainian authorities, destroying almost all remaining infrastructure, according to the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Vadym Filashkin.