Daily Archives: May 25, 2022

The Russian parliament gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a bill that would allow the government to appoint new management of foreign companies that pulled out of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

According to the state news agency Tass, the new law would transfer control over companies that left Russia not for economic reasons but because of anti-Russian sentiment in Europe and the U.S. Tass said foreign owners would still be able to resume operations in Russia or sell their shares.

Many foreign companies have suspended operations in Russia. Others have walked away entirely, despite their huge investments.

McDonalds announced this month that it is selling its 850 restaurants in Russia.

The State Duma, the lower house of Russias parliament, approved the bill in the first of three readings on Tuesday. After final approval, it would go to the upper house and then to President Vladimir Putin for his signature.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the new law made it even more imperative for foreign companies remaining in Russia to leave. Its the last chance to save not only your reputation but your property, he said in a statement.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

After 3 months, Russia still bogged down in Ukraine war

200 bodies found in Mariupol as war rages in Ukraines east

AP-NORC poll: US economy, not punishing Russia, is top priority

Pentagon says more high-tech weapons going to Ukraine

After 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed

Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine The Ukrainian military said Russia has fired at Ukrainian border guards in the northeastern Sumy region in the latest of a series of alleged cross-border attacks over the past few weeks.

Military officials say observers Tuesday night recorded seven shots from Russian territory toward the village of Boyaro-Lezhachi, most likely mortar fire.

The Ukrainian Operational Command North said on its Facebook post that eight other shots were heard Tuesday afternoon near a neighboring village. There were no reports of any deaths.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Russian shelling continues around Ukraines second-largest city of Kharkiv, even after Russian troops withdrew from its surroundings last week.

Ukrainian regional officials say the city of Derhachi was hit and a 69-year-old woman died and another person was injured.

Derhachi is southwest of the city of Kharkiv and has previously come under Russian shelling.

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KYIV, Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is using everything at its disposal in the fight for four cities in the eastern Donbas region.

The situation in the Donbas now is very difficult, Zelenskyy said late Tuesday in his nightly address to the nation. Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there. Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk the occupiers want to destroy everything there.

Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian army is fighting back, but it will take time and a lot more effort by our people to overcome their advantage in the amount of equipment and weapons.

He told Ukrainians they should be proud of having held off Russia for three months in a war that many in Russia and the West expected to last three days.

Zelenskyy appealed for even more weapons from the West to keep Ukraine in the fight including multiple-rocket launchers and tanks.

In addition, Zelenskyy mocked the statement made Tuesday by the Russian defense minister that Russia was deliberately slowing its offensive to allow residents of encircled cites time to evacuate.

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KYIV, Ukraine The Ukrainian governor of the eastern Luhansk region said Tuesday that the area was facing the most difficult time since conflict with Russia-backed separatists began in 2014.

Now, for the Luhansk region, is the most difficult time in the eight years of the war, Serhii Haidai wrote on Telegram. The Russians are advancing in all directions at the same time, they brought over an insane number of fighters and equipment.

He also accused Moscows troops of deploying scorched-earth tactics across the region, one of two which make up Ukraines eastern industrial heartland.

Its only getting worse. What the Russians are doing is hard to describe in words. The invaders are killing our cities, destroying everything around. The situation is on the verge of being critical. The free Luhansk region is now like Mariupol, Haidai added, in a reference to the ruined port city captured by Moscow last week.

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KYIV, Ukraine The top military commander who fought until last week to keep Ukrainian control of the southern port city of Mariupol is alive in Russian-controlled territory, his wife said Tuesday after holding a brief telephone conversation.

Kateryna Prokopenko, who is married to Azov Regiment leader Denys Prokopenko, said that her husband asked her how she was, but that the line broke off before he could say anything about himself.

She said the phone call was possible under an agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Russia and thanks to the mediation of the Red Cross, which has been visiting some of the Ukrainian fighters who surrendered.

Earlier this month Russia announced its takeover of Mariupol with the surrender of the fighters holed up at the massive Azovstal steel mill.

Prokopenko, who spoke to The Associated Press in Kyiv together with another wife of a soldier, Yuliia Fedosiuk, said that the Ukraine and Russia agreement guarantees proper burial of dead soldiers and certain conditions for the prisoners of war, including allowing them to hold telephone calls with family members a few times per week.

The two women said several families had received calls in the past two days. They said they could not reveal more details of the agreement but they were hopeful that the soldiers will not be tortured and that they eventually will come back home.

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BERLIN Germany has rejected suggestions that it is reneging on a promise to provide Poland with tanks to make up for those that Warsaw has delivered to Ukraine.

Polish President Andrzej Duda told German broadcaster Welt that he was very disappointed Berlin had not fulfilled its promise on the delivery of Leopard tanks to Poland.

Speaking after a meeting with her Polish counterpart in Berlin on Tuesday, Germanys Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the issue had been discussed in order to resolve misunderstandings.

She said Germany could not supply heavy weapons at the press of a button as there were numerous questions to consider, not least what arms are actually available.

Polands Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said his country regretted that the situation with regard to arms deliveries to Ukraine was not as dynamic as hoped, but acknowledged that the devil lies in the detail on the issue.

Poland gave Soviet-designed T-72 tanks to Ukraine with the expectation that NATO, the U.S. and Germany would fill that void.

