Notes

Are we heading for World War Three? Experts give their verdicts
In recent days, US President Joe Biden made a significant visit to the capital Kyiv, showing his full support for Ukraine and President Zelensky. When they first invaded, Russia's bigger and more powerful army was expected to have a much greater impact, but so far, the Ukrainian forces have managed to push them back in lots of areas. It is very hard to measure the total impact the war has had, but there have been many casualties and parts of the country will need totally rebuilding. However, power lines are often damaged during air strikes and electricity blackouts are common. For millions of children, staying in their home towns was not possible due to the Russian invasion. One year later, the war is still going on, and millions of children have been affected, with homes, public facilities and school buildings destroyed.

"Law enforcement agencies and special services are working at the scene," he wrote. A spate of Ukraine-linked attacks on Russia's oil infrastructure have reportedly led Moscow's energy ministry to propose restricting flights over energy facilities. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) is a military alliance of countries which includes the US and the UK. Today, all prominent Russian opposition figures are either in custody, dead or in exile. My daily walks were my way of saying goodbye to a world, and perhaps even a country, that could never be the same again. Meanwhile Russia's currency, the rouble, fell to an all-time low against the dollar and the euro.
People I met in the park wondered whether the statue had been the intended target, or whether the missile had been meant to hit a nearby government installation, and been downed by an air-defense missile? On https://etextpad.com/tr2bkudgxt , fragments had struck the façade of a neoclassical building that once housed Ukraine’s first sovereign Congress, during a previous, short-lived attempt at independence, just before the country’s absorption by the Soviet Union. The hits on two symbols of Ukrainian sovereignty struck many as not coincidental.

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 698
The gloves are off, the pretences dropped, diplomacy is dead - at least for now. Ukraine is under full-scale Russian invasion and is fighting for its very survival. It is not clear exactly how many refugees have travelled to the UK, but recent government figures show around 160,000 Ukrainian refugees have officially settled here.

The fact that the majority of Russians tune in to TV news means they are inclined to at least hear the Kremlin's message - and possibly believe it. About 10 civilians are believed to have been killed, including six in an air strike in Brovary near the capital Kyiv. Lithuania will consider cases individually, but the prime minister clarified that it was "not the duty of other countries to save Russians fleeing mobilisation". Phillips P OBrien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, wrote in an analysis piece that the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House could see the US "neuter" the Western military alliance. Russia did not want to occupy Ukraine, he said, but would demilitarise and "de-Nazify" the country. Hundreds of thousands of Russians have left Russia, including me and my BBC Russian colleagues.
This could see states like Poland and the Baltics decide to aid Ukraine on their own, which "might leave NATO's eastern front vulnerable and cause a crisis within the EU and European NATO". "The nightmare scenario would be that the states close to Russia double down on aid to Ukraine while those farther west decide to force a deal on Putin's terms. Then Europe itself could fracture," he says. European countries have largely outsourced much of their military capacity and thinking on strategy and security to the States through NATO. A senior European Union official has denied that member states are discussing financial coercion to force Hungary to agree on financing for Ukraine.

Amid misinformation, how do Russians perceive Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine?
On 24 February 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered his army to forcefully cross the border and invade neighbouring Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine is often fast moving and it is likely there will be times when there have been changes not reflected in the maps. To indicate which parts of Ukraine are under control by Russian troops we are using daily assessments published by the Institute for the Study of War with the American Enterprise Institute's Critical Threats Project.


Meanwhile Russia's currency, the rouble, fell to an all-time low against the dollar and the euro. "People were out on the streets last night in this city - they were waving the Ukrainian flag. They said this was their land. They were going nowhere," she reported. Russia has begun a large-scale military attack on Ukraine, its southern neighbour, on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said Russia was a "proud nation, and we love our country. We have not any other motherland, and we must protect it." Tyab asked the lawmaker, Popov, it the invasion had been worth it, given the loss of life and the international condemnation and sanctions Russia is now experiencing.

Are we heading for World War Three? Experts give their verdicts
Perhaps most significant is the activity around Avdiivka, a strategically important town on the front line in eastern Ukraine. Russia has also made advances north east of Kupiansk, north of Bakhmut, and south west of Avdiivka, according to the latest ISW assessment. The village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region could offer a similar stepping stone but Russian forces are reported to have made some advances in the area. Ukraine first announced it had made a breakthrough in mid-November - the river had separated Ukrainian and Russian forces since Moscow's troops withdrew from Kherson a year ago. A source familiar with the situation said the drone fell at about 7am local time but had not affected fuel output.


Website: https://etextpad.com/tr2bkudgxt