Notes

Are we heading for World War Three? Experts give their verdicts
It is firmly controlled by the Kremlin and pumps out relentless war propaganda. Ukrainians are said to shell their own cities, and Russian troops are presented as liberators. An authoritarian streak runs through Putin’s two decades in control of Russia and his government takes any opportunity it has to crush opposition and gag dissenters.

There are some prominent Russians who are willing to speak out against the invasion of Ukraine. Elena Kovalskaya, formerly the artistic director of the state-owned Meyerhold Theatre and Cultural Center, resigned from her role last week in protest. There has been a raft of sanctions imposed on Russia and on Russian citizens in the past week in response to President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. https://pastelink.net/zkru4ow5 are unwilling to send troops to fight in the conflict but have sought to make the Kremlin’s actions unsustainable with tough economic punishments.

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? That the Kremlin was right to block the majority of independent media sites they used to read. 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. After graduating from the University of Liverpool he wrote for a number of British publications before joining AS USA in 2020.
There are reports of attacks on Ukrainian military infrastructure across the country, and Russian convoys entering from all directions. You can argue that it isn’t realistic or human to force all Russians into a black-and-white response—either oppose the war or you are complicit. People have young children to look after, cancer and other illnesses to manage, aging parents to care for. It’s easy to imagine that they feel they can’t—or don’t want to—get arrested for opposing a distant war because of these kinds of responsibilities, even if it is being waged in their name.

What has been the impact of the Ukraine war on the rest of the world?
“Not just us but all of Europe is living on this credit.” She added, “I want to mark my position as someone lacking objectivity. Even those who did agree to answer the questions in Miniailo’s survey displayed a heightened level of fear and discomfort. One man in his fifties said, “It is now prohibited by law to answer what you think about this topic. Russia's defence ministry has denied attacking Ukrainian cities - saying it was targeting military infrastructure, air defence and air forces with "high-precision weapons". The irony here is that while Moscow has been demanding Nato move its forces further westwards, Putin's invasion of Ukraine has achieved the exact opposite.


But what kind of guarantees they would give independent Ukraine is not yet clear. Many who study and report on Russia, me included, believe a small percentage of people actively support the war, and a small percentage actively oppose it. Polls suggest the majority of Russians, if not supporting the war, certainly do not oppose it.

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It is this that makes the anti-war protests against the invasion of Ukraine so telling. Russia's invasion plan has not gone entirely to plan - Britain's Defence Intelligence says hundreds of Russian troops have been killed and resistance is stiff - but it is progressing. Russia's forces outnumber Ukraine's by more than three-to-one, and there are questions about the quality of Ukraine's military leadership and how long its forces can hold out. 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. And what I'm really torn up about is that there are hundreds of phenomenal Russian journalists who are working so hard to tell Russians the truth about their own country. These are people who made very small salaries when they could have made much more by going over to the Kremlin side.

The Ukrainian armed forces said they had shot down five Russian planes and a helicopter - which Russia denies - and inflicted casualties on invading troops. Perhaps most significant is the activity around Avdiivka, a strategically important town on the front line in eastern Ukraine. European countries have largely outsourced much of their military capacity and thinking on strategy and security to the States through NATO. "No one thinks the UK-led Battle Group [in Estonia] by itself would deter the second most powerful nuclear country in the world," he says. His work focuses on the Premier League, LaLiga, MLS, Liga MX and the global game. For Ukrainians, the looming first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of their country is a historic milestone within an ongoing tragedy of unprovoked bloodshed, one which seems to be escalating again.
Historically, Russia and countries that are a part of Nato have not always got on. Many people in Ukraine want the country to join Nato to avoid being dominated by Russia. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) is a military alliance of countries which includes the US and the UK. It is estimated the UK has spent £2.3bn on military assistance, making the country the second biggest military donor behind the US.

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That scenario, of a Russian military incursion into a Nato country, almost unthinkable until recently, is when Nato and Russia could indeed be at war with each other. Nato is certainly taking no chances and has put over 100 warplanes on full alert. Britain was one of the first countries to send reinforcements - to a grateful Estonia, where Kusti Salm is nevertheless realistic about what they can achieve. Despite desperate pleas from Kyiv for the West to come to its aid, Nato has categorically ruled out sending troops to Ukraine. "We need to give them weapons like Javelin anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition and protective equipment. Every Nato nation should be helping them," he says. Resistance has already begun, with a nationwide call-up of men of fighting age and 18,000 automatic weapons being handed out to the citizens of Kyiv, in addition to the uniformed army and reserves who are already putting up stiff resistance.


"The regional war in the Middle East, with its epicentre in Gaza, is unlikely to escalate into a World War. Currently it's not a flashpoint between the major world powers. "Certainly, the time we are living in is enormously dangerous. And the killing of three US troops in Jordan has increased the likelihood for the crisis in the Middle East deepening considerably. The head of the British Army said UK citizens should be "trained and equipped" to fight in a potential war with Russia, describing those living today as the "pre-war generation". 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 defence secretary has warned we are moving to a "pre-war world", top military brass are talking about conscription and tensions in the Middle East show no signs of abating. While dissenting voices to Putin’s invasion are minimised in Russia, the scale and the intensity of the feeling of support for Ukraine means that the opposition cannot be entirely silenced by the Kremlin.


Eastern European countries, who fear they may be next in Putin's sights, are watching nervously for any Russian manoeuvres close to their borders. Kusti Salm, the permanent secretary at Estonia's Ministry of Defence, is one of those pushing for more military assistance to Ukraine. "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." Within weeks of the war breaking out, a scheme was launched called Homes for Ukraine, matching Ukrainians with families in the UK who were able to offer shelter and accommodation. But there was criticism that current rules and systems were too complicated and too strict. Mr Biden said that the US would be giving a new military aid package to Ukraine, worth $500m (around £415 million).


The ISW does note that Russia's advances might be the result of Ukrainian forces withdrawing to "more defensible positions" near Robotyne. 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. The attack on the Slavneft-YANOS refinery caused no fire or casualties, governor Mikhail Yevrayev said.

While dissenting voices to Putin’s invasion are minimised in Russia, the scale and the intensity of the feeling of support for Ukraine means that the opposition cannot be entirely silenced by the Kremlin. If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at 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.
Mr Zelenskyy has called for public officials to disclose their incomes to increase transparency and eliminate corruption as Ukraine tries to meet the stringent requirements for its bid to join the European Union. Mr Szijarto will be in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak. 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. NPR's A Martinez talks to Julia Ioffe, founding partner of the media company Puck, about Russia's crack down on free speech which has led many media outlets to leave the country or go underground. Social media testimonies speak to a growing sense of panic, with some saying they are being rushed into bomb shelters and into basements.

You can be horrified by what Russia has done and is doing—as of course I am—and, at the same time, be concerned about dehumanizing a whole group of people in response. But, at the same time, I can understand why this might seem like sophistry to Ukrainians who have lost their homes, their friends, and seen their fellow Ukrainians tortured and murdered. Mr Navalny's team have been trying to undermine support for the war via YouTube. "No-one attacked Russia, no-one needed these separations and these deaths," Mr Volkov wrote on Twitter. "It's strange to ban people for being Russian, whether or not they support Putin's regime," argues Anastasia Shevchenko, an activist who spent two years under house arrest for protesting against the Russian president. This week Lithuania - together with Latvia, Estonia and Poland - banned all Russian tourists, arguing they should not be enjoying democracy and freedom in Europe while their government attacks those very values in Ukraine.

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