Mediaboss Marketing

Russias retreat from a key Ukrainian city over the weekend elicited outcry from an unlikely crowd state-run media outlets that typically cast Moscows war in glowing terms.

A series of embarrassing military losses in recent weeks has presented a challenge for prominent hosts of Russian news and political talk shows struggling to find ways to paint Ukraines gains in a way that is still favorable to the Kremlin.

Frustration with the battlefield setbacks has long been expressed in social media blogs run by nationalist pundits and pro-Kremlin analysts, and the volume grew after Ukraines counteroffensive last month around Kharkiv in the northeast. But it is now spilling out on state TV broadcasts and in the pages of government-backed newspapers.

The less conciliatory tone from state-run media comes as President Vladimir Putin faces widespread Russian discontent about his partial mobilization of reservists and as government officials struggle to explain plans to annex Ukrainian regions at the same time they are being retaken by Kyivs forces.

The Russian defeat in Kharkiv (region) and Lyman, combined with the Kremlins failure to conduct partial mobilization effectively and fairly are fundamentally changing the Russian information space, Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a report.

On Sunday, after Ukraine recaptured Lyman, a city in the east that Russian troops had used as a key logistics and transport hub, Putins media allies dropped the niceties and more directly criticized his military, saying tougher measures were necessary for the sake of victory.

What happened on Saturday, Lyman it is a serious challenge for us, Vladimir Solovyov, host of a prime-time talk show on state TV channel Russia 1 and one of the Kremlins biggest cheerleaders, said on air Sunday. We need to pull it together, make unpopular, but necessary decisions and act.

Ukrainian forces retook Lyman one day after Moscow celebrated its illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions, including Donetsk, roughly 40% of which now including Lyman - is under Kyivs control.

The move paves the way for Ukrainian troops to potentially push even further into land that Moscow illegally claims as its own. Ukrainian forces scored more gains in their counteroffensive across at least two fronts Monday, advancing in the very areas Russia moved to absorb.

The leader of Chechnya, a Russian region in the North Caucasus, blamed the retreat in Lyman on one general. In an online post, Ramzan Kadyrov, an outspoken supporter of the Kremlin, said the generals incompetence was being covered up for by higher-up leaders in the General Staff, and called for more drastic measures to be taken.

A story about the Lyman retreat in Russias popular pro-Kremlin tabloid, Komsomolskaya Pravda, painted a bleak picture of the Russian military. The story, published Sunday, said the Russian forces in Lyman were plagued by supply and manpower shortages, poor coordination, and tactical mistakes orchestrated by military officials.

Its like it has always been, according to an unnamed soldier quoted in the story who was part of the group that retreated from Lyman to Kreminna, another strategically important city that is in the sights of the Ukrainian army. There is effectively no communication between different units.

Posting on the social media app Telegram, Russian war correspondents working for state media were also abuzz with reports of the retreat, and some expressed concern about Ukraines further push towards Kreminna.

It turns out that the Armed Forces of Ukraine pushed through our defense 30 kilometers in the direction of Luhansk in two days ... So they dont even let (the Russian forces) settle near Kreminna. Wow, Russia 1 war correspondent Alexander Sladkov wrote on his Telegram channel that currently has almost 940,000 followers.

Hosts of popular news and political talk shows on the state Russia 1 TV channel on Sunday described the loss of Lyman as a tough situation.

On Sunday, solders quoted by state-run media gave analyses of the situation that at least partly meshed with Putins: They blamed the Russian armys difficulties on NATO, saying that members of the alliance provided weapons and even fighters to Ukraine.

It is not a game, it hasnt been a game for a long time already, one soldier told a Russia 1 reporter in the Donetsk region. It is a painstaking, clear offensive of the NATO army.

To back up his claim, the soldier claimed that communications intercepted by the Russian army feature people speaking Romanian and Polish; he didnt explain how he or other soldiers could recognize either of the languages.

Media personalities also echoed the argument that Putin has been making.

Prime-time show host Solovyov in his program on Sunday stressed that Moscow is not dealing with Ukraine were past that. Were dealing with the entire NATO bloc, with the might of its military industrial complex.

He warned not to wait for good news from the battlefield any time soon. One must have a long will and strategic patience, Solovyov said.

