Most Russians back war in Ukraine and buy Putin’s case for it, report says
RIGA, Latvia — Russians are growing weary of the war against Ukraine but are divided about how much harm it has done and how to end it, according to a report based on polling and focus groups by the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and the Levada Center, an independent polling group.
Notably, however, as President Vladimir Putin appears poised to run in a highly managed presidential election in March, the nation has not turned against him, and Western efforts to punish Russia for the war have not weakened his grip on power.
“All the naïve predictions that popular discontent triggered by sanctions and the wartime restrictions imposed on daily life would bring down Vladimir Putin’s regime have come to nothing,” the report states.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Russians are growing weary of the war against Ukraine but are divided about how much harm it has done and how to end it, according to a report based on polling and focus groups by the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and the Levada Center, an independent polling group.
Notably, however, as President Vladimir Putin appears poised to run in a highly managed presidential election in March, the nation has not turned against him, and Western efforts to punish Russia for the war have not weakened his grip on power.
“All the naïve predictions that popular discontent triggered by sanctions and the wartime restrictions imposed on daily life would bring down Vladimir Putin’s regime have come to nothing,” the report states.
Read the full story here.
Russia bans international LGBT movement as ‘extremist’
RIGA, Latvia — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday banned the “international LGBT public movement” as an extremist organization — even though the alleged movement has no organizational structure, leaders, membership, website or address.
The Russian ban, which was approved in a closed hearing, nonetheless could have sweeping implications for LGBT people in Russia. It could be used to prosecute any LGBT organization, activity, communication, or mutual support initiative, including those online.
While critics called the ruling legal nonsense, the Kremlin appears to be banking on global homophobia as a unifying ideology that will align intolerant countries — particularly in the Middle East and Africa — against the liberal West.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday banned the “international LGBT public movement” as an extremist organization — even though the alleged movement has no organizational structure, leaders, membership, website or address.
The Russian ban, which was approved in a closed hearing, nonetheless could have sweeping implications for LGBT people in Russia. It could be used to prosecute any LGBT organization, activity, communication, or mutual support initiative, including those online.
While critics called the ruling legal nonsense, the Kremlin appears to be banking on global homophobia as a unifying ideology that will align intolerant countries — particularly in the Middle East and Africa — against the liberal West.
Read the full story here.
Russian deserters tell of blood, betrayal and hope in escaping Ukraine war
MOSCOW — When Igor, a Russian soldier, was conscripted to go to war in Ukraine, he reacted with a fatalistic shrug. But deserting the army amid staggering casualties, he said, required determination and a plan.
The 28-year-old Muscovite, who was mobilized in September 2022 and left Russia this September, never supported the war and claims he never met a conscripted soldier who did.
“The mobilized do not want to go to war and to fight,” Igor said in an interview. “There is no motivation. How can we even talk about any motivation for a Russian person to kill a Ukrainian?”
He felt guilty leaving comrades fighting as he skipped out of Russia during his two-week home leave.
Amid appalling casualty rates, many Russian soldiers are desperate to escape. One Russian underground antiwar network, Go by the Forest, says it has helped more than 400 men to desert, and advised nearly 20,000 how to avoid being drafted.
Read the full story here.
MOSCOW — When Igor, a Russian soldier, was conscripted to go to war in Ukraine, he reacted with a fatalistic shrug. But deserting the army amid staggering casualties, he said, required determination and a plan.
The 28-year-old Muscovite, who was mobilized in September 2022 and left Russia this September, never supported the war and claims he never met a conscripted soldier who did.
“The mobilized do not want to go to war and to fight,” Igor said in an interview. “There is no motivation. How can we even talk about any motivation for a Russian person to kill a Ukrainian?”
He felt guilty leaving comrades fighting as he skipped out of Russia during his two-week home leave.
Amid appalling casualty rates, many Russian soldiers are desperate to escape. One Russian underground antiwar network, Go by the Forest, says it has helped more than 400 men to desert, and advised nearly 20,000 how to avoid being drafted.
Read the full story here.
In second act, Russian activist group Pussy Riot protests Ukraine war
RIGA, Latvia — More than a year after members of the Russian activist group Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina and Lucy Shtein escaped from Moscow disguised as food couriers, the feminist punk-protest band is touring the United States with a new antiwar anthem that howls in rage at Kremlin propagandists they accuse of poisoning Russian minds.
