I had fallen behind in ‘my’ count and this will get me back …..
Here’s what you need to know:
-
The plight of the displaced looms as one of Ukraine’s greatest challenges.
-
Food insecurity and hunger afflicted 2.3 billion people in 2021, and the war will add more, the U.N. says.
-
A top Russian official threatens the U.S. with the ‘wrath of God’ over war crime investigations.
-
Russian war bloggers see ‘a complete defeat’ for Ukraine in Luhansk, but some are skeptical.
-
President Biden calls Cherelle Griner to speak about her wife’s detention in Russia.
-
Europe, facing energy shortages as Russia cuts gas shipments, moves to bail out providers.
-
With the war constraining energy supplies, Europe embraces some gas and nuclear projects as ‘green.’
-
The U.S. intelligence chief laid out three scenarios in Ukraine. Here’s a look at each.
…
Avril Haines, the U.S. director of national intelligence, recently outlined three plausible scenarios in Ukraine.
In the first, Russia’s continuing progress in eastern Ukraine would break Ukrainians’ will to fight and allow the Russian military to take over even more of the country. This outcome is President Vladimir V. Putin’s new goal after being defeated in his initial attempt to oust Ukraine’s government.
In the second scenario — the most likely one, Haines said during a public appearance in Washington last week — Russia would dominate the east but would not be able to go much farther. The two countries would fall into a stalemate that Haines described as “a grinding struggle.”
In the third scenario, Ukraine would halt Russia’s advance in the east and also succeed in launching counterattacks. Ukraine has already regained some territory, especially in the southern part of the country, and some military experts expect a broader offensive soon….
…
Russia’s military is reportedly preparing for a new phase of its gradual Ukraine invasion, and after nearly five months of sustained personnel and equipment losses, a key Russian official just reconfirmed Vladimir Putin’s initial goals of capturing and occupying Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv.
According to Putin’s state-run media RIA, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said Tuesday that the aims of Russia’s invasion “are to ensure the protection of people from genocide by the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime, to demilitarize and denazify the territory of Ukraine,” allegations that are not at all true—especially since Kyiv’s duly elected president is in fact Jewish; but nevermind the truth….