Germany has agreed to several similar circular swaps with allied countries such as Slovenia and the Czech Republic, who in turn are sending older Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine.

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DAVOS, Switzerland European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday accused Russia of deliberately bombarding grain warehouses across Ukraine and weaponizing food supplies.

Russias invasion of Ukraine has provoked disruptions of global food supplies, and the blockade of Ukrainian ports has been particularly harmful. Ukraine accounted for 90% of grain and oilseed exports before the war, according to the EU.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the head of the EUs executive arm said about 20 million tons of wheat are currently stuck in Ukraine.

And on top of this, Russia is now hoarding its own food exports as a form of blackmail holding back supplies to increase global prices, or trading wheat in exchange for political support, she said. This is using hunger and grain to wield power.

Von der Leyen said that fragile countries and vulnerable populations suffer the most. She said bread prices in Lebanon increased by 70%, and food shipments from Odesa have been blocked from reaching Somalia.

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LVIV, Ukraine An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol said on Tuesday that workers removing rubble from a collapsed apartment building in the devastated Ukrainian city found about 200 corpses in the buildings basement.

Petro Andryushchenko said on Telegram that the bodies were decomposing and that the stench permeated the neighborhood. Its not clear when they were discovered and the report could not be independently verified.

Perched on the Sea of Azov, Mariupol was relentlessly pounded during a monthslong siege that finally ended last week after some 2,500 Ukrainian fighters abandoned a steel plant where they had made their last stand in the strategic port city.

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BRUSSELS A European Union plan to suspend all tariffs on imports from Ukraine for one year cleared the final political hurdle on Tuesday when EU finance ministers endorsed the move.

Meant to help the Ukrainian economy battered by Russias invasion, the removal of the EU duties will apply to Ukrainian industrial products, including steel, and to farm goods such as fruits and vegetables.

The EU has already scrapped most of its tariffs on Ukrainian products as a result of a 2016 free-trade agreement. Ukrainian exports to the EU were worth 24.1 billion euros ($25.8 billion) last year, with the main goods being metals, agricultural products and machinery.

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Two top Russian security officials vowed on Tuesday that Moscow will achieve all the goals set for the military operation in Ukraine, appearing to address the fact that the invasion, expected by many to be a blitzkrieg, has entered its fourth month this week.

The secretary of Russias Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said in an interview published Tuesday that the Russian government is not chasing deadlines.

Nazism must either be 100% eradicated, or it will raise its head in a few years, and in an even uglier form, he said in a response to a question about the war dragging on.

Russia has falsely called the war a campaign to denazify Ukraine a country with a democratically elected Jewish president who wants closer ties with the West.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting of security officials that Russia is deliberately slowing down its offensive by arranging cease-fires and humanitarian corridors in order to avoid casualties among the civilians.

APs reporting on the ground found that the Russian forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets, such as hospitals, schools and venues where civilians were sheltering.

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PARIS A Ukrainian government minister pushed Tuesday for a quick decision on eventual Ukrainian membership in the European Union, even as France warns that it could be decades before Ukraine joins the bloc.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna met with French Europe Minister Clement Beaune Tuesday in Paris and argued that Ukraine has made deep and difficult reforms aimed at improving its chances at EU membership.

As politicians, we must find a way for Ukraine to truly become part of this family, both economically and politically, she told reporters.

The European Commission aims to deliver a first opinion in June on Ukraines request to become a member. But the process usually takes many years, and French President Emmanuel Macron has said it could be decades.

In the meantime France is proposing an interim arrangement that would allow more political cooperation with Ukraine and other potential EU members.

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DAVOS, Switzerland European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says Russia can be reintegrated into the orbit of European nations if it finds its way back to democracy, the rule of law, the respect for the international rules-based order.

Von der Leyen spoke at the World Economic Forums annual gathering Tuesday. Insisting on the historical and cultural links between Europe and Russia, the head of the EUs executive arm said reconciliation is certainly a distant dream and hope.

But this also says that our standing up against this brutal invasion is standing up against the leadership in Russia. It is the Russian people who are the ones who decide about the future of their country. They have it in their hands.

ANKARA, Turkey The leader of a Turkish nationalist party that is allied with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey should consider leaving NATO if circumstances become inextricable and Turkey is forced to approve Sweden and Finland membership.

Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Action Party, said in a speech to his partys legislators on Tuesday that Turkey isnt without alternatives and could be part of a possible security alliance that could be made up of Turkic-speaking states and Muslim nations.

Turkey is not without options. Turkey is not helpless. Leaving NATO should be put on the agenda as an alternative option if the circumstances become inextricable, Bahceli said. We did not exist with NATO, and we will not perish without NATO.

Turkey is objecting to Swedens and Finlands historic bid to join the alliance, citing as reasons their perceived support to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, and other groups that Turkey considers to be terrorists.

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ANKARA, Turkey Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says a delegation made up of officials from Sweden and Finland are expected to arrive in Turkey later on Tuesday to discuss Ankaras objection to their membership in NATO.

Cavusoglu told a group of journalists traveling with him on a two-day visit to the Palestinian territories and Israel that the delegation would meet with Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal on Wednesday.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto also confirmed the meeting.

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A Russian-installed official in Ukraines Kherson region says the regions pro-Kremlin administration will ask Moscow to set up a military base there.

