News + Media

Pasha Lee, photographed in uniform shortly before his death.

Analysis + Opinion

March 19, 2022

Ukraine’s celebrities are dying in the war, adding an extra dimension to the nation’s shock.

Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Ada PetriczkoThe New York Times

The war is reducing the distance between famous and ordinary Ukrainians because so many non-celebrities are making heroic sacrifices, said Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties. It has also made many people focus on issues of life and death that eclipse focus on fame.

Territorial Defence Forces train in Odessa, Ukraine, March 202

In the News

March 18, 2022

The false promise of arming insurgents

Lindsey O'RourkeForeign Affairs

Quoted: As the political scientist Barry Posen has pointed out, “The flat and open terrain in Ukraine is largely unfavorable to guerrilla warfare. This is particularly true in southeastern Ukraine, where Russian aggression seems most likely, given the lack of mountains, forests, or swamps for insurgents to use as base camps.”

A Russian air strike on March 16 destroyed a theater in Mariupol, Ukraine, where hundreds of residents were hiding in a bomb shelter. The plight of people across Ukraine underscores the gruesome fate that civilians have faced during wars throughout history. (Donetsk Regional Civil-Military Administration/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

Analysis + Opinion

March 18, 2022

Five books that illuminate the agony and uncertainty of civilians caught in wars

John TirmanThe Washington Post

War brutalizes ordinary people, and our instinct may be to turn our heads, if only for self-preservation. At great risk, these authors have taken it upon themselves to immortalize this grim reality, so the world will not look away.  John Tirman explores five books that show the plight of civilians in wars.

Ukrainian refugees arriving at the main rail station in Wroclaw, Poland, this month.Credit...Aleksander Kozminski/EPA, via Shutterstock

Analysis + Opinion

March 18, 2022

Aid organizations say they are seeing signs of trafficking of people fleeing Ukraine.

Ada PetriczkoThe New York Times

Multinational and nongovernmental aid organizations are sounding the alarm about a potential increase in cases of sexual exploitation, human trafficking and child abuse, as the number of vulnerable people fleeing the war in Ukraine continues to rise.  Neuffer Fellow

Traffic near the Polish-Belarusian border in Kuznica, Poland, last year. Credit Maciek Nabrdalik for The New York Times

Analysis + Opinion

March 14, 2022

In Poland, protesters demand a ban on road cargo traffic between the EU and Russia and Belarus.

Ada PetriczkoNew York Times

Protesters have blocked a border crossing between Poland and Belarus for several days, in an attempt to stop cargo trucks that some say are headed for Ukraine via Belarus with supplies for the Russian army.

School children learned to protect themselves in case of nuclear attack by practicing a duck and cover drill in the classroom of their school.

Analysis + Opinion

March 12, 2022

Ukraine war revives anxiety about nuclear conflict

Brian MacQuarrie and Maham Javaid The Boston Globe

Putin has placed his country’s nuclear arsenal, the world’s largest, on high alert. And he has warned the West that joining the war in Ukraine would bring “consequences such as they have never seen in their history,” a not-so-veiled threat of nuclear conflict.

President Biden talking

Analysis + Opinion

March 11, 2022

We call on Biden to reject reckless demands for a no-fly zone

The Guardian

A war that expands beyond Ukraine’s borders could also inflict damage across Europe and weaken America’s Nato allies. We call upon the administration to avoid such a gambit and continue to use appropriate diplomatic means and economic pressure to end the conflict.

Headshot of John Tirman

Analysis + Opinion

March 11, 2022

Republicans will quit any nuclear deal with Iran, scholar predicts

Mohammad MazhariTehran Times

John Tirman, executive director and principal research scientist at the Center for International Studies, predicts that Republicans will pull Washington out of any possible deal with Iran inked in Vienna.

 

 

Ukrainians who fled fighting in various parts of the country at the train station in Lviv, in western Ukraine, on Wednesday.Credit...Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times

Analysis + Opinion

March 10, 2022

More than 80,000 people have been evacuated from areas near Kyiv and the city of Sumy.

Ada PetriczkoThe New York Times

What happened on Day 15 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: At least three cities in western and central Ukraine were hit. In besieged Mariupol, bodies are now being buried in trenches. President Biden will call for suspending normal trade relations with Russia.

The Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, purchased from Ukraine, participates in a 2019 naval parade near Qingdao. (Mark Schiefelbein/Pool/AP)

In the News

March 9, 2022

Ukraine helped build China’s modern military, but when war came, Beijing chose Russia

Eva Dou and Pei Lin Wu The Washington Post

Quoted: “Russia is far and away the most important arms supplier to China,” said M Taylor Fravel, the director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Where Ukraine has really helped China has been in the area of jet engines, as well as some ship engines and air-to-air missiles.”

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