The group borrows from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake — music wedded in Russian minds as synonymous with sinister official censorship — for their song about the poison of state television in a nation where, according to the lyrics, “the happiness of the Motherland is more precious than life.”
Alyokhina was imprisoned in 2012 with two other Pussy Riot members for nearly two years for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” over a punk performance that year in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral.
Read the full story here.
RIGA, Latvia — More than a year after members of the Russian activist group Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina and Lucy Shtein escaped from Moscow disguised as food couriers, the feminist punk-protest band is touring the United States with a new antiwar anthem that howls in rage at Kremlin propagandists they accuse of poisoning Russian minds.
The group borrows from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake — music wedded in Russian minds as synonymous with sinister official censorship — for their song about the poison of state television in a nation where, according to the lyrics, “the happiness of the Motherland is more precious than life.”
Alyokhina was imprisoned in 2012 with two other Pussy Riot members for nearly two years for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” over a punk performance that year in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral.
Read the full story here.
Miscalculations, divisions marked offensive planning by U.S., Ukraine
On June 15, in a conference room at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sat around a table with his Ukrainian counterpart, who was joined by aides from Kyiv.
Austin asked Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s decision-making in the opening days of its long-awaited counteroffensive, pressing him on why his forces weren’t using Western-supplied mine-clearing equipment to enable a larger, mechanized assault.
Reznikov said Ukraine’s military commanders were the ones making those decisions. But he noted that Ukraine’s armored vehicles were being destroyed by Russian artillery with every attempt to advance.
The meeting in Brussels illustrates how a counteroffensive has failed to deliver its expected punch, generating friction and second-guessing between Washington and Kyiv and raising deeper questions about Ukraine’s ability to retake decisive amounts of territory.
Read the full story here.
On June 15, in a conference room at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sat around a table with his Ukrainian counterpart, who was joined by aides from Kyiv.
Austin asked Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov about Ukraine’s decision-making in the opening days of its long-awaited counteroffensive, pressing him on why his forces weren’t using Western-supplied mine-clearing equipment to enable a larger, mechanized assault.
Reznikov said Ukraine’s military commanders were the ones making those decisions. But he noted that Ukraine’s armored vehicles were being destroyed by Russian artillery with every attempt to advance.
The meeting in Brussels illustrates how a counteroffensive has failed to deliver its expected punch, generating friction and second-guessing between Washington and Kyiv and raising deeper questions about Ukraine’s ability to retake decisive amounts of territory.
Read the full story here.
White House warns Congress of urgent need for Ukraine funding
The White House issued an urgent warning to Congress on Monday about the need for additional aid for Ukraine’s war with Russia, with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young bluntly writing in a letter to congressional leaders that the United States is “out of money to support Ukraine in this fight.”
In the letter, Young wrote that “without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks.”
“There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money — and nearly out of time.”
A Biden administration request for nearly $106 billion for Ukraine, Israel and other needs remains stalled on Capitol Hill.
Read the full story here.
The White House issued an urgent warning to Congress on Monday about the need for additional aid for Ukraine’s war with Russia, with Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young bluntly writing in a letter to congressional leaders that the United States is “out of money to support Ukraine in this fight.”
In the letter, Young wrote that “without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks.”
“There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money — and nearly out of time.”
A Biden administration request for nearly $106 billion for Ukraine, Israel and other needs remains stalled on Capitol Hill.
Read the full story here.
In Ukraine, a war of incremental gains as counteroffensive stalls
Soldiers in the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade waited for nightfall before piling into their U.S.-provided Bradley Fighting Vehicles. It was June 7 and Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive was about to begin.
The goal for the first 24 hours was to advance nearly nine miles, reaching the village of Robotyne. However, nothing went as planned.
This account of how the counteroffensive unfolded is the second in a two-part series and illuminates the brutal and often futile attempts to breach Russian lines, as well as the widening rift between Ukrainian and U.S. commanders over tactics and strategy. The first article examined the Ukrainian and U.S. planning that went into the operation.
This second part is based on interviews with more than 30 senior Ukrainian and U.S. military officials, as well as over two dozen officers and troops on the front line.
Read the full story here.
Soldiers in the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade waited for nightfall before piling into their U.S.-provided Bradley Fighting Vehicles. It was June 7 and Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive was about to begin.