See the original post here:
Frustration with Ukraine war spills out on Russian state TV - The Associated Press

Ukraines counteroffensive against Russia is defying the odds, and it has sent Russian President Vladimir Putin to a new point of desperation: On Friday, he announced that Russia had, in an illegal move, annexed four occupied regions in Ukraine.

Earlier in the week he mobilized hundreds of thousands of Russians, as just as many Russians seem to be fleeing the country to avoid fighting in the conflict.

Over the weekend, Russian troops retreated from Lyman. Attention is now being focused on Ukrainian gains in Kherson, one of the regions that Putin had annexed.

But there are still big questions about where the war goes from here and what will shape the conflict this winter and onward. To understand them, I spoke with experts on Europe, Russia, and international security, and listened to European leaders speaking candidly on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last week.

Three determining factors will play an outsized role in Ukraines future: support from America and European partners, the risks that Putin is willing to take, and the conflicting definitions of what victory might look like.

The war is being fought in Ukraine, and Ukrainians are certainly suffering most. But the costs incurred by Ukraines primary backers, the United States and Europe, will determine Ukraines capacity in defending itself against Russia. Without Western support, Ukraines recent victories in the counteroffensive will be difficult to sustain.

Western support for Ukraine is a crucial variable. The sanctions that the US, Western Europe, and some Asian countries have imposed on Russia continue to have a boomerang effect on the world economy. The winter ahead will change the fighting conditions on the ground and, equally importantly, the cold weather will remind Europe of its dependence on Russian fossil fuels for heat. If inflation continues and the energy crisis looms, will the US and an at times divided Europe become fatigued with the war and become less inclined to support it?

The US has sent more than $14 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. With each package comes new questions around whether this volume of security aid can be sustained not just economically, but whether enough missiles and bullets exist in Western stockpiles to bolster Ukraine. Some defense experts are warning that the conflict is consuming weapons stockpiles faster than nations can refill them.

The Wests willingness to continue to send weapons may also depend on Ukraines momentum on the battlefield, says Kristine Berzina, a security researcher at the German Marshall Fund. If the underdog is doing well, even if things are hard, theres something in our societies where supporting the underdog as it takes on the big bad guy successfully its just a good story. How can you not help them? she said. Whereas if it feels pessimistic and terrible and depressing, well, then it feels like a lost cause.

A recent survey fielded by Data for Progress and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft suggests that only 6 percent of Americans polled see the Russian war in Ukraine as one of the top three most important issues facing America today. It ranked last, far behind inflation, the economy, and many domestic issues.

Another recent survey of 14 countries in Europe and North America from the German Marshall Fund found that in Italy, France, and Canada, climate is viewed as the primary security challenge, while the countries closer to Russia and Ukraine, on the eastern edges of Europe, named Russia or wars between countries

Though American military aid has been robust, Europes support has been much more mixed, with some European countries spending less on the war than they are spending on imported Russian oil and gas. That point about the difference between the kind of aid that has been provided to Ukraine versus whats been paid in oil revenue, it just blows my mind every time I hear it, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, director of the Transatlantic program at the Center for a New American Security and a former US intelligence official with ties to the Biden administration, said recently on the New York Timess Ezra Klein Show. Why is it happening? I wish I knew. I dont have a good answer, she said.

Nathalie Tocci, director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome, told me that the European Commission has not held up its commitments. She says the sluggishness in disbursing economic aid to Ukraine is partly political but mostly due to bureaucratic hurdles.

So far, European countries, even Hungary, have largely supported Ukraine. But for European leaders staunchly backing Ukraine, political challenges may emerge as the war further exacerbates domestic economic issues. Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons exit this summer was hastened by the economy and inflation, issues whose multiple causes include the effects of the Ukraine conflict. French President Emmanuel Macron lost his parliamentary majority in June. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghis government was split over Ukraine; it wasnt the only reason for the collapse of his coalition, and now the far-right leader Giorgia Meloni is his successor. The war was not the immediate cause of any political leaders downfall, but political changes in Europe are a reminder that governance is deeply connected to the emerging energy and economic crises.

If support in Europe wanes, theres also the question of whether the US will be able to rally it. Since the Cold War, the US has put most of its military and diplomatic focus on first the Middle East and then, more recently, Asia. Washington just has no real grasp of Europe today, doesnt understand the centrality of the European Union, and tries to operate as if it doesnt exist, Max Bergmann, a former State Department official who is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told me in June, in advance of a NATO summit.

