For now there is little hope of a peace deal, but back-channel agreements show that Ukraine and Russia are at least talking.
Nuanced relationship: Kazakhstan president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev with Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, November 2022.
EPA-EFE/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin pool/Sputnik
Some of the key articles from our coverage of the war in Ukraine over the past week.
Cargo ships anchored in the Marmara Sea await to cross the Bosporus Strait in Istanbul, Turkey. The country is checking all ships’ protection and indemnity insurance coverage before letting them enter its waters, a blow to Russia amid smart new western sanctions.
(AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Just like how tax evasion brought down Al Capone, denying Russian ships protection and indemnity insurance could deliver a crushing economic blow to Vladimir Putin.
Who is the ‘big brother’ now?
EPA-EFE/Sergei Bobylev/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
The use of unmanned aircraft by both sides has massively increased, changing the nature of the air war.
‘Permacrisis’ is Collins Dictionary’s 2022 word of the year, but polycrisis is a more accurate term to describe the world’s ongoing crises and how they’re interacting with one another.
(Pixabay)
What’s a polycrisis? We’re in one, and greed and power are undoubtedly worsening it, but our knowledge remains poor. Experts know a lot about individual risks and crises, but not how they interact.
Russian president Vladimir Putin honours ‘Russian heroes’ at a function in Moscow.
EPA-EFE/Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Ukraine appears to be mounting an operation to retake the tiny headland.
In charge: his war may be increasingly unpopular, but Vladimir Putin still enjoys complete power in Russia.
EPA-EFE/Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Liam Collins, United States Military Academy West Point
Given their numbers advantage, Russian troops were expected to quickly capture Ukraine. That didn’t happen, and with winter approaching, more Russian military defeats are expected.
Belarusian volunteers receive military training at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv, Ukraine, in March 2022.
(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Belarusians make up one of the most prominent contingents of foreign fighters in Ukraine. Here’s why they’re fighting and what they hope to achieve for Belarus as well as Ukraine.
A protest on November 20 in Berlin over the latest attacks of the Turkish military into Kurdish areas of northeastern Syria.
Sipa/Alamy