The unthinkable has become the routine — a shooting war with tanks, trenches, drones and vast waves of refugees playing out in the heart of Europe. Russia’s military invasion of its neighbor is churning into its second year with growing fears that an imminent escalation could lead to a direct clash with NATO and decades of conflict pitting the Kremlin and its allies against the U.S. and Western-aligned democracies around the world.
To mark the anniversary of the day Russian forces first poured into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Washington Times correspondents Guy Taylor and Ben Wolfgang analyze the state of the war and go inside the mindset of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is pumping more troops and equipment into the war while attempting to break Ukraine’s morale with increased attacks on civil targets.
The three-day series examines how the world has changed in the past 12 months and how much is riding on the months to come, including the cutthroat internal political dynamics in Moscow, the ability of Ukraine’s government and armed forces to hold out against a bigger, better-armed adversary, the staying power of U.S. and European aid flows into Ukraine, and the potential impacts of imminent deliveries of German and American battle tanks.
Beyond the hard numbers and ruined lives, the biggest mystery facing Ukraine, the U.S. and the world isn't quantitative but psychological: What does Russian President Vladimir Putin want and how far is he prepared to go to get it?
Prominent right-wing Russian nationalists have seen their influence and public profiles rise over the past year to a point where they appear poised to shape the country's future.
The year-old Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken the foundations of a post-Cold War order that has held sway for three decades, sparking new global unease over the prospect of nuclear war, rocking long-established diplomatic and political norms, and aligning the world's top autocracies in unsettling new ways.
It's a familiar pattern that has played out throughout the year-old Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has seen a lot in the year since Russian forces crossed over the border into his country -- and very little of it has gone the way the experts predicted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is betting that U.S. and Western European political and societal resolve to back Kyiv will soon break down so that his military can proceed with its dismemberment of Ukraine, the top European Union diplomat in Washington warned in an interview.
The contrast could not have been more stark -- or the timing more striking.
