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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 11-23-2024 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
Trump’s top national security advisor Michael Waltz wrote a book about his wartime experiences in Afghanistan. He will tell Trump what to do about Russia. Kyiv Post read the book.
US President Donald Trump’s picked man for national security advice in general and “getting Ukraine ended” in particular – National Security Advisor Michael Waltz – will bring to the next White House foreign policy team a rare combination of solid wartime experience and years inside top-level Beltway decision-making.
But as Waltz’s semi-autobiographical book Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles from Washington to Afghanistan (Potomac Books, November 2014) makes clear, even the best of America’s political-military elite tend to see the world as a place generally inferior to and not overly needed by the United States, and that especially goes for Europe. Ukraine, he doesn’t mention at all.
To commemorate the Holodomor, or genocide by famine, Kyiv Post presents for the first time in English an excerpt of Vasyl Barka’s masterpiece novel, ‘The Yellow Prince,’ set during the famine.
Vasyl Barka (1908-2003) was a towering figure in 20th-century Ukrainian literature. A poet, novelist, translator and religious thinker, his epic and lyrical works are deeply rooted in the Christian mystical tradition.
Born and raised in Ukraine’s Poltava region, he witnessed the 1932-33 Holodomor firsthand, escaping to the Caucasus region, where he settled in Krasnodar.
Orwell had no illusions about Russia and its rapacious totalitarian system, so it is worth recalling what he wrote about Ukraine and recognize its relevance for today.
George Orwell, the classic British author of dystopian novels who rejected totalitarianism in all its forms while being an advocate of democratic socialism, is not always appreciated as much as he deserves for recognizing the importance of Ukraine and the suffering it endured. And the relevance of the Ukrainian experience to him, particularly with regard to the Holodomor, needs to be reviewed in the context of today’s realities and implications for us all.
From the early 1980s into the 1990s, the English journalist Malcolm Muggeridge was considered the most important foreign witness to the Holodomor. Later, the Welshman Gareth Jones was “rediscovered", and then a third similar courageous figure – the Canadian Rhea Clyman - was also brought out of obscurity to join the ranks of Western correspondents who had dared to report the truth about Stalin’s genocidal use of starvation against the Ukrainians, known as the Holodomor, in the early 1930s.
Winston Churchill called World War II “the unnecessary war,” sadly that could apply to the war in Ukraine - we saw it coming but did nothing to stop it and it’s not yet peaked.
In a 2019 article David Carlin argued “Winston Churchill believed World War II should have been called the Unnecessary War because it could have been easily avoided.”. During the 1930s, the West had numerous chances to take decisive action against Hitler. They did not. Poor Western leadership allowed the Nazi menace to grow to monstrous proportions, and the world suffered the bloodiest conflict in human history
Sadly, the ongoing war in Ukraine has become yet another “Unnecessary War”. We should have seen it coming.
Mark Rutte had said he wanted to meet Trump two days after Trump was elected, and discuss the threat of increasingly warming ties between North Korea and Russia.
NATO chief Mark Rutte held talks with US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on the "global security issues facing the alliance", a spokeswoman said Saturday.
The meeting took place on Friday in Palm Beach, NATO's Farah Dakhlallah said in a statement.
Kyrylo Budanov claims Russian soldiers were briefed on where to locate mass graves before the full-scale invasion and that systematic genocidal policies were in place.
Russia had planned a new wave of genocidal actions against Ukrainians long before its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR).
The revelations were made during the forum “Russia’s Genocidal Practices in Ukraine: From the Holodomor to the Russian-Ukrainian War.”
Trump mulls appointing ex-intelligence chief as special envoy for Ukraine, sources say.
President-elect Donald Trump is considering tapping Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, to be a special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to four sources familiar with the transition plans.
Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and was acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s 2017-2021 term, would play a key role in Trump’s efforts to halt the war if he is ultimately selected for the post.
The European media comment on recent acts of sabotage under the Baltic Sea pointing the finger at Russia.