The Biden administration has been hugely successful in dispatching US diplomats to unify Europe, but Washington is still operating with a deficit on the continent and without a deep understanding of a sustainable long-term Europe policy.

Putins announcement of the annexation of Russian-held territories in Ukraine was a show of weakness, as was his partial mobilization of 300,000 troops. His unpredictability is a major X factor.

Its unlikely that the mobilization will be effective because Russia doesnt seem to have the highly trained personnel or advanced weapons to quickly alter their position in the war. There will be bodies who will be there but they will not have equipment, they will not have significant training, and they will not really have the provisions for the conditions theyre going into, especially given that were again heading into the cold season, Berzina said.

That could mean an increasingly desperate Putin. Its quite existential for him. It always has been, said Jade McGlynn, a researcher of Russian studies at Middlebury College. His whole entire idea of what Russia is this great messianic power depends on having Ukraine.

Nowhere has that desperation been more apparent than in the rhetoric surrounding nuclear weapons. In the early hours of the war, Putin threatened consequences you have never seen against Ukraines supporters, and again in recent days he has offered veiled threats of using a small nuke. That would be norm-shattering and earth-shattering, figuratively and literally. Even threatening to use a nuke violates the norms of international relations.

Putin in his remarks on Friday emphasized that the United States was the only country that had used a nuclear weapon, (twice) on Japan during World War II. It seemed to be a retort to Bidens United Nations speech last week in which he chastised Putin for his reckless disregard for the responsibilities of the non-proliferation regime while minutes later praising President Harry Truman, the president who authorized those nuclear attacks.

Another concern is, if things continue to go badly for Putin, whether he will expand the theater of war to other fronts and countries.

In the category of desperate acts falls what may potentially be an act of self-sabotage, a Russian attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline that was reported earlier this week. It raises concerns that Russia may attack other critical energy infrastructure in Europe.

The nationalists in Russia, according to McGlynn, may pose the biggest threat to Putin, as they push him toward even more extreme means. They want him to go all-in on the war, even as the mobilization wont likely alter Russias footing.

The extent to which Putin might be willing to repress Russians is also important. The calling up of reserves is one indicator, as is the shuttering of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta and other media outlets, and the arrests of critics and activists. That intensity of repression also limits the possibility for Russian domestic opposition standing up to Putin.

The country that so many analysts predicted would fall in the first week of the invasion in February has endured the first 200 days of war, and Ukrainians say they are confident in carrying on the fight so long as they have ample support from the West.

A senior Ukrainian official, speaking recently in New York on the condition of anonymity, said that Ukraine was united in its war against Russia and hugely depends on Western support. The truth is that the battlefield today is the negotiating table with Putin. Because he respects strength, they said.

We are going to fight until we defeat Russia, Oksana Nesterenko, a Ukrainian legal scholar currently at Princeton University, told me. Not because Ukrainians are so brave or have so many resources, she explained. Its about the future of the Ukrainian nation, about the future of Ukrainian democracy, Nesterenko says. We dont have any choice.

But there is a great deal of confusion as to how anyone defines victory. The Ukrainians, the Europeans, and the Americans havent talked in specific terms about what we consider an acceptable outcome to this conflict, Thomas Graham, a Russia expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, told me.

While the Ukrainians have expanded their demands in light of their successful counteroffensive and are now talking about nothing short of retaking the territory Russian has occupied since 2014, the United States and each European country seem to hold their own perspective. The Germans and the French, at the leadership level, would accept a negotiated solution that might include some territorial concessions on the part of Ukraine as a way of de-escalating and helping deal with what they see as an increasingly difficult socio-economic situation, Graham said.

On the Russian side, Putin initially claimed to want the demilitarization and de-Nazification in essence, regime change of Ukraine. And now he has annexed four provinces that he has long sought. The possibility that Russia could win on its terms, that possibility is now very remote, says Michael Kimmage, a Catholic University professor who specializes in Russia. I do think that we could, in a very worrisome way, enter into a nihilistic phase of the conflict where Russia is not able to impose victory on the war, but will try to impose defeat on the other side. And maybe thats the Russian version of victory in this war.

That would mean stretching the war on as long as possible, hence the massive mobilization, and the possibility of a war of attrition. McGlynn says that Putins notion of victory is at this point divorced from what the Russian army can actually do. What were most likely to see is a way to entrench a situation on the ground in areas that they already control, she told me.

