Each week we round up our must read coverage of Ukraine War, from news and features to analytics, visual evidence, and opinion.
Germany and the United States pledge tanks
like The United States and Germany announced That they will supply Ukraine with the tanks it has long requested, a major escalation in Western efforts to counter Russian aggression, according to The Guardian. Defense and Security Editor Dan Sabbagh assessed.
“Politically, Western unity is paramount,” he wrote. Perhaps the West is not fighting directly UkraineBut war is not a war you can lose. If Russia can hold on to one-fifth of the Ukraine it has captured throughout 2023, the Kremlin, now in charge of the world’s largest rogue state, will only grow more confident.
Instead, the Western coalition has shown it can stick together as it upgrades arms supplies to Ukraine, priceying 30 of its arsenal of Abrams tanks to the United States — despite their demand for fuel, “three gallons to a mile,” according to the Pentagon, Means that simple logistical supply would be a challenge for the forces of Kyiv.
“Tanks are not victorious weapons of war in themselves, although heavy tracked armor is essential for launching any kind of attack across open terrain against entrenched Russian positions, not least because they can keep advancing once inevitable resistance is encountered.”
Peter Beaumont explained What are leopard tanks And why does Ukraine want them so badly?
A Russian missile attack killed 11 people
Ukraine’s top general vowed his country would not “break” after successfully shooting down 47 out of 55 missiles launched by Russia in an attack that followed the Western tank parade, Daniel Bovey mentioned.
General Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said 20 of those intercepted were heading to the Kyiv region, where a 55-year-old man was killed and two others injured by falling shrapnel.
A spokesman for the emergency services said that as a result of the Russian attack from the air and sea on Thursday morning, the 13th missile attack of its kind in the war, 11 people were killed and 11 others were injured.
The man leading Ukraine’s fight against corruption
By the number of Ukrainian officials sacked or resigned This week amid allegations of corruption. While Volodymyr Zelensky is trying to take a zero-tolerance approach to the issue, Daniel Bovey profile Head of the Anti-Corruption Agency of UkraineOleksandr Novikov.
Fifteen senior officials have left their posts since Saturday, six of them charged with corruption by journalists and Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities.
For the first two months of the war in Ukraine, Novikov, 40, lived with a coterie of his staff in the basement of the stern offices of the National Anti-Corruption Agency in Kyiv.
We have an ammunition room – it has machine guns. We were ready to fight in these streets, ”says Novikov, looking down from the window of his third-floor conference room.
This is his fourth and final year as head of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency, and while no Russians ended up on his doorstep in the Ukrainian capital last February, the former prosecutor’s appetite for a fight against the odds has not diminished.
In 2021, Transparency International ranked Ukraine as the second most corrupt country in the world EuropeOnly behind Russia has Novikov positioned himself to turn around, only to find his task made much more difficult by Covid and Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine The hotline encourages the Russians to surrender
More than 6,500 Russian military personnel sought to surrender Through the dedicated hotline “I want to live”As claimed by the Ukrainian government, the call center was said to have recently been moved to a secret location to avoid Moscow’s interference, Daniel Bovey Reported from Kyiv.
Those who contacted through the service were verified as serving in the Russian forces, Vitaly Matvienko, a spokesman for the Prisoner of War Administration, said using their personal data and service number.
Between September 15, when the hotline was launched, and January 20, 6,543 Russian employees allegedly contacted the Ukrainian government to turn themselves in in their custody, often from the front line.
The hotline, which was dispatched by 10 operators, was set up after Vladimir Putin announced the launch Mobilization of 300,000 civilians With no prior military experience to join the Russian war effort.
Doomsday Clock ticks 90 seconds to midnight amid Ukraine crisis
This week, a panel of international scientists warned against it The continued existence of humanity is in greater danger than ever beforelargely as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Julianne Burger mentioned.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight, the hour closest to midnight since its creation in 1947 to illustrate global existential threats at the dawn of the age of nuclear weapons.
The clock has been moved forward from 100 seconds to midnight, where it has been in the past three years, said Rachel Bronson, the publication’s president and CEO, “largely, though not exclusively, because of the heightened stakes in the war in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian families vent their frustrations over the struggle to find homes in the UK
Maria, 22 years old, came to the UK from Ukraine In March last year, shortly after the outbreak of war. She and her mother traveled using a Ukrainian Family Planner visa to stay with her aunt. But when her aunt was evicted, they were left homeless. For five months now, Maria and her mother have been living in temporary accommodation in south London. Toby Thomas I mentioned this story.
“It’s horrible actually, the hallways are so old and so dirty,” says Maria. “The council was not very cooperative. The room is very small and it is difficult to have two adults in one room.”
Maria hopes to find private housing, but it can’t be afforded if you live on universal credit. “You have to pay a deposit, have a lot of savings, but we don’t have that right now,” adds Maria.
“Subtly charming student. Pop culture junkie. Creator. Amateur music specialist. Beer fanatic.”