Two submarine internet cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged within just a few hours of each other on Sunday and Monday. Swedish and other European security authorities are investigating suspected sabotage. A Chinese freighter and several other ships that were in the vicinity of the cables at the time, including a Russian one, are being monitored. Europe's press sees a clear suspect – and the need for action.
Putin making his negotiating position clear
The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.
Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli air strike on Friday killed the director of Dar al-Amal hospital in the east of the country near Baalbek and six of his colleagues. A ministry statement announced the "loss of Dr Ali Rakan Allam, director of Dar al-Amal university hospital, and six colleagues in a cowardly Israeli attack which targeted his residence near the hospital". It also denounced "continual Israeli aggression against medical staff and facilities" - France 24
An American investor with a history of dealmaking in Russia has asked the U.S. government to allow him to bid on the sabotaged Nord Stream Pipeline 2 if it comes up for auction in a Swiss bankruptcy proceeding. Stephen P. Lynch spent two decades doing business in Moscow and now wants to buy the natural-gas pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany. He has argued to US officials and lawmakers that American ownership of the pipeline would provide leverage… - WSJ
As Ukraine commemorates the victims of the 1932-1933 Holodomor – recognized as genocide against Ukrainians – the Holodomor Museum’s director discusses the museum’s latest work and projects.
As Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine passes the grim milestone of 1,000 days, Ukrainians have been remembering the heroes of the Heavenly Hundred by commemorating the Day of Dignity and Freedom. We now turn to remember another sad page in our country’s history – the Holodomor (Great Famine) of 1932-1933, which is recognized as genocide, killing millions of Ukrainians.
On Nov. 18, at the start of an emotionally difficult week for Ukrainians, Kyiv Post met with Holodomor Museum director Lesia Hasydzhak.
IDPs who fled Russia’s invasion in 2022 are returning to their homes in the Donbas under Russian occupation because they cannot keep up with the cost of living in Ukrainian-controlled territory.
130,000 Ukrainians have returned to their homes in the Russian-occupied Donbas territories in the last year due to the difficulties they faced living as internally displaced people since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
The returnees all travel through Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow to make the trip, Mariupol mayor advisor Petr Andriushchenko told Kyiv Post. Russia closed the last land border crossing between the Sumy region in Ukraine and the Kursk region in Russia when Kyiv launched its counteroffensive into the area over the summer.
Austin said he had "not seen significant reporting" of North Korean troops being "actively engaged in combat" to date.
The United States expects that thousands of North Korean troops massing in Russia will "soon" enter combat against Ukraine, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Saturday.
About 10,000 North Korean soldiers were believed to be based in the Russian border region of Kursk, Austin said, where they were being "integrated into the Russian formations".
The impact of unmanned vehicles in the air, on the ground, and at sea could not have been predicted five years ago but their influence on the Ukrainian battlefield released the genie from the bottle.
Unmanned military drones, have evolved exponentially as tools for surveillance, reconnaissance, kamikaze strikes, logistical, and various other military applications since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. Even so, many experts think military drone development in Ukraine has barely scratched the surface and that the future holds even more exciting possibilities for this latest military innovation.
The ability of drones to inconspicuously provide real-time information have made them indispensable sources for strategic and tactical decision-making on the modern battlefield as well as strike weapons.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
Sullivan denies the truth: the issue isn’t manpower, it’s Russia’s unabated ability to generate combat forces, equipment and weaponry; White House policy has given sanctuary to Moscow’s war machine.
In an interview with PBS News journalist Nick Schifrin on Monday, President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan seemed to assign blame for the stalemate in Ukraine on manpower shortfalls rather than the absence of specific weapon systems and the authorizations required to use them against imminent Russian and North Korean threats in Russia.
According to Sullivan, “It’s about manpower, and Ukraine needs to do more, in our view, to firm up its lines in terms of the number of forces it has on the front lines... Where is the straightest line between Ukrainian performance and inputs? It’s on mobilization and manpower.”
