The best of the last week’s coverage of the war in Ukraine.
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.
Firefighters extinguish a fire at a destroyed apartment complex after a Russian rocket attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on March 14, 2022. The majority of the city’s residents are Russian-speaking.
(AP Photo/Pavel Dorogoy)
The Russian diaspora has mostly been careful about overtly criticizing Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Does that imply support, or fear of Russian retribution?
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
The live protest on one of Russia’s main state-owned TV news bulletins is a blow to Putin because of his near total control of broadcasting in the country.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the U.S. Congress.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
In a speech that touched on America’s darkest days and most inspirational leaders, Ukraine’s embattled president made a powerful call for stronger action on Russia.
Territorial ambitions: in his speeches and writings, Vladimir Putin has indicated an ‘empire complex’.
EPA/Dmitry Astakhov/pool
Putin is following a strategy used by other imperial countries, particularly 19th-century China and Japan.
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.
Ukrainian soldiers move U.S.-made Stinger missiles that were shipped from Lithuania to Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 13, 2022.
Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered an unprecedented outpouring of humanitarian and military aid. Protecting those supply chains is essential for delivering materiel to the frontlines.
Ukrainian soldiers on the the streets of Kyiv in 1917.
Wikimedia Commons
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked the US to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Doing so in this kind of international conflict would be unprecedented and might not make sense.
Russian President Vladimir Putin watches through binoculars as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu sits nearby during military exercises east of Moscow in September 2021.
(Sergei Savostyanov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
No state in the global community should have to earn Russia’s compliance with the law. If the rule of law is not respected, the entire global community becomes as vulnerable as Ukraine is now.
Repression: thousands of Russians are being arrested in anti-war protests.
Nikolay Vinokurov/Alamy Stock Photo
Vladimir Putin has a history of flattening cities in time of conflict. But alleged war crimes in Chechnya and Syria never resulted in charges, let alone prosecutions. Will Ukraine be any different?
Russian President Vladimir Putin uses words to mean the opposite of what they really mean.
Sergei Guneyev/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images
Putin often uses words to mean exactly the opposite of what they normally do – a practice diagnosed by political author George Orwell as ‘doublespeak,’ or the language of totalitarians.
The monument to Catherine II (Catherine the Great) in Pushkin, Russia.
(Shutterstock)
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.
A military historian and U.S. Army veteran explains how wars are not easy to win – something political leaders often forget when looking at the calculus of conflict.