In Washington, meanwhile, there has been little talk of what diplomacy among the parties might look like. Its not that a team of negotiators is going to hash out a settlement over carryout, but ongoing diplomatic engagement between the US and Russia is going to be needed on a variety of levels and in a variety of forums to set the conditions for a future resolution and even to address the narrow goal of averting any potential misunderstanding that could end up looking like the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Russia expert Fiona Hill who served in the Trump administration recently emphasized to the New Yorker the risks of Putins brinkmanship and the misunderstanding it breeds. The problem is, of course, us misreading him, but also him misreading us, she said. More communication could help. But Secretary of State Tony Blinken hasnt met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov since January 2022 (they had a frank phone call in July). And the recent Data for Progress survey emphasized that a majority of Americans would like to see more diplomacy. A majority (57 percent) of Americans support US negotiations to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, even if it means Ukraine making some compromises with Russia, writes Jessica Rosenblum of the Quincy Institute.

The wars endgame may be a long way off. Still, its no small feat that Turkey has brokered a deal to get Ukrainian grain to countries that need it and Saudi Arabia arranged for a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine. In the meantime, Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan hosted talks between senior officials from Azerbaijan and Armenia last week, but the Biden administration has hardly been discussing avenues for diplomacy with Russia.

Though Graham praises President Bidens handling of the war in Ukraine, he worries that the with-us-or-against-us rhetoric from the White House precludes opportunities for engagement with Russians. If I fault the administration in any way I dont think it has articulated in public what this conflict is really about, he told me. The US has alienated broad swaths of the Russian population through sanctions, and Biden has framed the conflict as an existential one between democracy and autocracy.

Existential conflicts have a way of not persuading the other side, perhaps, to negotiate a solution to this problem that meets their needs, their minimal security requirements, Graham told me. In general, I think it is inappropriate to frame conflicts as a struggle between good and evil.

Update, October 3, 10:45 am: This story was originally published on October 1 and has been updated to include Russias retreat from Lyman.

Our goal this month

Now is not the time for paywalls. Now is the time to point out whats hidden in plain sight (for instance, the hundreds of election deniers on ballots across the country), clearly explain the answers to voters questions, and give people the tools they need to be active participants in Americas democracy. Reader gifts help keep our well-sourced, research-driven explanatory journalism free for everyone. By the end of September, were aiming to add 5,000 new financial contributors to our community of Vox supporters. Will you help us reach our goal by making a gift today?

Visit link:
Ukraine is staying united in its war against Russia. What would victory look like? - Vox.com

For about seven months, Aleksey had been largely untouched by the war in Ukraine. Like many others in the big cities of Russia, he was able to continue working and living his life.

But that changed in mid-September, after Aleksey boarded a flight headed for his hometown of Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Republic of Buryatia, which sits around Lake Baikal in the Siberian region of Russia. (Aleksey is not his real name; CBC agreed to change his name to protect him from potential reprisals.)

Aleksey was going for a short trip to visit friends and family he hadn't seen since moving to the western side a few years ago. The roughly 6,000 kilometres between the two regions means planessometimes have a layover in countries south of the Russian border.

This was one of those flights, which meant Aleksey had to take his passport with him something for which he would later be extremely grateful.

That's because on Sept. 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists young men who had previously gone through the country's mandatory conscription in order to continue the war in Ukraine.

While Putin declared the mobilization to be nationwide, those most affected are Russia's ethnic minorities among them, the people of Buryatia (referred to as Buryat).

Aleksey had spent a few days in Buryatia before Putin's televised address, hoping the president's decision wouldn't result in a mass conscription of his people.

"We still had the hope that this would all settle, the draft notices wouldn't come," said Aleksey.

But it wasn't worth the risk of waiting it out. That night, he and his friends quickly packed their bags and co-ordinated their escape. Aleksey's international flight to Buryatia meant he had his passport with him, making a last-minute departure from Russia feasible. The next day, he and his friends left.

But not all Buryat are as lucky.

The recent Russian mobilization comes as Ukraine reclaims an increasing percentage of its previously lost territory.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyytouted the army'srecent counteroffensive victory in Lyman on Saturday, as videos of Ukrainian soldiers taking down Russian flags and hoisting their ownbegan circulating.

Melissa Chakars, a professor at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and an expert on Buryatia and the Mongolian peoples of Russia, called the mobilization a "big shift in the war."