There should be a Russian military base in the Kherson region, deputy head of the Russia-installed administration in Kherson Kirill Stremousov was quoted as saying by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. We will be asking for it, the entire population is interested in it. It is vitally important and will become a security guarantee for the region and its residents.

Russian forces took control of the Kherson region in southeastern Ukraine early on in the war and installed its own administration there. Ukrainian officials have speculated that Russia plans to stage a referendum in the region to declare its independence, similar to the ones that took place in eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014. Moscow recognized the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics two days before invading Ukraine and used it as a pretext to send troops to its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Stremousov denied such plans earlier this month and said the region will ask the Kremlin to make it part of Russia instead. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said it is up to the people of Kherson to decide how and where they want to live.

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LONDON British military authorities say Russian forces have intensified efforts to encircle and capture Severodonetsk and neighboring cities, the only part of the Luhansk region that remains under Ukrainian government control.

The U.K. defense ministry, in a briefing posted Tuesday morning, says the northern and southern arms of the Russian operation are currently separated by about 25 kilometers (15 miles) of Ukrainian-held territory.

The ministry says Russian forces have achieved some localized successes despite strong resistance from Ukrainian troops that occupy well dug-in defensive positions.

The ministry says the battle for Severodonetsk is only one part of the Russian campaign to take the larger Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, and the fall of the city may cause logistical problems for the Kremlin.

If the Donbas front line moves further west, this will extend Russian lines of communication and likely see its forces face further logistic resupply difficulties, the ministry said.

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Live updates | Russia-Ukraine War - The Associated Press

Russias foreign minister has said Moscow will focus on developing relations with China, though would consider offers from the west to re-establish ties. Sergei Lavrov, in a question and answer session at an event in Moscow, said western countries had espoused russophobia since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.

Russias ministry of defence claims to have destroyed a warehouse full of ammunition in Razdolovka which was stockpiling 155mm shells manufactured for American-made M-777 howitzers supplied to Ukraine.

Russia has increased the intensity of its operations in the Donbas as it seeks to encircle Sieverodonetsk, Lyschansk, and Rubizhne in order to place the whole of Luhansk oblast under Russian occupation, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.

Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev said that Russia will achieve its objectives in Ukraine and is not chasing deadlines. All the goals set by the president will be fulfilled. It cannot be otherwise, he said.

The Russia-appointed administration of Ukraines Kherson region will ask Moscow to set up a military base on its territory, Russias RIA Novosti news agency reports. Russia successfully seized Ukraines southern Kherson region in mid-March which is adjacent to Crimea, the peninsula which Moscow has controlled since 2014.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Vladimir Putin was the only Russian official he was willing to meet with to discuss how to end the war. The president of the Russian Federation decides it all, he said in a video address to the World Economic Forum in Davos. I cannot accept any kind of meeting with anyone coming from the Russian Federation but the president.

A team of Colombian soldiers will travel to Europe to train their Ukrainian counterparts on de-mining techniques, the South American countrys defence minister has said.

Finland and Sweden will send delegations to Ankara tomorrow to try to resolve Turkish opposition to their applications for membership of the Nato military alliance, Finlands foreign minister Pekka Haavisto has said.

Poland has continued to signal its intent to bolster its defences in the light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Defence secretary Mariusz Blaszczak said the country intends to buy six additional Patriot missile batteries.

Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, says the war on Ukraine is putting the international order into question. She said the World Economic Forum at Davos should be talking about making the world better together, but instead they must talk about Putins invasion, where Russias playbook for the war comes out of another century. To rebuild Ukraine, she said We should leave no stone unturned, including possibly using the Russian assets we have frozen.

A Russian court has rejected an appeal from opposition leader Alexei Navalny against a nine-year prison sentence he is serving for large-scale fraud and contempt of court, charges which he denies. Navalny lambasted President Vladimir Putin during court hearing, casting him as a madman who had started a stupid war in Ukraine based on lies.

A veteran Russian diplomat in Geneva has resigned over the invasion of Ukraine, in a rare political protest from within the Russian foreign policy establishment. Boris Bondarev, a counsellor at the Russian permanent mission to the UN in Geneva, wrote in a public statement: Never have I been so ashamed of my country. He confirmed he had submitted his letter of resignation.

A court in Kyiv has sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for the killing of a Ukrainian civilian, in the first verdict in a trial related to war crimes by the Russian army during its invasion of Ukraine. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old sergeant, was found guilty of killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in the Sumy region during the first days of the invasion.

Ukraines prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said there were about 13,000 cases of Russian alleged war crimes being investigated as of Monday. Another 48 Russian soldiers were due to face war crimes trials, she said, and Ukrainian officials have a list of about 600 suspects thought to have engaged in war crimes.

Twenty countries announced new security assistance packages and agreed to send more advanced weapons to Ukraine, including a Harpoon launcher and missiles to protect its coast, said Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary. The new security packages included critically needed artillery ammunition, coastal defence systems and tanks and other armoured vehicles.

Denmark pledged to send Harpoon anti-ship missiles that could be used to push the Russian navy away from Ukraines Black Sea ports, allowing exports of grain and other agricultural products to resume.

