5. In March, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also recorded a total of 12 medical facilities and 32 educational facilities destroyed or damaged. 7/
6. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was attacked for the first time since November 2022. Russia accuses Ukraine, Ukraine accuses Russia of the attacks 8/ bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur…
Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, the top U.S. military commander in Europe, warned that Ukraine could lose the war with Russia if the U.S. does not send more ammunition to Ukrainian forces quickly. 9/
7. Frontline Ukrainian forces are rationing artillery shells due to lack of a reliable Western supplier, allowing Russian troops to outfire them 5-to-1, a ratio that could soon increase to 10-to-1 without additional U.S. aid. 10/
8. Russia has reconstituted its army faster than initial U.S. estimates, increasing frontline troop strength by 15% to 470,000 and expanding the conscription age limit. Russia plans to expand its military to 1.5 million troops. 11/
9. Russian missile attacks on Ukraine's energy system, bombardment of Kharkiv, and advances along the front are stoking fears that Ukraine's military is nearing a breaking point. 12/
Western officials say Ukraine is at its most fragile moment in over two years of war.
Ukrainian officials don’t comment on the “breaking point” but increasingly voice alarming pleas for weapons and air defense 13/
There is a risk of Ukrainian defense collapse which could enable Russia to make a major advance for the first time since the early stages of the war. The next few months will be Ukraine's toughest test. 14/
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged his country's allies to make good on their promises of military aid on Thursday, particularly in the form of desperately needed air defence systems as Russia scales up its air strikes 15/
So, in short, Ukraine is running out of air defense and weapons, and Russia is taking advantage of it.
Russia can break through unless the West overcomes its political infighting and dysfunctionality to provide support to Ukraine
16/
Democracies are messy, I often hear, but it is the best system. True, but this mess currently makes democracies unable to effectively address Russian threat. It looks more and more like a lack of leadership rather than the usual weakness of democracies. 17X
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Oleksiy "Botanik" spent 343 days on the front line without leaving.
Russians attacked on APCs, motorcycles, ATVs and on foot — but his company did not give up a single meter of territory, writes Ukrainska Pravda. 1/
Before the war Oleksiy worked at an employment center in Cherkasy Oblast. He recruited contract soldiers for the army and regularly dealt with military recruitment offices. 2/
One day the recruitment office invited him for coffee and handed him a draft notice. He did not hide.
"I decided to serve my 18 months and look people in the eye without shame." 3/
A cornered Putin is more dangerous than a winning one.
His army is at a standstill in Ukraine. His ally Iran is collapsing. His friend Orban is out. The scariest question now is not whether he loses, but what he does next — David Ignatius, Washington Post. 1/
Ignatius: Putin may already be thinking about the next war — against Europe — even as he slogs ahead in Ukraine.
The window to strike could be closing: before Europe rearms, before Ukraine reaches deeper into Russia, and while Trump treats NATO like a punching bag. 2/
The Russian economy is a mess despite a brief windfall from the oil price spike. NATO forces line up from the White Sea in the Arctic to the Black Sea.
Europe is getting stronger and angrier. Putin sees no path to the decisive victory he craves. 3/
Gen. Petraeus: The US military performed brilliantly in the Gulf. But the real war of the 21st century is happening right now in Ukraine — a war of drones, constant innovation, and near-equal armies — WSJ. 1/
The Gulf was fought under permissive conditions. US and Israeli forces controlled the electromagnetic spectrum. Iran had limited ability to contest operations at scale.
Ukraine is different — drones get jammed, spoofed, destroyed and replaced within days. 2/
Ukraine produces millions of unmanned systems annually. Manufacturers predict seven million units this year. The US will not come anywhere close to that scale. 3/
Ukraine has 900,000 active soldiers. Drones kill and robots advance.
But the most valuable asset on the battlefield is still a human being who is willing to fight, writes Luke McGee in Foreign Policy. 1/
When people saw what unmanned vehicles could achieve, some suggested wars could be fought without personnel. It is a nice idea.
But to hold territory and operate UAVs and ground robots, you need people physically there. 2/
The problem is motivation in practice.
Pavlo Zaichenko, 59th Brigade: “When there is no clear understanding of where one will serve, how the service will look, and how long it will last, this becomes a significant barrier for potential volunteers.” 3/