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Zelenskyy worries that if Bakhmut falls, he'll face pressure to negotiate with Russia. "Our society will push me to have compromise with them," he told AP. In a new interview, Zelenskyy told the Associated Press that if Russian forces conquered the eastern Ukrainian city, he would rapidly feel pressure from the wider world and from Ukrainians. Kyiv has pushed back against calls for talks with Moscow as Russian forces continue to launch attacks, including in civilian areas. "If he will feel some blood — smell that we are weak — he will push, push, push."
A judicial overhaul plan pushed by Netanyahu's government sparked a major crisis in Israel. "The crisis was deferred, but definitely not resolved," a former US ambassador to Israel told Insider. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to hit pause on a deeply controversial plan to overhaul the country's judiciary, but Israel's problems are far from over. One piece of the plan has already been passed into law, narrowing the circumstances under which a prime minister can be deemed unfit for office. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a voting session in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Israel on March 27, 2023.
Putin has made a lot of nuclear threats since the war in Ukraine began. Putin's latest threat involves moving tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus. Over the weekend, Putin announced a plan to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which borders members of the EU and NATO, by summer. Tactical nuclear weapons (also known as battlefield nukes) are generally intended for use on a smaller scale at shorter ranges and are less powerful than strategic nuclear weapons. That said, tactical nuclear weapons still have the capacity to wreak havoc and kill tens of thousands of people.
Putin is not giving up on the war in Ukraine despite the grim circumstances facing Russian forces. War experts say Ukraine has three choices moving forward, but immediate peace talks aren't on the table. A new assessment from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggests Ukraine has three fairly straightforward choices in the face of such obstinance — and immediate peace talks are not among them. Ukraine has continued to defend Bakhmut, which has seen the fiercest fighting in the war in recent months, though analysts say the city has little strategic significance. Accordingly, ISW says Ukraine will need to retake terrain that's vital to its survival both militarily and economically, and that would be key to "renewed Russian offensives."
Experts on political violence are alarmed by Trump's latest rhetoric as he faces a possible indictment. They warn that Trump's words could trigger riots or assassinations. He has viciously attacked figures like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and mocked calls for peaceful protests — leading extremism experts to warn of the potential for political violence. In one of his latest posts to Truth Social, Trump's social media platform, the former president threatened "death and destruction" if he's indicted. A number of those arrested over the insurrection have said that Trump's words drove their behavior.
Gen. Mark Milley told lawmakers it would take Iran "several" months to produce a nuke. Before then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — formally known as the JCPOA — in May 2018, Iran's breakout time to a nuclear weapon was roughly a year. "Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA, it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb's worth of fissile material," Kahl said. Iran has repeatedly maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful, an assertion that has been met with widespread skepticism in the West. During a visit to the Middle East last July, Biden said that the US would use military force as a "last resort" to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Hungary signaled it would not arrest Putin if he visited even though the ICC issued an arrest warrant. Hungary is an ICC member, but said that under Hungarian law it can't arrest Putin. "The ICC's statute has not been promulgated in Hungary," Gulyas said, adding that his government hasn't yet formed a stance on the arrest warrant for Putin. States Parties to the Rome Statute have a legal obligation to cooperate fully with the ICC," according to the ICC. Though the US is not an ICC member and does not recognize the court's jurisdiction, President Joe Biden said the arrest warrant for Putin was "justified."
Ukrainian officials say peace talks involving Putin would be "impossible." They pointed to the recent ICC arrest warrant issued for Putin. "We knew long before the ICC arrest warrant that talking to Putin made no sense. "Putin has ignored everything; all he wants is more war, more Ukrainian children stolen, more Ukrainians murdered, and more Ukrainian land was taken. Putin hosted Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Moscow this week, and the two released a joint statement endorsing "peace talks" for the war.