Low-level discussions were under way on whether some US troops should be based in Ukraine and how the US may need to adjust its training of Ukrainian forces, said General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the west to intensify its economic sanctions against Russia as he said business leaders in Davos needed to decide whether brute force should rule the world. In a keynote video address to the World Economic Forum, Zelenskiy called for a full oil embargo, the severing of Russian banks from the global financial system, the complete isolation of the Russian IT sector and a ban on trade with Russia.

The European Union will likely agree an embargo on Russian oil imports within days, Germanys economy minister said on Monday. Robert Habeck also told German broadcaster ZDF that the European Commission and the US were working on a proposal to cap global oil prices rather than pay any price.

Zelenskiy gave an insight into the level of losses being sustained by Ukrainian forces in the Donbas, saying between 50 to 100 Ukrainians could be dying every day. While Ukraine and its allies have made much of Russian losses since the war began, the issue of Ukrainian casualties has been something of a black hole.

Nearly 90 people were killed in a Russian airstrike on the village of Desna in the northern Ukrainian region of Chernihiv, according to Zelenskiy. Ukrainian authorities said eight people were killed in the strike, which took place last Tuesday. Zelenskiys figure would give the Desna attack Ukraines biggest military death toll in a single strike of the war so far.

The Ukrainian fighters who surrendered at the Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol are to be put on trial, the head of the separatist Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, told Russian state media. It was not clear what charges the soldiers would face.

The war in Ukraine could cause a recession in weaker economies, the head of the IMF has warned. Kristalina Georgieva predicted that 2022 would be a tough year and declined to rule out a global recession if conditions worsened markedly.

New satellite images reportedly show Russian theft of Ukrainian grain. The pictures released by Maxar Technologies seemingly back up claims from Zelenskiy that food had been gradually stolen from the country, CNN has reported. In the photos, taken from 19 and 21 May, two bulk carrier ships with Russian flags can be seen loading grain from the grain silos they are docked by.

Starbucks is leaving the Russian market, bringing an end to nearly 15 years of business there. The Seattle-based coffee company has 130 stores and nearly 2,000 employees in Russia. McDonalds is also pulling out, removing the golden arches from Moscow before leaving for good.

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Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 90 of the invasion - The Guardian

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law on Monday that lays out a process for his country to seize and sell the assets of people who support Russia's invasion. Zelenskyy says the law will bolster Ukraine's war chest, three months after Russia sparked a bloody conflict with its neighbor.

The law is primarily aimed at Russian-owned assets and property in Ukraine, particularly Russian citizens who have already had their assets blocked by Ukraine's government. Last week, a Ukrainian court seized hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of assets owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman an oligarch who was born in Ukraine.

The new law lists a number of offenses, such as giving money to Russia's government or glorifying those who are fighting against Ukraine. It also covers people who are found to have helped set up an occupation government in Russian-controlled portions of Ukraine, or those who help organize elections or referendums in occupied territories.

The law contains several elements that aim to ensure a rapid resolution of cases, including a stipulation that a person's failure to appear or be represented at court cannot slow the court's consideration of the claim against them. It also lays out plans for a speedy appeals process, with each party given five days to ask for an appeal. An appeals panel would then have five days to take up the matter.

The new sanction will be in effect for as long as Ukraine operates under martial law, as it has since the invasion began on Feb. 24. On Sunday, the Rada approved extending martial law in Ukraine through late August.

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Ukraine's new law will let it fund the war effort by selling Russian assets - NPR

WASHINGTON (AP) Nearly 50 defense leaders from around the world met Monday and agreed to send more advanced weapons to Ukraine, including a Harpoon launcher and missiles to protect its coast, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters.

And Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that low-level discussion is underway on how the U.S. may need to adjust its training of Ukrainian forces and on whether some U.S. troops should be based in Ukraine.

The U.S. withdrew its few troops in Ukraine before the war and has no plans to send in combat forces. Milleys comments left open the possibility troops could return for embassy security or another non-combat role.

The U.S. embassy in Kyiv has partially reopened and is staffing up again, and there have been questions about whether the U.S. will send a Marine security force back in to help protect the embassy or if other options should be considered.

Asked if U.S. special operations forces may go into Ukraine, which officials have insisted they are not doing yet, Milley said that any reintroduction of U.S. forces into Ukraine would require a presidential decision. So were a ways away from anything like that.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, Austin declined to say if the U.S. will send Ukraine high-tech mobile rocket launchers, which it has requested. But Austin said that some 20 nations announced Monday that they will send new packages of security assistance to Ukraine, as its war with Russia reaches the three-month mark.

In particular, he said that Denmark has agreed to send a Harpoon launcher and missiles to Ukraine to help Ukraine defend its coast. Russia has ships in the Black Sea and has used them to launch cruise missiles into Ukraine. The Russian ships have also stopped all commercial ship traffic from entering Ukraine ports.

Weve gained a sharper, shared sense of Ukraines priority requirements and the situation on the battlefield, Austin told reporters at the close of the virtual meeting with the defense leaders. Many countries are donating critically needed artillery ammunition, coastal defense systems and tanks and other armored vehicles. Others came forward with new commitments for training.

The U.S. and other countries have been training Ukrainian forces in nearby European countries.

Austin added that the Czech Republic recently donated attack helicopters, tanks and rockets, and that Italy, Greece, Norway and Poland announced new donations Monday of artillery systems and ammunition.