"[Putin] claimed that [drafting] was going to be spread throughout the regions so people were expecting that a certain percentage of people from each region [were] going to be taken," said Chakars.

She said that while people from the more central cities, especially Moscow and Saint Petersburg, hadbeen able to operate withoutmuch fear of the draft, Putin's mobilization announcement had "changed things."

Protests, which had largely dwindled since the early days of the invasion in February, erupted across the country and spurred an exodus of almost 300,000 Russians to neighbouring borders within five days of Putin's televised address, according to reporting done by Novaya Gazeta.Novaya Gazeta, whose editor-in-chief is Nobel Peace laureate Dmitry Muratov, was forced to cease operations in early September due to the war and is now operating in exile out of Riga, Latvia.

While Russian men in metropolitan areas were now being conscripted, the mobilization largely reinforced existing trends in terms of which populations provided the most fighters.

At the start of the war, reports indicated many men from Buryatia were sent to fight in the war. The region also suffered a significant number of casualties. By Sept. 23, 275 identified men from Buryatia had been killed in the war, according to an independent count by Mediazona and BBC News's Russian service.

The only Russian region with a higher casualty rate is the Republic of Dagestan, with 305 identified men killed in action. However, the total population of Dagestan is more than three million; Buryatia isless than a million.

While Buryat are indigenous to the region, with their own language, many of them never learn that language, and instead only speak Russian.

The reason for high drafting rates in the ethnic regions, especially Buryatia, is twofold.

First, the communities of Buryatia are largely clustered around Lake Baikal, and drafting men from more remote regions of the country means any potential opposition to the war would likely come far away from Moscow or Saint Petersburg, Chakars explained.

The other piece of the story is that these areas are typically quite low-income.

"Buryatia is one of the poorest regions in all of the Russian Federation. Traditionally, the military is a steady job," Chakars said.

Alexandra Garmazhapova, president of the antiwar organization Free Buryatia Foundation (FBF), said the distribution of draft notices in Buryatia late last month resembled more of a raid.

"People from different age groups were getting it, disabled people and even people that are no longer alive," she said. In at least one report, a man who died two years ago from COVID-19 received a draft notice.

"They are grabbing everyone they can and sending them to the war," Garmazhapova said. "This is not a partial mobilization, but a full mobilization."

According to reports, between 3,000 and 5,000 men were mobilized from Buryatia on the first day of the announcement.

One man had an officer and a teacher appear at his front door in the middle of the night between Sept. 21 and 22. He was served with the draft notice and forced to sign it, Garmazhapova said.

"The only reason he opened the door was because he thought it was his brother returning home from work," she said. "If he knew it wasn't his brother, he definitely wouldn't have opened the door."

Under current law, citizens are obligated to open the door to the police. Citizens are also legally required to report to conscription offices once they've been served and sign their draft notices. But some began refusing to open their doors.

Garmazhapova relates the story of another man who didn't open his door to officers who wanted to serve him with his notice. Eventuallytheyleft, and the man thought he had avoided being sent to the war.

WATCH | Russian men head for the borders to avoid the draft:

But while filling up his car at the gas station the next day, he saw a bus coming from his village filled with men who had been freshly drafted. The bus stopped at the gas station and the man was forcibly taken on board.

"Without his things, without his documents they took him," said Garmazhapova. "The car was left at the gas station and his relatives had to come and take the car back home. There are a lot of stories like this."

In a rare social media video, Yanina Nimaeva from Ulan-Ude addresses the leader of Buryatia, Alexei Tsydenov, on why her 38-year-old husband and the father of five children, who had never served in the army, was served with a draft notice.

Word of these events spurred many young men to pack their bags and head for the closest borders to Buryatia Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

Part of FBF's work was helping with the evacuation efforts, by co-ordinating transportation and bringingBuryat mento the borders. Once they have crossed over, representatives from the foundation have been helping the young men find room and board, food and work.

"It was very sad looking at themYou understand these are very young boys who didn't have plans to leave," said Garmazhapova, recounting how she has helpedmen get settled in Astana, Kazakhstan. She said their average age was between 20 and 22.

"It's almost as if you can visualize their parents just throwing their kids on the last train leaving, just to save them."

Many of the soldiers sent to the front lines of the 2014 war in Ukraine were also from Buryatia, notably a lot of tank operators.