Russian pilots who intercepted and harassed a US drone last week were presented with awards. When asked at a briefing about the awards, a top White House official ripped into the pilots. "I don't know of another military in the world — another air force in the world — that would award a pilot for smashing into a drone," Kirby said. But State Department spokesperson Ned Price last week also said that the incident was indicative of "a lack of competence." He added that "we've known they were unprofessional," but the incident really "demonstrates how poorly trained" their pilots are.
Days after Putin's dead-of-night trip in Ukraine, Zelenskyy visited troops near the front lines. State media followed the Russian President meeting with residents who told him the occupied, war-torn Ukrainian city is a "little piece of paradise." Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) visits a recently renovated theater in Mariupol. In the original video, Putin meets with local residents near a new apartment complex in the dead of night. Zelenskyy visits troops fighting on the front lines in BakhmutUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with troops near the front lines of Bakhmut.
US President Joe Biden said an international arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin was "justified." The warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court, which the US and Russia don't recognize. On Friday, the ICC released a report accusing the Russian president of "war crimes," declaring him an international pariah by issuing an arrest warrant against him. Russia does not recognize the ICC, and the US's relationship with the court has been fraught, according to Human Rights Watch. We support accountability for perpetrators of war crimes," the spokesperson added.
UK intelligence suggests Russia's new offensive is on its last legs, just a month after it began. Russian forces have depleted their "combat power," the assessment said. "Even local offensive actions are not currently sustainable," it added. The British Defense Ministry said this is likely because Russian forces have depleted their "combat power" to such a degree that "even local offensive actions are not currently sustainable." There's been an evolving debate between Kyiv and its Western partners over Ukraine's insistence on continuing to defend Bakhmut, which analysts have suggested could fall to Russian forces in the coming days.
Ukraine has used a WWI-era machine gun on the front line to mow down the enemy. "It only works when there is a massive attack going on," a Ukrainian soldier told BBC News. Ukraine's troops have modified the guns with modern add-ons such as optics and suppressors, according to reporting from Task and Purpose. The fighting in Ukraine has repeatedly garnered parallels to World War I, with both sides locked in a brutal war of attrition featuring trenches, relentless artillery barrages, and heavy casualties. In this environment, even some of the weapons of that era have come in handy as Ukrainian troops face human wave attacks on the front line — tactics common to World War I.Ukraine has also apparently utilized a type of World War I-era sniper decoy, employing dummies meant to fool enemy snipers.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin has allegedly committed war crimes in Ukraine, the ICC said in a Friday statement. He's been accused by the court of orchestrating involvement in illegally transferring children from Ukraine to Russia. The Netherland's based court alleged these crimes have been carried out since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022. The UN said many of the actions, including the transfer and deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia, "amount to war crimes."
An ex-convict who fought for Wagner in Ukraine said the front line was "utter hell," Reuters reported. Wagner recruited thousands of convicts to help address Russia's manpower issues in the war. In the face of these personnel problems, Russia turned to the infamous Wagner mercenary group for help. Wagner recruited thousands of prisoners for the fight, promising them pardons in exchange for their service. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, argued in a statement to Reuters that Wagner was "probably the most experienced army that exists in the world today."
The Senate began the process on Thursday to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Iraq War AUMFs. "It should be easy to remove," quipped Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a supporter of repeal. "I don't want to do anything that reduces the President's ability to kill somebody like Soleimani," said Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. For Sen. Paul, repealing the Iraq War AUMFs — which he called "symbolic" — isn't going far enough. The 2001 AUMF opened the door for the invasion of Afghanistan, launching the longest war in US history.
Ron DeSantis says it's not in the "vital" interests of the US to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia. But as a member of Congress in 2015, DeSantis offered strong support for arming Kyiv. Trump's first impeachment was linked, in part, to his dealings with Ukraine and a decision to freeze vital security aid to Kyiv. To be sure, it was the Trump administration who first provided US lethal aid to Ukraine, providing Javelin anti-tank missiles. Recent polling also suggests that Republican voters are more likely than Democratic voters to oppose further aid to Kyiv.
Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to restore diplomatic relations in a deal brokered by China. The US and Saudi Arabia have a close relationship and have been security partners for years. Saudi Arabia ultimately moved to cut oil production instead, which was viewed as a diplomatic embarrassment for the Biden administration and sparked outrage in Congress. Bandar Algaloud/ReutersThe deal also comes as the US contends with historic tensions with both Iran and China. The agreement also has the potential to throw a wrench in efforts to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, given the latter and Iran are longtime enemies.
Putin is playing the long game in Ukraine, according to CIA chief Bill Burns. Putin still thinks he can win, Burns said, even though the war has been disastrous for Russia. But CIA Director Bill Burns said that Russian President Vladimir Putin remains convinced he can win the fight because he believes that time is on his side. Putin is taking a "longer-term view" and is convinced that "Ukraine matters more to him than to us," Burns added, underscoring that the West needs to "puncture" that perception. Russia is continuing its push to seize Bakhmut, a city in eastern Ukraine with a pre-war population of 70,000.
Russia's military losses in Ukraine will leave it reliant on "asymmetric" options, the US intel director said. Discussions on Russia's relationship with China have also been ongoing, including speculation that Beijing might be considering sending lethal aid to Russia. In late February, a top Pentagon official told lawmakers Russia had lost the war and will emerge from war in Ukraine a "shattered military power." "Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic defeat. Russia's military is going to have to be rebuilt," George Barros, a military analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told Insider in September.
McCarthy rejected an invitation from Zelenskyy to visit Kyiv. Zelenskyy invited McCarthy to show him how US aid is being put to use in the war against Russia. "I don't have to go to Ukraine or Kyiv to see it," McCarthy said. McCarthy also reiterated that he does not support providing Ukraine with "blank checks." "I will continue to get my briefings and others, but I don't have to go to Ukraine or Kyiv to see it.
A pro-Ukrainian group was behind the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, per new reports. The pipelines were controversial even before Russia launched the war in Ukraine. The Nord Steam 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which transported natural gas from Russia to Germany, were controversial even before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine last year. Nord Stream 1 was shut down indefinitely last September, and Nord Steam 2 was never operational. Facing immense pressure to end its reliance on energy from Russia, Germany froze the Nord Stream 2 project two days before Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
A Ukrainian soldier told the Washington Post the fighting in Bakhmut is brutal and at close quarters. The soldier said there have even been fistfights as they fight off waves of Russian mercenaries. Bakhmut is widely expected to fall to Russian forces soon, but it will be a hollow victory. In some cases, Ukrainian troops have searched house-to-house for the enemy and been forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat, Dmytro Vatagin, a 48-year-old Ukrainian soldier, told the Washington Post. "This fight doesn't play to Ukraine's advantages as a force," Kofman said, warning that if Ukrainian forces continue to expend resources on Bakhmut "it could impede the success of a more important operation."
China is becoming more involved in the Ukraine war, raising alarm in the West. As the West warns China could send weapons, experts are torn over Beijing's goals and endgame. But they agree that China does not want to see Russia lose, despite its claim of neutrality. China wants to see the war "prolonged without Russia being humiliated," June Teufel Dreyer, a China expert at the University of Miami, told Insider. A man watches a news broadcast showing military operations near Taiwan by the Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA), in Beijing, China, on August 3, 2022.
A crowd laughed at Russia's top diplomat who said the Ukraine war "was launched against us." He was answering a question about Russia's energy strategy moving forward. One audience member asked Lavrov, "How the war has affected Russia's strategy on energy, and will it mark a privilege toward Asia? "You know, the war, which we are trying to stop, which was launched against us, using the..." Lavrov began, before being cut off by loud laughter from the crowd. He went on to say that the war has influenced the energy policy in Russia and that they "would not rely on any partners" going forward.
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