The nature of the fight, as youve heard us describe a number of times is ... really shaped by artillery in this phase, said Austin. And weve seen serious exchanges of artillery fires over the last several weeks.

Austin said that during the virtual meeting, Ukraine officials made clear their security needs. And he said those are consistent with what has been identified in recent weeks long-range artillery and rocket systems, armored personnel carriers and drones.

Milley provided the greatest detail to date on the increased U.S. presence in Europe since Russia invaded in late February. Last fall. there were roughly 78,000 U.S. troops in the region, and that has gone up to 102,000 including 24 surface ships, four submarines, 12 fighter jet squadrons, two combat aviation units, and six Army brigade combat teams, along with their division and corps leaderships.

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Pentagon says more high-tech weapons going to Ukraine - The Associated Press

YouTube has taken down more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine for violating content guidelines, including removal of videos that referred to the invasion as a liberation mission.

The platform is hugely popular in Russia, where, unlike some of its US peers, it has not been shut down despite hosting content from opposition figures such as Alexei Navalny. YouTube has also been able to operate in Russia despite cracking down on pro-Kremlin content that has broken guidelines including its major violent events policy, which prohibits denying or trivialising the invasion.

Since the conflict began in February, YouTube has taken down channels including that of the pro-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Solovyov. Channels associated with Russias Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs have also been temporarily suspended from uploading videos in recent months for describing the war as a liberation mission.

YouTubes chief product officer, Neal Mohan, said: We have a major violent events policy and that applies to things like denial of major violent events: everything from the Holocaust to Sandy Hook. And of course, whats happening in Ukraine is a major violent event. And so weve used that policy to take unprecedented action.

In an interview with the Guardian, Mohan added that YouTubes news content on the conflict had received more than 40m views in Ukraine alone.

The first and probably most paramount responsibility is making sure that people who are looking for information about this event can get accurate, high-quality, credible information on YouTube, he said. The consumption of authoritative channels on our platform has grown significantly, of course in Ukraine, but also in countries surrounding Ukraine, Poland, and also within Russia itself.

YouTube did not provide a breakdown of the taken-down content and channels but Mohan said much of it represented Kremlin narratives about the invasion. I dont have the specific numbers, but you can imagine a lot of it being the narratives that are coming from Russian government, or Russian actors on behalf of the Russian government, he said.

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YouTube has an estimated 90 million users in Russia, although it no longer allows advertising on the platform in the country. The decision by YouTubes parent company, Google, has drawn protests from Navalny, who said well-targeted ads helped counteract Kremlin propaganda.

YouTube remains the largest video-sharing site up and running in Russia itself, said Mohan. So YouTube is a place where Russian citizens can get uncensored information about the war, including from many of the same authoritative channels that we all have access to outside of the country. We remain an important platform for Russian citizens themselves as this crisis continues to evolve.

Last week, the Russian minister for digital development, Maksut Shadaev, said the country would not block YouTube, despite disputes over content that have resulted in the platform being fined in court for not removing banned videos.

Shadaev indicated that blocking Russias most popular social media platform would affect users. We are not planning to close YouTube, the minister said. Above all, when we restrict something, we should clearly understand that our users wont suffer.

YouTube has also placed a worldwide ban on channels associated with Russian state media, including Russia Today and Sputnik. Facebook and Instagram are banned in Russia and access to Twitter has been restricted, in response to the platforms own bans on Russian state-owned media.

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YouTube removes more than 9,000 channels relating to Ukraine war - The Guardian

Why did Vladimir Putin invade Ukraine? In the three months since the invasion began, the Russian dictator has put forward a wide range of different rationalizations blaming the war on everything from NATO enlargement to imaginary Ukrainian Nazis. But throughout it all, his one consistent message has been the alleged illegitimacy of the Ukrainian state.

Such rhetoric is nothing new. For years, Putin has denied Ukraines right to exist while insisting that Ukrainians are really Russians (one people). He has repeatedly accused modern Ukraine of occupying historically Russian lands and has dismissed the entire notion of a separate Ukrainian national identity as an artificial invention created by outside forces seeking to weaken Russia from within.

The full extent of Putins Ukraine obsession was laid bare in a 5,000-word essay on the supposed historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians that was published in July 2021, just seven months before the Russian invasion. Posing as both amateur historian and amateur philosopher, Putin conveniently ignored centuries of imperial oppression before expressing his confidence that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia.

Insofar as sovereignty means freedom from external control, Putins statement is Orwellian-level nonsense. This chilling document was correctly interpreted by many as a declaration of war on Ukrainian statehood. It was subsequently made required reading for all members of the Russian military.

Events on the battlefield have since exposed the absurdity of Putins core arguments. If he has any lingering doubts regarding the reality of the Ukrainian nation, he need only consult the Russian soldiers who lost the Battle for Kyiv and were forced to retreat entirely from northern Ukraine after suffering catastrophic losses. Indeed, it is hard to think of a more comprehensive debunking of the whole one people myth.

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Putins attempts to deny Ukrainian identity are easily dismissed but his insistence on the purported illegitimacy of modern Ukraine is worth exploring in further detail as it raises some interesting questions regarding the true causes of todays war.

