Russia’s long-term plan for Ukraine is to draw it away from the west.
A Russian military intercontinental ballistic missile launcher rolls by during the 2019 Victory Day military parade celebrating the end of the Second World War in Red Square in Moscow in May 2019.
(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
The sort of scenarios that might lead to the use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war would require a significant deterioration in Russian fortunes — and greater western involvement in the conflict.
Many Ukrainians returned home after fleeing the Russian invasion, including this family that arrived on April 12, 2022, in Lviv, Ukraine, from refuge in Poland.
Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
A young woman in Lviv, Ukraine, writes about fleeing Russian aggression not once, but twice, since 2014 and explains the fierce desire to stay in her home country – a desire shared by many.
Stage two: the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, meeting with defence minister Sergei Shoigu in the Kremlin, April 2022.
Kremlin Photo Pool
As Russia prepares to take more Ukrainian territory, Moldova could be next on Putin’s target list.
The destroyed fuel station in Stoyanka, Ukraine. Putin has been laying the rhetorical groundwork for the invasion of Ukraine for years.
Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images
Putin’s rationale for invading Ukraine wasn’t built over just a few months in 2021. Putin and high-level Russia government staff have been trash-talking Ukraine for more than a decade.
Vladimir Putin celebrated Russia’s annexation of Crimea on March 18, 2022, the eighth anniversary of the move.
Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
None of the available methods for holding Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable are likely to actually punish him, and they may even make new atrocities more likely.
Children march in a parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, about 100 kilometres east of the Ukraine border, in May 2015.
(AP Photo)
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants parts of Ukraine to be closer to Russia, and would like to prevent Ukraine from becoming part of NATO.
Crimean Tatars gathered for a rally commemorating the 70th anniversary of Stalin’s mass deportation, in Simferopol, Crimea, on May 18, 2014.
AP Photo/Alexander Polegenko
A scholar who spent many years living with the Crimean Tatars explains their long history of persecution.
In this August 2012 photo, Russian soldiers ride atop an armoured vehicle through a street in Tskhinvali, capital of the Georgian breakaway enclave of South Ossetia, with a destroyed tank in the foreground. The Russian military quickly routed the Georgian army during the war.
(AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev)
In the midst of the Ukraine-Russia war, we should pay more attention to the evolution of Russia’s official rhetoric and military actions in former Soviet states.
Members of the Ukrainian armed forces pass by wreckage on March 9, 2022, in Mykolaiv.
Scott Peterson/Getty Images
Is Catherine the Great a source of inspiration to Vladimir Putin? Her actions in Poland throughout her reign are remarkably similar to Putin’s designs on Ukraine.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, left, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 18, 2022.
Sergei Guneyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Belarus’ alliance with Russia is a strategic factor in the Ukraine war. The country’s long-term dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, has indicated he will do as Russian President Vladimir Putin says.
Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill, center, attends a ceremony consecrating the Cathedral of Russian Armed Forces outside Moscow.
Andrey Rusov, Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
To understand Russia’s war in Ukraine, look to the blend of religious and militaristic nationalism under Putin – on full display in the Church of the Russian Armed Forces.
Ukrainian soldiers take positions in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 25, 2022 after Russia pressed its invasion of Ukraine to the outskirts of the capital.
(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Even if Vladimir Putin wins in Ukraine, he won’t be able to govern Ukrainians as he pleases. That’s because power is perceived very differently by Russians and Ukrainians.
A woman reacts next to her house following a Russian rocket attack Feb. 25 in the Ukranian capital of the city of Kyiv.
(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
The reasons for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are complicated and based on centuries of history between the two countries. A Ukrainian scholar provides some background.
The International Space Station is run collectively by the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and Canada.
NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center/Flickr
What happens to the International Space Station when tensions on Earth rise? A space policy expert explains how the ISS is run and how Russian aggression has threatened its operation in the past – and now.
Damaged radar arrays and other equipment is seen at a Ukrainian military facility outside Mariupol, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2022.
AP Photo/Sergei Grits
As war begins between Ukraine and Russia, a range of stories provides context to help readers understand the conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s popularity is on the rise again, but conflict with Ukraine may eventually change that.
Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images
Approximately 69% of Russians approve of President Vladimir Putin. But a costly war is likely to chip away at his popularity, history and data tell us.
A Ukrainian serviceman, seen through a camouflage mesh, stands at a frontline position in the Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, in January 2022.
(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
The risk to Ukraine’s democracy currently lies with the politicians who have offshore assets that can be massaged and altered from Moscow or elsewhere. Preventing this is essential.
A live broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking is shown on Dec. 23, 2021, from a media control room in Russia.
Eric Romanenko/TASS via Getty Images
America is being ‘hysterical’ about Russian troop buildups near the Ukrainian border. That’s the official news in Russia, where citizens are getting government’s preferred view of the Ukraine crisis.
Associate Professor of Instruction in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, Affiliate Professor at the Institute for Russian, European, and Eurasian Studies, University of South Florida