The goal for the first 24 hours was to advance nearly nine miles, reaching the village of Robotyne. However, nothing went as planned.
This account of how the counteroffensive unfolded is the second in a two-part series and illuminates the brutal and often futile attempts to breach Russian lines, as well as the widening rift between Ukrainian and U.S. commanders over tactics and strategy. The first article examined the Ukrainian and U.S. planning that went into the operation.
This second part is based on interviews with more than 30 senior Ukrainian and U.S. military officials, as well as over two dozen officers and troops on the front line.
Read the full story here.
Russia to release six more Ukrainian children after Qatar mediation
Russia has agreed to free an additional six Ukrainian children and allow them to reunite with their families in Ukraine following Qatari mediation, Lolwah Al-Khater, Qatar’s minister of state for international cooperation said Tuesday.
The children are among the thousands Ukraine says have been forcibly displaced to Russia or trapped in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. The group of six is scheduled to leave Moscow on Tuesday and travel through Belarus to Ukraine, according to an official briefed on the operation.
The mother of one 11-year-old boy in the group is a Ukrainian soldier being held as a prisoner of war in Russia, added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. His father died around a decade ago, and he will now stay with a maternal aunt. Until now, he had been living with relatives in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, the official said.
Read the full story here.
Russia has agreed to free an additional six Ukrainian children and allow them to reunite with their families in Ukraine following Qatari mediation, Lolwah Al-Khater, Qatar’s minister of state for international cooperation said Tuesday.
The children are among the thousands Ukraine says have been forcibly displaced to Russia or trapped in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. The group of six is scheduled to leave Moscow on Tuesday and travel through Belarus to Ukraine, according to an official briefed on the operation.
The mother of one 11-year-old boy in the group is a Ukrainian soldier being held as a prisoner of war in Russia, added the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. His father died around a decade ago, and he will now stay with a maternal aunt. Until now, he had been living with relatives in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, the official said.
Read the full story here.
U.S. files its first war-crimes charges related to Russia-Ukraine war
Justice Department officials have filed war crimes charges against four Russian men accused of torturing an American in the Ukraine war — the first such U.S.-based charges filed as a result of that conflict.
According to court documents, the charges include torture, mistreatment, and unlawful confinement of an American citizen in Ukraine following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The four people charged — Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, 45, Dmitry Budnik, and two others whose full names are not yet known — allegedly interrogated, tortured and threatened to kill the victim, including holding a mock execution.
Read the full story here.
Justice Department officials have filed war crimes charges against four Russian men accused of torturing an American in the Ukraine war — the first such U.S.-based charges filed as a result of that conflict.
According to court documents, the charges include torture, mistreatment, and unlawful confinement of an American citizen in Ukraine following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The four people charged — Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, 45, Dmitry Budnik, and two others whose full names are not yet known — allegedly interrogated, tortured and threatened to kill the victim, including holding a mock execution.
Read the full story here.
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‘Modest’ Putin makes low-key announcement of 2024 presidential run
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed his long-expected run for another six-year presidential term in 2024, bringing him closer to beating Joseph Stalin’s record as the longest-serving Russian leader.
This time, the announcement did not come directly from Putin or the Kremlin but from a Russian military officer, who told a group of state media reporters that he had pleaded with Putin to run on behalf of soldiers fighting in Ukraine — and that the president agreed.
Read the full story here.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed his long-expected run for another six-year presidential term in 2024, bringing him closer to beating Joseph Stalin’s record as the longest-serving Russian leader.
This time, the announcement did not come directly from Putin or the Kremlin but from a Russian military officer, who told a group of state media reporters that he had pleaded with Putin to run on behalf of soldiers fighting in Ukraine — and that the president agreed.
Read the full story here.
Ukraine cracks down on draft-dodging as it struggles to find troops
VELIATYNO, Ukraine — Soon after Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Ukraine beefed up its border defenses near this Carpathian mountain village.
But the extra patrols and reels of barbed wire fencing rolled out along the top of a mountain pass along the Romanian border were meant to keep people in — particularly draft-eligible men seeking to flee the country.
As Ukraine approaches its third year of war, those men are needed more than ever. The leaders are still pleading for more weapons and ammunition from the United States and Europe — even as signs of flagging support among those allies suggest that Ukraine may have to do more to arm itself. But even more than bullets, Ukraine needs fighters, leading to a search for new ways to mobilize the population and stronger measures against draft dodgers.
