Ukraine recap: counteroffensive makes slow progress while diplomacy fails to make any ground at all: So the Ukrainian counteroffensive is well and truly underway, even if progress is measured in metres rather than the rapid advances that characterised Ukraine’s highly successful push last autumn. Volodymyr Zelensky himself has confirmed this, saying progress has been “slower …
Ukraine recap: dams, lies and economic statistics: The likely cause of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam and power plant in the early hours of Tuesday morning remains shrouded in mystery – predictably, both sides are blaming each other. But it’s important to remember that under the Geneva conventions the destruction of infrastructure such as …
Ukraine recap: Moscow’s ‘pyrrhic victory’ in Bakhmut prompts unrest in the Russian military, but it’s all smiles for Zelensky: After the best part of a year, Russia has claimed victory in the meat-grinder that was the Battle of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east. But the battle achieved virtually none of Russia’s original strategic objectives and came …
Ukraine recap: not a great deal to celebrate for Putin this Victory Day as Ukraine digs in for the long haul: One tank. According to press reports and news broadcasts from Moscow, a solitary T-34 dating back to the second world war was the only tank that trundled past the Russian president as he marked …
Ukraine recap: diplomatic manoeuvres intensify in advance of a possible spring offensive: A quick check of the Met office forecasts for Ukraine suggests that over the next week or so the weather is going to get steadily warmer. The rising mercury has fuelled speculation that Ukraine’s much discussed spring offensive is just around the corner, …
Ukraine recap: downbeat US intelligence leak suggests no end in sight for the misery of this war: What we know – or think we know – about the progress of the war in Ukraine over the past few days has come courtesy of leaked Pentagon documents which appear to cover, in some detail, a wide …
Ukraine recap: as spring arrives in Ukraine an offensive against Crimea could be on the cards: Over the past few weeks there have been a growing number of reports that Russia is recruiting workers and – according to some sources, using forced labour – to dig trenches and build fortifications in Crimea across areas they …
Ukraine recap: fears of escalation after US drone downed over the Black Sea: There was another of those moments when the world held its breath this week when news broke on March 14 of an incident between a US drone and two Russian jets. The unmanned US Reaper MQ-9 drone, reportedly on routine surveillance duties …
Ukraine recap: spring comes too early for Putin’s tanks – easy targets as they stick in the mud: Reading the international press on the first day of spring in Ukraine, it appears that Russia has jumped the gun somewhat in its “spring offensive”. It has poured troops and armour into an area around the town …
Ukraine recap: how the conflict stands after 12 months of bitter fighting: It would be wrong to say that nobody saw this war coming. Vladimir Putin’s troops had been massing on the Ukraine border in Russia and its ally Belarus for some months. And, despite his assurances to the contrary, the president’s bellicose rhetoric and …
Ukraine recap: how the conflict might unfold in its second year: Almost exactly a year ago – on February 17 2022 – we published a story by David Galbreath, an expert in international security from the University of Bath. In it he pointed to the fact that – despite the Kremlin’s repeated assurances to the …
Ukraine recap: Kyiv keeps its friends close, but will they send the latest warplanes?: The latest dispatches from the Institute for the Study of War make for sobering reading. After a few months in which the initiative on the battlefield was generally considered to be firmly with Ukraine, the pendulum appears as if it could …
Ukraine recap: supply of German and US tanks to make Kyiv ‘a real punching fist of democracy’: For the past several days the focus of war news has been squarely on Germany’s Olaf Scholz. The chancellor has been battling with his conscience over whether to accede to Volodymyr Zelensky’s plea to supply Ukraine with his …
Ukraine recap: world leaders gather at Davos to make the case for more military aid to Kyiv: “We’re tired of fighting Putin with rubbish kit”. This recent headline in The Times was an eloquent expression of the feelings of a Ukrainian tank sergeant, part of the 24th Mechanised Brigade fighting in Bakhmut in the country’s …
Ukraine recap: battle of Soledar reveals a lot about the likely next phase of the war: Bitter fighting continues in the salt-mining town of Soledar, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. And depending on who is doing the reporting, either Russia is poised to take Soledar any time now or Ukrainian forces are valiantly …
Ukraine recap: Russian strikes failed to dampen Christmas spirit – but still no end in sight for the war: Over the holiday period, a pedal-powered Christmas tree became the symbol of Ukraine’s defiant resistance against Russia’s relentless bombing campaign which Vladimir Putin hoped would spoil everyone’s Yuletide. Usually the Orthodox church would celebrate Christmas on …
Ukraine recap: Putin’s trip to Minsk fuels fears of a bleak and bloody new year: Volodymyr Zelensky has been on his travels this week, leaving Ukraine for the first time since the invasion to fly to the US to meet with Joe Biden and address a joint sitting of Congress. The Ukrainian president impressed with …
Ukraine recap: drones strike inside Russia while western sanctions get smarter: If you expected things to come to a grinding halt for a few months as winter takes hold in Ukraine and Russia, it looks as if you may need to think again. Military analysts are confidently predicting that Ukraine will intensify its counteroffensive in …