As a result, Garmazhapovasaid many had gained notoriety as "Putin's Buryat warriors." A 2015 pro-Kremlin video featured a few Buryat speaking about their support for Putin and willingness to fight for him.

"Before, when people would ask what is Buryatia, or who are the Buryat, it would take a very long time to explain the place. We would have to explain that Buryatia is near Lake Baikal, close to Mongolia," said Garmazhapova.

"But now if you say you're Buryat, people immediately say, 'Those are the people that fight for Putin in Ukraine.' It's very negative and is an awful reputation."

She said the latest war has thrown Buryat soldiers "into the meatgrinder" once again.

FBF was established in March 2022 with the release of an antiwar video featuring Buryat from around the world that countered the idea that Buryat soldiers fought willingly for Putin.

"Unexpectedly, this video garnered a million views and Buryat [people] started to write to us: 'Oh god, finally somebody [else] said that I'm against the war. I thought I was the only one,'" said Garmazhapova.

FBFwas inundated with messages, first with support and then with pleas for help in getting soldiers out of the war. Mothers began writing to the organization asking how to cancel the military contracts of sons who were either on the front lines or getting ready to go there.

Garmazhapova said they were able to successfully help some soldiers cancel their contracts and return home. However, with mobilization, their most effective way to support the men was to help them settle into new homes outside Russia.

She hopes these men will one day be able to repay countries like Kazakhstan and Mongolia, which have given them a new home.

In the meantime, she is encouraging Buryat men to start learning Kazakh.

"Even the most basic phrases," Garmazhapova said, "is a sign of respect to their language."

View original post here:
Russian ethnic minorities bearing brunt of Russia's war mobilization in Ukraine - CBC News

From an elegant mansion in Kyivs government quarter, Tamila Tasheva is planning what the Ukrainian takeover of Crimea might look like.

Tasheva, president Volodymyr Zelenskiys top representative for Crimea, and her team spend their days discussing issues such as how many Ukrainian teachers or police should be sent to the peninsula if Kyiv regains control, and what else would be required to help reverse eight years of Russian rule.

No serious military analyst is suggesting that Ukraine is close to being in a position to regain Crimea, but the idea feels much less fanciful than it did a year ago.

This is moment X. Right now everything is happening in a way that it feels inevitable, said Tasheva. It may not happen tomorrow, but I think it will be much quicker than I thought a year ago.

Even as Russian President Vladimir Putin lays claim to more territory, with his attempted annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Friday, the mood in Kyiv is that a full victory ought to involve not just taking things back to how they were before the February invasion, but regaining all of Ukraines territory.

Before, Ukrainian officials said Crimea would be theirs again more out of hope than a firm belief it would actually happen. The same went for most western officials and diplomats, who privately suggested there was little chance of Kyiv ever restoring control.

Now, as Russia struggles on the battlefield in southern and eastern Ukraine, and cracks of dissent appear over president Putins unpopular mobilisation drive, some in Kyiv hope the writing is on the wall. Everything began with Crimea and everything will end with Crimea, said Zelenskiy, in an August speech.

The Crimea office was opened by Zelenskiy last year as part of a strategy known as the Crimea Platform, which is aimed at envisioning eventual Ukrainian control over the territory. Sculptures by Crimean artists dot the gardens: one emits the sounds of waves and dolphins to evoke the seaside resorts of the peninsula. Inside, large photographs of spectacular Crimean landscapes and activists jailed by Russian authorities hang from the walls. Tasheva, a former rights activist who is Crimean Tatar, has been in the role since April this year.

Ukrainian officials say targeting Crimea is key to stopping the Russian war machine in other parts of occupied Ukraine, and Kyiv appears to have done so several times in recent months, most notably in early August, when several explosions rocked the Saky airbase.

Crimea is the key base for their army reserves. Its where they have their bases for ammunition, hardware and soldiers, so of course destroying these bases is a major part of de-blockading our territory, said Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to Zelenskiy.

He said the attitude of Kyivs western partners, particularly the US, had changed over the summer. Until the middle of the summer our partners really had doubts that Crimea could be a legitimate target. Now they accept that given the intensity of this war its absolutely a legitimate target, said Podolyak.

Currently Kyiv did not have enough Himars missiles to use on Crimea, said Podolyak, and the systems could not reach much of the peninsula from Ukrainian positions with their range in any case. So for now we are working mainly through diversionary groups, and using the local partisans, the local partisan mood has grown significantly in the past few months, he said.

