President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared British and French military presence essential to the Coalition of the Willing during a 3 January press conference in Kyiv, setting a clear test for the European-led security initiative that has struggled to turn pledges into concrete commitments. “The leading ones are Britain and France. ItContinue Reading
Denis Kapustin, the controversial commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps who was reported killed by an FPV drone on 27 December, is alive. His death was an elaborate intelligence operation that fooled Russian security services, exposed their assassination network, and diverted half a million dollars of Kremlin money to UkrainianContinue Reading
Two weeks ago, Denis Kapustin was asked why he, a Russian, fights for Ukraine. His answer: to atone with his life for the evil his compatriots have inflicted. On the night of 26-27 December, an FPV drone killed him on the Zaporizhzhia front. He was 41. The Russian Volunteer CorpsContinue Reading
“There will be no new special military operations if you treat us with respect and take our interests into account, just as we have constantly tried to take yours into account.” That was Vladimir Putin on 19 December, answering BBC’s Steve Rosenberg during his annual press marathon. The full exchangeContinue Reading
Thousands gathered across six continents on December 13-14 to protest Russia’s deliberate drone attacks on civilians in Kherson, while American journalist Zarina Zabrisky presented her documentary and a new sanctions proposal to US lawmakers. The worldwide protests coincided with Zabrisky’s documentary “Kherson: Human Safari” being viewed at the US CapitolContinue Reading
Ukraine imposed sanctions on 656 Russian shadow fleet vessels on Saturday — the largest single sanctions package ever applied against the tanker network Moscow uses to evade Western oil restrictions. The blacklist comes days after Ukrainian naval drones struck five shadow fleet tankers in the Black Sea, tripling war-risk insuranceContinue Reading
Belarus released 123 political prisoners on 13 December, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava, hours after the United States agreed to lift sanctions on Belarusian potash, according to state news agency Belta. The mass release followed two days of negotiations between Belarusian self-proclaimed PresidentContinue Reading