The foundational principle around which the Founding Fathers created the United States was the notion that those who govern can derive their legitimacy from only one source, namely the people they seek to govern. This idea of government of the people, by the people, for the people, as expressed by President Lincoln at Gettysburg in 1863, has come to be recognized as the basic principle underpinning all modern democratic systems.

The ideas of democratic rule and free elections have become so popular around the world that even totalitarian states often include the label Democratic in their respective countrys names, as is the case with the North Korean Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. Similarly, dictatorships such as Putins Russia still feel the need to stage faux elections in order to maintain the pretense of democratic legitimacy.

Much to Putins chagrin, modern Ukraine does not share his own regimes lack of legitimacy. Far from it, in fact. In December 1991, Ukrainians took part in a nationwide referendum on independence from the Soviet Union that saw over 90% of voters back the creation of an independent Ukraine. Crucially, clear majorities supported independence in every single Ukrainian region including Crimea (54%) and the two regions that make up the Russian-occupied Donbas, Luhansk (83%) and Donetsk (76%). The vote was widely acknowledged as free and fair, setting a democratic standard that would gradually become the norm in Ukraine during the coming decades of independence.

Ukraines most recent election cycle in 2019 reflected the continuing consolidation of the countrys democracy. Despite running as a complete outsider with no political experience whatsoever, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was able to secure a landslide election victory over incumbent Petro Poroshenko in April 2019 and become Ukraines sixth president. Three months later, his newly established political party made history once again with a record win in Ukraines parliamentary election. Zelenskyys success reflected the highly competitive nature of Ukraines political system while underscoring the genuine legitimacy that the countrys democratic culture helps to bestow upon this state.

In the past few months, the courage and commitment demonstrated by millions of Ukrainians in the face of foreign invasion have vividly reaffirmed the legitimacy of Ukrainian statehood. The country has responded to Russias invasion with an unprecedented wave of national mobilization that has seen huge numbers volunteer for the armed forces and many more make breathtaking sacrifices in support of their nations defense. This remarkable show of unity and resilience has inspired the watching world while making a mockery of Putins ramblings.

By comparison, Russias post-Soviet development could hardly be more different. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, nobody was offered the opportunity to vote in a referendum on whether they wished to be part of the Russian Federation. When Chechnya attempted to break away from Russia in the early 1990s, Moscow waged two bloody wars to crush that independence movement.

Since coming to power at the turn of the millennium, Putin has had his political opponents murdered, jailed or exiled. He has steadily reversed the limited democratic gains of the 1990s and now completely controls the entire political system along with the media. All forms of dissent are outlawed. The crackdown on alternative voices in Putins Russia has become so surrealistic that people are now routinely arrested for holding up blank placards in public spaces.

Despite the countrys slide into authoritarianism, Russia still officially goes through the motions of regular election cycles in order to renew Putins mandate to rule. However, the increasing absurdity of these choreographed campaigns merely serves to underscore the illegitimacy rather than the legitimacy of the entire regime.

This places Putins efforts to portray Ukraine as illegitimate in an entirely different light. By almost any measure, President Zelenskyy enjoys far more personal legitimacy than Putin, while democratic Ukraine is an infinitely more legitimate state than autocratic Russia.

Putin is well aware of this fact. He also understands that if a democratic Ukraine is allowed to gain strength and prosper, it will likely inspire Russians to seek similar changes in their own country. In other words, he regards the existence of a free and democratic Ukraine as an existential threat to the future of his own autocratic regime.

This helps to explain why Putin has chosen to gamble everything on the destruction of the Ukrainian state. From the Russian rulers perspective, independent Ukraine is an intolerable reminder that democratic legitimacy is entirely possible in the Slavic heartlands of the former USSR. Unless Ukraine is destroyed, Putin fears Russia itself may enter a new era of collapse that will continue the process begun in 1991.

Bohdan Vitvitsky is a former Resident Legal Advisor at the US Embassy in Ukraine and Special Advisor to Ukraines Prosecutor General.

The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

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Image: Montage of illustration from a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Jimmy Beunardeau / Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect)

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The Putin puzzle: Why is the Russian dictator so obsessed with Ukraine? - Atlantic Council

The turmoil caused by Russias invasion of Ukraine has underlined the need for a free Indo-Pacific region, Joe Biden has said at a meeting with regional partners that Beijing has condemned as part of a US-led attempt to contain China.

Biden and the leaders of a loose alliance known as the Quad India, Japan and Australia reaffirmed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific during talks in Tokyo on Tuesday. The comments came one day after the US president said Washington would be ready to intervene militarily to defend Taiwan, prompting China to accuse him of playing with fire.

Biden later appeared to attempt to play down his remarks, saying the US policy of strategic ambiguity on Taiwan remained unchanged, according to media reports.

Washington is required by law to provide Taiwan with weapons for self-defence, but under a decades-long policy of strategic ambiguity, it has never explicitly committed itself to intervening militarily to protect the island in the event of a Chinese attack a stance that Biden appeared to have contradicted.

But on Tuesday, Biden, asked if there had been any change to the US policy on Taiwan, responded: No.

The policy has not changed at all, he said. I stated that when I made my statement yesterday, he said after a round of talks with his Quad colleagues.