The US has so far declined to deliver ATACMS systems that have an even longer range than Himars, but if it does, Crimea is likely to be one of the first targets. I think soon were going to see the Ukrainians pushing long-range rocket launchers into position to start hitting targets in Crimea, and this will really cause a problem for the Russians, it could make Crimea untenable for them, said Ben Hodges, formerly the commander of the US Army in Europe.

Inside the peninsula, Russian authorities have stepped up a crackdown on dissent, and Sergei Aksyonov, the Kremlin-installed leader of Crimea, went as far as to threaten that anyone who sang pro-Ukrainian songs would be prosecuted.

People who chant slogans, sing songs or nationalist hymns will be punished according to the criminal code, he said earlier this month, after six guests at a Crimean Tatar wedding were arrested when footage was shared of guests dancing to a song that calls for Ukraine to be freed from Muscovite shackles.

People who behave like this are traitors if you dont love our country then leave and go to the place you do love, said Aksyonov, who was a marginal local politician before Moscow installed him as leader in 2014.

Gauging the public mood in Crimea is difficult. Ukrainians say a number of surveys in recent years purporting to show that a majority of Crimeans are happy under Russian rule should be taken in the context of the Kremlins lack of tolerance of dissent and the exodus of large numbers of pro-Ukraine Crimeans after annexation. There is some anecdotal evidence that support for Russia could be waning.

Of course there are loads of people who are staunchly pro-Russian, but there are also many people who feel theyve been cheated over the past eight years, and feel increasingly uncomfortable with life under Moscow, said one Crimea resident who has fled the peninsula to escape Putins mobilisation decree.

In 2014 the Kremlin launched a lightning invasion of little green men, who wore no insignia and who Moscow initially denied were Russian special forces. Later, they disabled the TV stations, threatened Ukrainian military installations on the peninsula and co-opted much of the Ukrainian law enforcement, judicial and other infrastructure.

This will be one of many thorny issues for Ukraine should it ever win back control of Crimea. Who should face punishment for working with Russian authorities, and who should receive an amnesty?

Officials say that after so many years of occupation, that decision will be different from those that will have to be made in the territories occupied by Russia since the February invasion.

Crimea is a different case. Our laws will not have a retrospective aspect, said Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraines deputy prime minister. People believed Russia was there for ever, and you could not function there without interacting with Russian authorities.

There are other tricky questions. Between 500,000 and 800,000 Russians have moved to the peninsula since 2014, according to Ukrainian estimates. Technically, they have all entered the territory of Ukraine illegally. Then there is the question of property transactions since 2014. Should Ukrainian law recognise any of them?

Tasheva said the important thing was to ensure that these issues were dealt with ahead of time, not on the hop. Back in 2014, Russia was ready to implement its rule in Crimea. We need to be ready too, she said.

Read more here:
It feels inevitable: Ukraine starts to believe it can win back Crimea - The Guardian

Staff and volunteers load a camel into a vehicle to be evacuated from Feldman Ecopark in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 4. The zoo has been shelled repeatedly during the Russian invasion. At least five staff or volunteers were killed and nearly 100 animals at the zoo died as of April. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Staff and volunteers load a camel into a vehicle to be evacuated from Feldman Ecopark in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 4. The zoo has been shelled repeatedly during the Russian invasion. At least five staff or volunteers were killed and nearly 100 animals at the zoo died as of April.

Editor's note: This story contains graphic images.

DNIPRO, Ukraine When Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, Petya Petrova didn't hesitate. She and a team of other German animal rights activists rushed to the Polish-Ukrainian border to help with what would become an unprecedented influx of refugees, many of them bringing animals.

"I was the first team member to arrive at the Polish border on Feb. 25 to welcome Ukrainians arriving with their pets," says the 34-year-old.

After a few months, the animal rights group she was with, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, pulled back from the border, calling its employees back to Germany. But Petrova didn't think that was the right thing to do.

"My whole existence was linked to this war and I started feeling very emotional about this conflict," she says.

So she quit her job, moved to Kyiv and started working full time to evacuate animals from areas of Ukraine under attack.

The Russian war in Ukraine has gone on almost seven months. Thousands of people have been killed and millions have been forced to leave their homes. But the war is also taking a huge toll on animals not just domestic pets, but also farm animals and wildlife.

