Pleading for help: Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, says his country is running out of the means with which to defend itself.
EPA-EFE/Toms Kalnins
Conscription is being talked about by Nato’s European members as they grow increasingly concerned about further Russian expansion. Ukraine has just expanded its version.
Baltic states have high numbers of Russian speakers, who Putin has vowed to ‘protect’.
Donald Trump hugs and kisses the American flag as he speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md., in February 2024.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Putin and his cronies, as well as Biden and an array of Kremlin foes and the odd pop singer, make up most discussion on Russia’s social media sites.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech before presenting the Russian Hero of Labour gold medals in June 2023.
(Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russia has tied its currency to gold to evade sanctions. Shifting the ruble away from a pegged value and into the gold standard itself is aimed at making it a credible gold substitute at a fixed rate.
While Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield have been mixed, its operations in Crimea and the Black Sea have been rather more successful.
Foregone conclusion: a Russian soldier casts his vote at a polling station in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, March 2024.
Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP