Notes

Ukraine-Russia war latest: Hungary signals 'major shift' in Ukraine funding stance; Russia claims it has taken control of Kharkiv village
"In the short term," says Brig Ben Barry from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, "a successful Russian seizure of Kyiv would be a military and political success with strategic impact. They have been offered the opportunity to live in other countries like Germany, France, Poland and the UK, with a chance of safety, food, healthcare and education for young people. Since the invasion, the price of everyday items across the world has increased. This is because many countries are no longer using gas supplied by Russia, so there is greater demand and a higher cost for gas supplied from other places. Countries around Europe along with the United States, have also put significant limits on Russian trade and supplies, (called sanctions) with the aim of forcing Putin to stop his actions.


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.

Amid misinformation, how do Russians perceive Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine?
However in Russian media there has been no mention of the thousands of arrested protesters, or of the many more who took to the streets in support of Ukraine. Last week the Kremlin sent out letters to ten publications, warning them not to use the words "invasion," "attack" or "declaration of war" in their coverage. Ukraine's armed forces have been fighting against the Russian military for a year now, and countries around the the world have been supporting Ukraine by supplying weapons and armed vehicles, such as tanks, to defend themselves.

Last week, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps warned the world could be engulfed by wars involving China, Russia, North Korea and Iran in the next five years, and said we are moving "from a post-war to pre-war world". The invasion plan broadly consists of a three-pronged line of attack, from the north, east and south, using artillery and missile strikes to soften resistance before following up with infantry and tanks. As a result, some of the few remaining independent media in Russia have started to censor themselves. Hungary previously said it would block further financial aid to Ukraine, but this morning suggested it was ready to compromise after the EU reportedly drew up plans to hit Budapest's economy.
A bus service has started up connecting the city to the local cemetery where growing numbers of soldiers killed in Ukraine are being buried. In Pskov, near the Estonian and Latvian borders, the atmosphere is gloomy and everyone pretends the war has nothing to do with them, I am told. If they are troubled by Russia bombing a city where many have friends and relatives, then they're trying not to show it. But surrounded by reminders of Russia's often relentlessly violent past I felt war was now inevitable. My daily walks were my way of saying goodbye to a world, and perhaps even a country, that could never be the same again.

Watch Newsround
A U.S. official told CBS News on Wednesday that between 5,000 and 6,000 Russian troops may already have been killed since fighting began in Ukraine on February 24. "You keep referring to it as a military operation, but this is an invasion, this is a war," Tyab challenged Popov. "Our government tells us that [the] military operation is going pretty well," he said.

If Russia's invasion turns into a long-term occupation of Ukraine then it is conceivable that Western nations may well support a Ukrainian insurgency, just as the US supported the Afghan mujahideen in the 1980s. It is this that makes the anti-war protests against the invasion of Ukraine so telling. One year later, the war is still going on, and millions of children have been affected, with homes, public facilities and school buildings destroyed. Monitoring groups say more than 13,000 people have been detained at anti-war protests in the country since the start of the invasion.
The gloves are off, the pretences dropped, diplomacy is dead - at least for now. https://diigo.com/0vcyrs 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.


Lithuania will consider cases individually, but the prime minister clarified that it was "not the duty of other countries to save Russians fleeing mobilisation". Protesters came out in several cities shouting "no to war!" and even "Putin to the trenches!". More than a thousand people were detained and some were then served with call-up papers at the police station. Among the most prominent outlets are the Meduza and Mediazona websites - both have been blocked in Russia and both are labelled as "foreign agents" by the Russian government.

"But it might not destroy the Ukrainian government - provided it has made plans to set up a new government HQ, most likely in the western part of the country." When Ukraine retook Robotyne in August it was hoped that its forces would be able to cut the land corridor to Crimea, making Moscow's supply lines more complicated. He said Russia was a "proud nation, and we love our country. We have not any other motherland, and we must protect it." So some of them are still doing this work from abroad, but just completely cut off from their previous lives and any financial support. Mr. Putin seemingly dreamed of a quick victory with Russian-speaking Ukrainians welcoming their “liberators” with flowers, the Ukrainian Army surrendering en masse and the country’s leaders fleeing in fear.
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