10.03.2024

The Telegraph: August Hanning, Germany’s former spy chief, tells The Telegraph how pacifism that has shaped his country since the end of the Second World War has left it vulnerable.

Ukrainska Pravda: The Russians have been using ammunition loaded with a poisonous substance more actively in the combat zone, Ukrinform reports.

Yahoo News: Russian shelling of towns in eastern Ukraine killed three people Sunday while a Moscow strike on a residential building in the town of Myrnograd wounded a dozen, Kyiv said.

The Guardian: Pope Francis has been criticised after saying Ukraine should have the courage of the “white flag” and negotiate an end to the war with Russia. Some politicians and commentators in Europe reacted with anger after the pontiff appeared to stay silent on Russia’s crimes as aggressor in the invasion, which has killed tens of thousands, and placed the onus on Ukraine to make peace.

AP News: The past two years have been the hardest and most tumultuous for European Union candidate Moldova in more than three decades as it faces threats from Russia in multiple spheres of public life, the country’s foreign minister says.

Bloomberg: Bond investors are urging squabbling European Union leaders to get their act together on defense spending and make the bloc’s trillion-euro bond program permanent (archive).

CBC: Ukraine is collecting evidence of sexual violence, torture to prove Russia sanctioned the acts. Two years in, Ukrainian authorities have amassed a wealth of evidence and testimony.

CNN: Russia has begun using a powerful aerial bomb that has decimated Ukrainian defenses and tilted the balance on the front lines. It has done so by converting a basic Soviet-era weapon into a gliding bomb that can cause a crater fifteen meters wide.

09.03.2024

The Telegraph: Satellite pictures capturing the massive expansion of Russian military cemeteries prove the “huge cost” of the Ukraine war for Moscow’s army, according to experts.

AFP: British foreign minister David Cameron said he opposes sending Western troops to Ukraine, even for training missions, in an interview with German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung published on Saturday.

Reuters: Armenia is considering applying for European Union membership, foreign minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Friday, as it seeks to forge closer ties with the West in the face of tensions with traditional ally Russia.

AFP: French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance was due on Saturday to launch off its campaign for European Parliament elections in the northern city of Lille, as he tries to curb the rapid rise of the far right and hammer home the importance of greater support for Ukraine.

CNN: In late 2022, the US began “preparing rigorously” for Russia potentially striking Ukraine with a nuclear weapon, in what would have been the first nuclear attack in war since the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly eighty years before, two senior administration officials told CNN. The Biden administration was specifically concerned Russia might use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon, the officials said.

The Guardian: The company behind the national lottery was borrowing millions from Kremlin-owned banks when it won the UK’s largest public-sector contract, the Guardian can reveal.

AP News: Along with opposition politicians, independent journalists and human rights activists, ordinary Russians have been increasingly swept up in a crackdown reminiscent of the Soviet era. Some human rights advocates compare the scale of the clampdown to the repression from the 1960s to the 1980s, when dissidents were prosecuted for “anti-Soviet propaganda.”

08.03.2024

The Kyiv Independent: Estonia plans to sign a bilateral agreement on security guarantees under the Group of Seven Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on March 8 during a joint press conference in Vilnius.

Meduza: Since the start of the full-scale war, orphaned and unaccompanied Ukrainian children have been forcibly taken from occupied territories to Russia. IStories learned what training is provided to their potential Russian guardians.

POLITICO: France is building an alliance of countries open to potentially sending Western troops to Ukraine — and in the process deepening its clash with a more cautious Berlin.

Reuters: The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on two entities it accused of advancing Russia's "malign activities" in the Central African Republic and enabling the Wagner mercenary group, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

The Insider: Dmitry Medvedev's scandalous posts coincide with wine deliveries from Italy. The Insider uncovered a mundane explanation for the odd behavior of Russia’s former president.

The European Union plans to put forward a negotiating framework for Ukraine’s accession talks as soon as next week as the war-torn country seeks to speed up its integration into the bloc, Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said.

AFP: Russian armed forces and associated groups systematically use torture in occupied areas of Ukraine, pointing to a "deliberate policy", a United Nations expert said on Friday.

Reuters: Microsoft said on Friday that hackers linked to Russia's foreign intelligence were trying again to break into its systems, using data stolen from corporate emails in January to gain new access to the tech giant whose products are widely used across the U.S. national security establishment.

Meduza: Hours before Alexey Navalny’s death, Putin held a meeting with Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in which they discussed Navalny’s possible release in a prisoner exchange, independent media outlet Agentstvo has reported.

France 24: France is planning to have some of its arms manufacturers produce much-needed military equipment directly on Ukrainian soil to help the country in its war against Russia, Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Friday.

Bloomberg: Russia is intensifying disinformation attacks against democratic countries in an effort to turn allies against each other and create friction ahead of European Union and US elections, according to Romania’s foreign minister (archive).

Reuters: India said it had uncovered a "major human trafficking network" which lured young men to Russia with the promise of jobs only to force them to fight in the war in Ukraine.

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