Read the full story here.
VELIATYNO, Ukraine — Soon after Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Ukraine beefed up its border defenses near this Carpathian mountain village.
But the extra patrols and reels of barbed wire fencing rolled out along the top of a mountain pass along the Romanian border were meant to keep people in — particularly draft-eligible men seeking to flee the country.
As Ukraine approaches its third year of war, those men are needed more than ever. The leaders are still pleading for more weapons and ammunition from the United States and Europe — even as signs of flagging support among those allies suggest that Ukraine may have to do more to arm itself. But even more than bullets, Ukraine needs fighters, leading to a search for new ways to mobilize the population and stronger measures against draft dodgers.
Read the full story here.
Ukraine’s Zelensky appears increasingly embattled as U.S. backing wavers
KYIV — Anxiety is mounting in Ukraine as disagreements in Washington continue to stall billions of dollars of urgently needed wartime funding — aid that officials here say is crucial to keep the country running as the war with Russia grinds on.
The strain in the relationship between Kyiv and Washington comes as internal political divisions have resurfaced for President Volodymyr Zelensky, with fears over the potential gaps in funding feeding into other tensions in the capital. Relations between officials who have previously maintained a public appearance of unity are now openly fraying.
A delegation of top Ukrainian officials visited Washington this week to plead for more funding for both the military and the national budget — calls that appear to have gone unheard as Senate Republicans once again blocked the proposed aid, which has been tied to controversial border control measures.
Read the full story here.
KYIV — Anxiety is mounting in Ukraine as disagreements in Washington continue to stall billions of dollars of urgently needed wartime funding — aid that officials here say is crucial to keep the country running as the war with Russia grinds on.
The strain in the relationship between Kyiv and Washington comes as internal political divisions have resurfaced for President Volodymyr Zelensky, with fears over the potential gaps in funding feeding into other tensions in the capital. Relations between officials who have previously maintained a public appearance of unity are now openly fraying.
A delegation of top Ukrainian officials visited Washington this week to plead for more funding for both the military and the national budget — calls that appear to have gone unheard as Senate Republicans once again blocked the proposed aid, which has been tied to controversial border control measures.
Read the full story here.
Jailed Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny is missing, supporters say
MOSCOW — Supporters of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that they had lost contact with him and that they have been unable to ascertain his whereabouts for almost a week.
Navalny, who has been convicted on an array of charges widely viewed as political retribution and carrying combined sentences totaling 30 years, was no longer in the prison colony IK-6, in the Vladimir region, about 140 miles east of Moscow where he had been held in recent months, his spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, posted Monday on X.
Following his conviction last summer on extremism charges, Navalny was due to be transferred to a “special security” penal colony, a facility with the most severe restrictions in the Russian prison system, but officials from Russia’s penitentiary service had not informed Navalny’s lawyers or family of his new location.
Read the full story here.
MOSCOW — Supporters of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Monday that they had lost contact with him and that they have been unable to ascertain his whereabouts for almost a week.
Navalny, who has been convicted on an array of charges widely viewed as political retribution and carrying combined sentences totaling 30 years, was no longer in the prison colony IK-6, in the Vladimir region, about 140 miles east of Moscow where he had been held in recent months, his spokeswoman, Kira Yarmysh, posted Monday on X.
Following his conviction last summer on extremism charges, Navalny was due to be transferred to a “special security” penal colony, a facility with the most severe restrictions in the Russian prison system, but officials from Russia’s penitentiary service had not informed Navalny’s lawyers or family of his new location.
Read the full story here.
Zelensky arrives in Washington as Ukraine aid stalls in Congress
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the United States on Monday against allowing politics to “betray” his beleaguered army in its war with Russia, registering the latest appeal for further support as some Republican lawmakers appear disinterested in renewing President Biden’s request for billions of dollars in U.S. military assistance as the conflict stalemates.
Zelensky, speaking to an audience of U.S. and international military personnel at the National Defense University in Washington, said that his government’s chance at victory was in the balance. And although he did not single out Republicans, the Ukrainian leader claimed that Russia and the aims of its president, Vladimir Putin, stand to benefit from a lack of action in Congress.
