Ukraine can still emerge victorious in its war with Russia despite a failed summer counteroffensive. But what’s required now is a realistic assessment of Ukraine’s position and what is achievable.
Stand by me: Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky will need to work hard to retain the support of his countries allies.
EPA-EFE/Cornelius Poppe
A round up of our coverage of the war in Ukraine over the past fortnight.
Singers in Lviv, Ukraine, before the traditional Christmas Stars Parade during Orthodox Christmas in January 2023.
Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The EU decision to open negotiations with Ukraine is good news for President Zelensky, even if it is not the full package he wanted.
Display monitors show the result of voting at the United Nations General Assembly on Dec. 12, 2023, in favour of a resolution calling on Israel to uphold legal and humanitarian obligations in its war with Hamas.
(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
In war time, the type of conflict determines what formal rules of war apply. But how to determine the nature of the conflict?
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony to present medals at the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 8, 2023.
(Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Polls suggest many Russians remain supportive of Putin and the war in Ukraine. Economic realities and western double standards likely play a big role.
A memorial is left inside a bomb shelter near the Supernova music festival, where eyewitnesses reported Hamas members gang-raping and killing women.
Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Sexual violence can be used as a weapon of war. Hamas’ use of sexual violence was likely meant to show its power over Israeli women and girls and to humiliate Israeli men and Israel’s military.
A woman prays in front of skulls at a memorial in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, marking the genocide that happened under the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.
Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images
While the Genocide Convention has helped raise awareness and prevent ethnic violence from escalating, it has not stopped many accusations of genocides, including violence in Darfur and in Ukraine.
Russian Central Bank Chief Elvira Nabiullina attends a meeting on economic issues in Moscow in February 2023. Central bank reserves are among the Russian state assets that could be seized under Canadian law.
(Dmitry Astakhov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Who will pay to rebuild Ukraine? Canada is the first to pass a law allowing Russian state assets to be seized to rebuild Ukraine, but will it discourage Russia from ending the war?
School cantina damages in Ivanivka village, Chernihiv region, Ukraine.“
Anastasiia Chupis
Nearly 3,800 educational facilities have been damaged from bombing and shelling thus far in the war. Documenting these attacks requires extensive interviewing with reluctant, traumatised witnesses.
War is often described as long periods of waiting punctuated by short periods of terror – for the environment, the reverse is true.
Vigil lanterns at the Bitter Memory of Childhood monument commemorating the Ukrainian famine.
Kirill Chubotin / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images
War crimes investigations are long, complex and involve international sensitivities. Nonetheless, there is growing inevitability that there will be prosecutions from the Israel-Gaza war.
After nearly two years of bloody battle, there are signs that both sides are nearing exhaustion and might be prepared, for now, to accept a stalemate and an end to the fighting.