Tag - russia

 
 

RUSSIA

U.S. President Joe Biden
WORLD
Dec 30, 2024
Biden announces $2.5 billion in fresh military aid to Ukraine
Biden's announcement includes $1.25 billion in military aid drawn from U.S. stockpiles and a $1.22 billion Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package.
Oleksandr, a 45-year-old Ukrainian soldier of the 1st Separate Assault Battalion Da Vinci, who left his unit without permission and later returned to the army, poses for a portrait in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on Dec. 12.
WORLD / Society
Dec 30, 2024
Desertions spark panic, and pardons, in Ukraine's army
More than 90,000 cases have been opened into instances of soldiers in Ukraine going absent without leave or deserting since Russia invaded in 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during a meeting in Moscow on Dec. 22.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 30, 2024
Ukraine-Russia gas transit deal faces critical moment of truth
As its year-end expiry looms, Slovakia and a group of central European companies are putting pressure on Ukraine to keep Russian gas flowing.
Mikheil Kavelashvili, elected by lawmakers as Georgia's new president, takes an oath during his swearing-in ceremony at the parliament in Tbilisi on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 30, 2024
New Georgian president sworn in; predecessor calls him illegitimate leader
The presidential standoff is seen as a watershed moment in Georgia, which had been regarded as among the most pro-Western of the former Soviet states.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a Security Council meeting via videoconference in Moscow on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 29, 2024
Russia's Putin apologizes to Azerbaijan over 'tragic' airliner crash
Four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation said that Russian air defenses had mistakenly shot the airliner down.
Ukrainian soldiers carry the coffins of three comrades killed in recent fighting in eastern Ukraine during their funeral in the western city of Lviv on Dec. 20.
WORLD
Dec 28, 2024
Ukraine risks losing all Russian land it seized within months, U.S. says
With a more concerted effort by Moscow to push Ukrainian troops out of Kursk, possibly as soon as next month, Kyiv’s forces may only be able to hold the land until spring.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington earlier this month.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 28, 2024
North Koreans see mass casualties on Ukraine front lines, U.S. says
About a thousand North Korean troops were killed or wounded in the last week alone in Russia's Kursk region, U.S. officials say.
A Ground Self-Defense Force helicopter flies over GSDF's Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade soldiers and U.S. Marines during a drill in Okinawa last year.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2024
Japan and U.S. draw up guidelines for extended deterrence
The two countries came up with the guidelines for extended U.S. nuclear and conventional deterrence at a time when the security environment in the region is becoming more severe.
A thermal power plant at an undisclosed location in Ukraine that was damaged during a missile attack amid Russia's invasion
COMMENTARY / World / The Year Ahead
Dec 27, 2024
When Russia fights the wrong enemy
The longer the war in Ukraine continues, the weaker Russia will become, leading many to wonder when it will decide to staunch its losses.
The ancient city of Hatra, Iraq, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 27, 2024
Why cultural heritage must be protected in wartime
Attacks on cultural sites are acts of cultural erasure, born of the same eliminationist motives that also drive genocide.
The Finnish Border Guard's ship Turva and oil tanker Eagle S sail on the sea outside the Porkkalanniemi, Finland on Thursday
WORLD
Dec 27, 2024
Finland boards vessel possibly behind power cable and internet outages
"From our side, we are investigating grave sabotage," said the director of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.
Emergency specialists work at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Dec 27, 2024
Russian air defenses downed Azerbaijan Airlines flight, sources say
Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia.
Russia said it had foiled several Ukrainian plots to kill high-ranking Russian officers and their families in Moscow using bombs disguised as power banks or document folders.
WORLD
Dec 27, 2024
Russia says it foiled Ukrainian plots to kill senior officers with disguised bombs
Russian state TV showed what it said was footage of suspects who admitted to being recruited by Ukraine intelligence for bombings.
Bashar Assad's fall offers a chance to rebuild Syria, but the history of Middle East stabilization is littered with failure, making the coming months crucial.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 26, 2024
Rebuilding Syria after the ouster of the dictator Assad
Hope must be tempered by caution. Across the Middle East, the removal of strongmen has generally produced violent chaos.
In this handout picture released by Kazakhstan's emergency situations ministry, emergency specialists work at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet near the western Kazakh city of Aktau on Dec. 25.
WORLD
Dec 26, 2024
Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashes in Kazakhstan, killing 38
A jet crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people.
Syria symbolized Russia's "great power" status, but Vladimir Putin's failure to stop Bashar Assad's ouster exposed Russia as merely a regional power.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2024
Russia just lost its 'great power' status
If Russia’s war in Ukraine is about identity and empire, its presence in Syria was about prestige and status.
The Russian cargo ship Ursa Major during a monitoring operation conducted by the Portuguese Navy along the Continental Exclusive Economic Zone off the coast of Portugal. Two crew members are missing after the ship sank in international waters in the Mediterranean after an explosion on board, Russia's foreign ministry said on Telegram on Tuesday.
WORLD
Dec 26, 2024
Russian state owner calls cargo ship blast a 'terrorist attack'
The cargo ship sank in international waters off Spain in the early hours of Tuesday.
A rescuer of the State Emergency Service works to put out a fire in a private house after a drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday.
WORLD
Dec 26, 2024
Russia launches 'inhuman' Christmas Day attacks, Ukraine says
Half a million people in the Kharkiv region were left without heating, in temperatures just a few degrees Celsius above zero.
People take shelter at a metro station in Kyiv during an air raid alert amid Russia's attack on Ukraine on Wednesday.
WORLD
Dec 25, 2024
Ukraine reports massive Christmas Day attack by Russia
Russian missiles killed at least one person and damaged energy infrastructure across the country, officials said.
A disinformation graphic spread via Telegram before a Russian offensive in Ukraine's Kharkiv region. The Kremlin has deployed its sophisticated propaganda machinery to justify its offensive in Ukraine, and China is learning from Russian influence tactics.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2024
China is taking a page from Russia’s disinformation playbook
Russian and Chinese influence operations are increasingly similar and complementary, showing how the two regimes are collaborating to dominate the information space.

Longform

Members of the Wajima City Morning Market Association pose for a group photograph on the site where the market once stood.
In the wake of disaster, the revival of Wajima's market brings hope