A protest flag depicts Jarosław Kaczyński as Poland’s puppet master.
Reuters/Kacper Pempel
The new, nationalist government is cutting ties in all directions, but it could soon run out of options.
Watching Putin’s end-of-year news conference in Sevastopol, Crimea.
Reuters/Pavel Rebrov
The “hot” phase of the Ukraine conflict may have passed, but Moscow and Kiev are hardly warming to each other.
Reuters/Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin
The past year hasn’t worked out so well for Russia – and the Kremlin’s ability to weather the storms ahead is looking shaky.
Aaron Ansarov
Warfare is changing, and our approach to dealing with our adversaries must change too.
EPA/Pavel Konovov
Increased submarine activity is fuelling concerns at Russia’s capability to wage information warfare on the West.
Supplied
Last week’s release of the Dutch Safety Board’s final report on the downing of MH17 held no surprises. While this essentially technical report had no brief to cast blame for the tragedy, no-one familiar…
The reconstructed front of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014.
AAP/Lloyd Jones
A Dutch Safety Board report is crucial to the progress of the ongoing criminal investigation into downed flight MH17.
The oral vaccine is the most common polio vaccine used in the world.
S. Sabawoon/EPA/AAP
Recent polio outbreaks in Ukraine and Mali, caused by a vaccine-derived form of poliovirus, don’t mean the vaccine isn’t working. On the contrary, they are a reminder to keep up vaccination rates.
Ukraine takes a hit: shell damage in Donetsk.
Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko
Ukraine is waging a war of self-defence against an international aggressor. We should stop pretending otherwise.
The Face of War by Ukrainian artist Daria Marchenko.
EPA
While the case of Lyudmila Savchuk might have highlighted a major push by the Kremlin to control online opinion, the reality on the ground does not look good for Putin.
Fired up, ready to go: soldiers of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
Reuters
Months after the Minsk II agreement set out a plan for peace, Ukraine is slipping backwards into violence and recriminations.
No place to live.
Stringer/Reuters
The US is making common cause with Ukraine, but national security concerns are affecting the human rights of the most vulnerable trying to flee the fighting.
Sifting the remains.
EPA/Alexander Ermochenko
Russia’s response to the MH17 disaster came close to making it an international pariah – and an ensuing year of madcap foreign policy has only made things worse.
Does this look like a ceasefire?
EPA/Alexander Ermochenko
Ukraine is giving Russia two options – and neither is likely to end well.
In case of conflict, call in the US cavalry of course.
EPA/Adam Warzawa
A Pew survey has found majority of citizens no long support the principle or mutual aid and support.
Often caught talking at cross purposes.
EPA/Sven Hoppe
The Russian economy might be hurting, but the government’s social contract stands firm against a divided West.
Standing firm.
EPA/Matthias Schrader
The situation in is Ukraine deteriorating, but the G7 powers apparently have nothing to add.
Learn from the master.
EA/Yuri Kochetkov
Russian readers are unlikely to believe a narrative that is paid for by Western governments.
Ukraine is making no headway, even after a ceasefire deal.
EPA/Irina Gorbasyova
Both sides appear to be breaking the terms of the ceasefire, while the people of Ukraine struggle to survive.
Hey sup.
EPA/Alexei Nikolsky/Ria Novosti/Kremlin
As the West and Russia go about rooting out each other’s spies, they also lose the ability to keep tabs on each other. Time to get back in touch.