The four leaders Biden, Japans prime minister, Fumio Kishida, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and Australias new prime minister, Anthony Albanese were eager to present a united front. But Indias refusal to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine or impose sanctions forced the Quad to issue an ambiguous condemnation of the Kremlin.

Their joint statement a stopped short of explicit criticism of Russias actions in Ukraine, saying only that they opposed all attempts to change the status quo by force, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.

They also opposed the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coastguard vessels and maritime militia and efforts to disrupt other countries offshore resource exploitation activities an apparent reference to Chinese activity in the South and East China Seas.

The statement avoided explicit condemnation of either China or Russia, despite Bidens earlier warning that like-minded countries had to make sure we deliver in what he described as a battle of democracies versus autocracies.

With Modi sitting nearby, Biden said the leaders were navigating through a dark hour in our shared history due to Russias war on Ukraine. He added that it was more than just a European issue, its a global issue. Modi did not address it in his public remarks as the summit got under way.

The US strategy was for a free, open, connected, secure and resilient Indo-Pacific, Biden said. Russias assault on Ukraine only heightens the importance of those goals, the fundamental principles of the international order.

Kishida said the Russian invasion shakes the foundation of international order and was a direct challenge to the principles of the United Nations.

We should not allow similar things to happen in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.

While Japan and Australia have joined the US in condemning the Russian invasion and imposing sanctions, India, which buys most of its military hardware from Russia, has so far refused to do either.

The divisions over Russia highlight the political limits of the Quad, whose focus is on practical cooperation in areas such as coronavirus vaccines, infrastructure, climate change, space, cybersecurity and critical and emerging technologies.

China will have closely followed Tuesdays summit, only the second in-person meeting since the Quads first formal summit last year.

China has described the Quad as an attempt to form an Asian version of Nato, although the four members have not agreed a mutual defence pact.

Quad members say the group is meant to deepen economic, diplomatic and military ties among the four countries. Biden said the grouping was of growing importance, calling it a central partnership. In a short time, weve shown the Quad isnt just a passing fad. We mean business, he said.

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Joe Biden: invasion of Ukraine shows need for free and open Indo-Pacific - The Guardian US

Palantir CEO Alex Karp believes that the war between Russia and Ukraine is making big countries re-consider their military strategies.

Asked by CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin if there is a lesson for China from the war, Karp said: "The lesson for every big country is 'holy s---. We've been buying all this heavy stuff and if people are willing to fight as heroes, fight to the last person ... they might actually be able to beat us'."

Karp, who was interviewed at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, said every large nation is currently evaluating its offensive and defensive abilities.

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir arrives ahead of a "Tech For Good" meetup at Hotel Marigny in Paris on May 15, 2019, held to discuss good conduct for technology giants.

Bertrand Guay | AFP | Getty Images

"Is our offensive capability actually offence? Or will defense-offense like in Ukraine be able to beat us? Every single large country in the world is looking at this. Not just our adversaries but also our allies."

His comments come as tensions between China and Taiwan continue to escalate. Veteran U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger on Monday said that Washington and Beijing must seek to avoid putting Taiwan at the center of their tense diplomatic relationship, adding that the need for the world's two largest economies to avoid direct confrontation is in the interest of global peace.

Karp said he believes there is a 20-30% chance of a nuclear war taking place in the long term as the war in Ukraine shows no sign of dissipating.

He added that the risk of nuclear war is currently being underestimated, adding that most people see it as being below 1%.

"I think, of course, it depends on the duration. If you have a long duration, I think the risk is modellable and it's probably in the 20-30% range."

One of the reasons people are underestimating the risk of nuclear war is because there has been a "system that's functioned" ever since World War II, according to Karp, who believes the system has allowed more people in the West to become more educated and wealthier.

"But we're now in a moment where the system actually flips," Karp said, adding that times like this can lead to moments of complete irrationality.

"Our institutions have not taught us how to deal with that," Karp added. "And therefore we systematically underestimate the risk."

Palantir's data analytics technology aims to try to help leaders join the dots so they can make decisions, be it in business or on the battlefield. It's worth noting that Palantir stands to benefit if everyone thinks a nuclear war is on the way as the company sells its software to militaries around the world. The company works with armed forces in the U.S. and Europe although it keeps the exact nature of most military partnerships secret.

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Palantir CEO weighs in on the Ukraine war: 'The lesson for every big country is holy s---' - CNBC

The International Space Station depends on a mix of U.S. and Russian parts. "I hope we can hold it together as long as we can," says former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly. NASA hide caption

The International Space Station depends on a mix of U.S. and Russian parts. "I hope we can hold it together as long as we can," says former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly.

On the ground, tensions between the U.S. and Russia are running high.

Russian President Vladimir Putin falsely claims the U.S. is working with Nazis in Ukraine, while President Biden calls Putin a "war criminal."

Aboard the jointly controlled International Space Station (ISS), however, the tone is very different: American astronauts live side-by-side with Russian cosmonauts; they regularly check in with mission control centers in both countries; and supplies arrive aboard Russian and U.S. spacecraft alike.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson expects all that to continue for the foreseeable future: "I see nothing that has interrupted that professional relationship," Nelson said at a Senate hearing earlier this month. "No matter how awful Putin is conducting a war with such disastrous results in Ukraine."

But as the decades-old station nears the end of its physical lifespan, some experts worry that the long-standing relationship may come to an end.