Read the full story here.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the United States on Monday against allowing politics to “betray” his beleaguered army in its war with Russia, registering the latest appeal for further support as some Republican lawmakers appear disinterested in renewing President Biden’s request for billions of dollars in U.S. military assistance as the conflict stalemates.
Zelensky, speaking to an audience of U.S. and international military personnel at the National Defense University in Washington, said that his government’s chance at victory was in the balance. And although he did not single out Republicans, the Ukrainian leader claimed that Russia and the aims of its president, Vladimir Putin, stand to benefit from a lack of action in Congress.
Read the full story here.
Cyberattack hits Kyiv as Zelensky pitches U.S. for a lifeline for Ukraine
KYIV — As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared to meet U.S. lawmakers and President Biden in Washington on Tuesday in an urgent bid to drum up some $60 billion of crucially needed U.S. aid, a giant cyberattack hit the Ukrainian capital, targeting Kyivstar, one of the country’s principal mobile phone and internet providers as well as at least one bank.
The hacking assault underscored the continuing threat to Ukraine’s statehood, as political infighting between Democrats and Republicans in Washington risks cutting off aid to Ukraine from its most important ally.
Ahead of his visits to Congress and the White House, Zelensky laid out the stakes in a series of posts on the social media platform X, summarizing a speech he made Monday at the National Defense University in Washington in which he said Ukraine is fighting to “stop Russia right at the start of its global war on freedom.”
Read the full story here.
KYIV — As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared to meet U.S. lawmakers and President Biden in Washington on Tuesday in an urgent bid to drum up some $60 billion of crucially needed U.S. aid, a giant cyberattack hit the Ukrainian capital, targeting Kyivstar, one of the country’s principal mobile phone and internet providers as well as at least one bank.
The hacking assault underscored the continuing threat to Ukraine’s statehood, as political infighting between Democrats and Republicans in Washington risks cutting off aid to Ukraine from its most important ally.
Ahead of his visits to Congress and the White House, Zelensky laid out the stakes in a series of posts on the social media platform X, summarizing a speech he made Monday at the National Defense University in Washington in which he said Ukraine is fighting to “stop Russia right at the start of its global war on freedom.”
Read the full story here.
Zelensky warns of guerrilla war as Ukraine aid stalls in Congress
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Congress on Tuesday that his country will never give up in its fight to expel invading Russian forces, but he warned that without additional U.S. assistance, the conflict will turn far more brutal as his military inevitably cedes ground to its determined and well-armed adversary.
Zelensky has come to Washington as Ukraine, low on weaponry and cash, faces a stalemate in the war with Russia and growing resistance among some Republican lawmakers to President Biden’s request for billions of dollars in U.S. aid. This is his second visit to the United States in the past three months, as negotiations have stalled on Capitol Hill.
Read the full story here.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Congress on Tuesday that his country will never give up in its fight to expel invading Russian forces, but he warned that without additional U.S. assistance, the conflict will turn far more brutal as his military inevitably cedes ground to its determined and well-armed adversary.
Zelensky has come to Washington as Ukraine, low on weaponry and cash, faces a stalemate in the war with Russia and growing resistance among some Republican lawmakers to President Biden’s request for billions of dollars in U.S. aid. This is his second visit to the United States in the past three months, as negotiations have stalled on Capitol Hill.
Read the full story here.
Zelensky unable to win over Congress as Biden’s Ukraine package stalls
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed on Tuesday to secure a breakthrough with Congress as it remains firmly deadlocked over President Biden’s request for additional U.S. military assistance for the embattled country, even though many lawmakers appeared to agree that the war’s outlook would only worsen without a continuation of American support.
Zelensky told lawmakers that his country will never give up in its fight to expel invading Russian forces, but he warned that without more aid, the conflict will turn far more brutal as his military inevitably cedes ground to its determined and well-armed adversary.
Read the full story here.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky failed on Tuesday to secure a breakthrough with Congress as it remains firmly deadlocked over President Biden’s request for additional U.S. military assistance for the embattled country, even though many lawmakers appeared to agree that the war’s outlook would only worsen without a continuation of American support.
Zelensky told lawmakers that his country will never give up in its fight to expel invading Russian forces, but he warned that without more aid, the conflict will turn far more brutal as his military inevitably cedes ground to its determined and well-armed adversary.
Read the full story here.