Purtin defiant….
Russian slow gass to Europe….
The rebulding of the Ukraine…….
A ‘no fire’ zone around the Ukraine nuclear plant?
Russian support for the Ukraine conflict maybe ebbing….
Here’s what we know:
In a characteristically defiant speech, Vladimir Putin appeared to whitewash the toll of the war, which U.S. officials estimate has killed or wounded 80,000 Russian soldiers and tens of thousands of Ukrainians.
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Putin, seeking to lessen Russia’s isolation, says he will meet with China’s president next week.
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The E.U. weighs a Russian gas price cap and other measures to rein in ‘astronomic’ energy prices.
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How Russian gas in Europe is dwindling.
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Support for Ukraine varies widely between the West and the rest, a new study finds.
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Top U.N. officials say neither country should have a military presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
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How will Ukraine rebuild after the invasion? And who will pay for it?
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Even as Russia’s war on Ukraine grinds on with no end in sight, Ukraine’s allies are facing complicated questions about the country’s reconstruction.
Who will pay for what, and who should control the process and funds? What kind of external oversight of the money should be required and what changes must Ukraine make?
An international conference on reconstruction is scheduled for next month in Berlin to grapple with those issues, and also determine whether reconstruction should begin before a peace settlement. There is also the vexed question of what kind of security guarantees should be offered to encourage private investment in the rebuilding.
To that end, the German government has asked a research institution it helps finance, the Washington-based German Marshall Fund, to come up with proposals for donor countries. Their report was provided to The New York Times and is already being discussed among donor countries as “a private note to stakeholders.”…
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky echoed calls from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog for a protected zone to be established around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Key developments
- NATO countries will “pay a price” this winter for supporting Ukraine, chief of the military alliance Jens Stoltenberg said, but insisted that Europe had a “moral responsibility” to stand up to Russian aggression. “There are tough times ahead,” he wrote in the Financial Times. “For Ukraine’s future and for ours, we must prepare for the winter war and stay the course… We do pay a price for our support to Ukraine. But the price we pay is counted in dollars, euros and pounds, while Ukrainians are paying with their lives.”
- The International Atomic Energy Agency found extensive damage at the plant. The IAEA called for a “special safety and security zone” in and around the plant, warning in its report from a site visit that shelling continues to pose a threat and has damaged the electricity network and buildings near the reactors.IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi called on Russia to withdraw “all military personnel and equipment” from the facility and Ukrainian forces to hold back. Zelensky, in his nightly address, said Ukraine would support the proposal for a “protection zone” at the plant if it meant Russian forces would leave.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan, Russian state news agencies reported.
- Russian public support for the war against Ukraine, while sky-high, is less solid than statistics generally suggest, according to a new analysis by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The report notes that some supporters say they are anxious, shocked or fearful about the ongoing military campaign.
Battlefield updates
- Ukrainian forces launched an attack on the Russian-held eastern town of Balakliia in the Kharkiv region, a senior pro-Moscow separatist official said, according to Reuters. Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai remained vague about the counteroffensive, telling a Ukrainian television station, without specifying locations, that an attack was underway and that Ukraine’s “forces are enjoying some success.”
- Russia is facing challenges as its troops advance into the Donbas region, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update Wednesday. The ministry said Russian commanders had to decide “whether to deploy operational reserves to support this offensive, or to defend against continued Ukrainian advances in the south.”
- Russia is planning to buy “millions of rockets and artillery shells” from North Korea, a U.S. official told The Washington Post on Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity about the declassified intelligence, which was first reported by the New York Times….