"I hope we can hold it together as long as we can," says Scott Kelly, a former astronaut who lived alongside Russian cosmonauts for nearly a year.

But he adds, NASA should prepare for the possibility that Russia might soon end its participation: "I think what they've shown us is they're capable of anything," he says.

For 23 years, the space station has floated above the politics of planet earth as a symbol of unity between several nations around the globe.

It launched largely as a U.S.-Russian project in 1998, when it seemed possible the two foes could make a new start. The station was designed so that each side literally needed the other to survive: The U.S. provides power, while Russia keeps the station at the correct altitude and orientation.

At the time "it was in the U.S. national interest to engage with Russia," says Mariel Borowitz, an associate professor at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The joint program kept Russian rocket scientists employed during a moment when Russia faced political and economic instability, she says.

Kelly notes that by depending solely on Russia systems for certain functions, NASA was able to save money.

In 2011, the interdependency grew even stronger. NASA retired the space shuttle, which regularly carried astronauts and supplies to the station. Without the shuttle, the space agency relied on Russia's space program to get its astronauts to the station. Kelly says the Russian program excelled at launching humans into orbit. "They can reliably put three people into space and bring them home," he says. "That's what they do very, very well."

For nearly a decade, the U.S. relied on Russia's Soyuz rockets to get its astronauts to the space station. NASA/Bill Ingalls/(NASA/Bill Ingalls) hide caption

For nearly a decade, the U.S. relied on Russia's Soyuz rockets to get its astronauts to the space station.

The U.S. may have needed a ride, but they also had plenty of what Russia's space agency required money.

NASA paid billions over the years for its seats aboard the Soyuz rocket, helping keep the venerable Russian space program financially afloat.

The symbiotic relationship has endured even as things on the Earth have deteriorated: Wars, assassination attempts and allegations of political meddling have not been enough to send the space station off course. But a mix of geopolitical and technical factors are now bringing rapid change to the collaboration.

In 2020, SpaceX officially began transporting NASA astronauts to the station, ending America's reliance on Russian rockets.

The end of that vital tie was big at the time, but it pales in comparison to Russia's decision to invade Ukraine. The war has strained almost every aspect of U.S. and Russian relations, and it has already ruptured another long-standing Russian collaboration with the European Space Agency, or ESA.

"There was ongoing cooperation between Europe and Russia on different things, and it's being severed," says Tomas Hrozensky, a research fellow at the European Space Policy Institute in Vienna, Austria. ESA has kicked Russia out of its lunar program, and a long-awaited European mission to Mars is suspended, because it was set to go to space later this year aboard a Russian rocket.

"As a consequence of the war in Ukraine, the member states of ESA have put significant sanctions on Russia," ESA's director general, Josef Aschbacher, said at a recent NASA press conference. The decision to suspend the rover mission "is painful" he conceded.

Russia's interest in Western collaboration has also cooled as the war has heated up.

In response to European sanctions, the country suspended Soyuz launches from ESA's spaceport in French Guiana. And late last month, the head of Russia's space agency, a prickly politician named Dmitry Rogozin, hinted that Russia may soon announce it will pull out of the space station.

"The decision has already been made," Rogozin said during an interview on Russian state television. "We aren't obligated to talk about it publicly. I can only say one thing: that in accordance with our obligations we will notify our partners a year in advance about the end of our work on the ISS."

NASA would like to keep the station running until 2030, but the Russian components are among the oldest parts and are only certified to operate until 2024, says Anatoly Zak, publisher of Russianspaceweb.com, a site that has long tracked the Russian space program. "Beyond that [date], Russia will need to make some additional investments and some political commitments," he says.

Both Zak and Borowitz say they're not sure how seriously to take Rogozin's threats of withdrawal. He has made similar statements in the past, Borowitz notes, but without the space station, or some kind of replacement, "they're going to be in a situation where their cosmonauts don't have a clear mission."

"It would be politically very costly for Russia not to have human spaceflight," Zak says. The space program "has a huge role in Russian propaganda and Russian politics."

Cosmonauts unfurled a Soviet-era victory banner on a recent space walk. The banner, which is used to mark "Victory Day" in Russia, has also been used frequently by Russian forces in Ukraine. Screenshot by NPR/Roscosmos Youtube hide caption

Cosmonauts unfurled a Soviet-era victory banner on a recent space walk. The banner, which is used to mark "Victory Day" in Russia, has also been used frequently by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Indeed the station has played a part in Russia's propaganda efforts around its latest war.

Soviet-era memorabilia has begun to appear in the Russian part of the station, Zak notes. And on a space walk in April, two cosmonauts unfurled a Soviet victory banner to celebrate Russia's "Victory Day" that marks the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. The banner has more recently been flown by Russian forces throughout Ukraine.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly says the U.S. should start thinking about how to keep the station operating without the Russians. "It would be really really hard, but I think NASA is great at doing really, really hard things," he says.

Kelly, an outspoken opponent of Russia's actions in Ukraine, says he supports continuing to work together in space, for the time being.

But as the war grinds on and the allegations of atrocities grow, he says his views may change: "At some point, things like murdering innocent people, rape, genocide transcend the importance of space cooperation."

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Ukraine war strains space station ties between Russia and US - NPR