A dead cow at the farm of 58-year-old Oleksandr Novikov, who says he lost 80 cows and 30 pigs during two months of Russian artillery shelling and occupation, in Vilkhivka, Ukraine, on May 14. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

A dead cow at the farm of 58-year-old Oleksandr Novikov, who says he lost 80 cows and 30 pigs during two months of Russian artillery shelling and occupation, in Vilkhivka, Ukraine, on May 14.

Petrova is just one among thousands of individuals, nonprofit organizations and even soldiers trying to help animals caught up in this conflict.

"The war is affecting animals just as it is affecting humans," Petrova tells NPR. "[Animals] are tired, they are stressed, and the prolonged distress is causing sickness and disease," she says. "Stray animals in the streets are unprotected from airstrikes and many shelters have been destroyed."

NPR caught up with Petrova just as she rescued three dogs and a 4-week-old kitten. They'd wandered into a Ukrainian military camp near the eastern city of Kramatorsk and soldiers brought the animals to her in vegetable boxes. Petrova took them to two shelters still operating in the city of Dnipro, in central Ukraine.

That day she says a missile flew right over her head the first one she's heard. It killed six civilians in Kramatorsk. Petrova pulled off the road and stopped her car.

"It's deep and unmistakable," she says, "and it was at that moment that it all really sunk in what's going on. It was very traumatizing."

Petrova is originally from Bulgaria, which was long dominated by the Soviet Union. That's why she feels a great solidarity with the Ukrainian people fellow members of the former Soviet bloc in their fight against Russia, she says. Helping save animals is her way to do her part in this war.

There are similar stories across Ukraine. Irina Ponomarenko is the director of a large animal shelter in Dnipro. She says most of the dogs they house these days are no longer strays but pets people were forced to abandon.

Glasha (left) and one of her puppies at an animal shelter in Dnipro on July 8. Glasha was at the site of an explosion after a rocket attack on Dnipro. She was found injured with a broken paw and numerous scratches. The next day, Glasha's puppies were pulled from under the rubble. They are in shock, and one has a hip fracture. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Glasha (left) and one of her puppies at an animal shelter in Dnipro on July 8. Glasha was at the site of an explosion after a rocket attack on Dnipro. She was found injured with a broken paw and numerous scratches. The next day, Glasha's puppies were pulled from under the rubble. They are in shock, and one has a hip fracture.

"Often people fleeing the war are given just minutes to evacuate and they take the most valuable thing their animals," she says. "When they arrive their houses have often been destroyed, their cars have been shot at. They are confused and crying, their animals are often injured or sick because there are no animal clinics in the east any longer."

Ponomarenko says many people can't take their pets any further, especially the big dogs. But thanks to donations, her shelter is committed to keeping these animals safe until their owners can return for them.

The Feldman Ecopark in Kharkiv has had a heavy toll, with news reports of as many at least five people and nearly 100 animals dying in attacks or as a result of the conflict as of April.

Svitlana Vyshnevetska, 62, the ecopark's deputy director, says when it came under fire, she got down on her knees and told the animals she was sorry.

Svitlana Vyshnevetska, vice director at Feldman Ecopark, embraces a caracal in Kharkiv on May 2. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Svitlana Vyshnevetska, vice director at Feldman Ecopark, embraces a caracal in Kharkiv on May 2.

Left: A monkey rescued from at Feldman Ecopark at a temporary shelter in Kharkiv on April 30. Right: Animal enclosures damaged by Russian shelling at the ecopark on May 4. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Vishnevetska says staff and volunteers made heroic efforts to rescue animals from the zoo during frequent shelling.

Yevhen Zubchyk assists in the rescue of an ostrich at Feldman Ecopark on the outskirts of Kharkiv on May 5. Zubchyk was injured by shrapnel during Russian shelling later that day. Staff and volunteers made frequent trips to evacuate animals from the park as it was shelled by Russian forces. The rescued animals have been moved to other zoos around Ukraine. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Yevhen Zubchyk assists in the rescue of an ostrich at Feldman Ecopark on the outskirts of Kharkiv on May 5. Zubchyk was injured by shrapnel during Russian shelling later that day. Staff and volunteers made frequent trips to evacuate animals from the park as it was shelled by Russian forces. The rescued animals have been moved to other zoos around Ukraine.

Volunteer veterinarian Tymofii Kharchenko assists in the rescue of llamas, in a field where a type of projectile is sticking in the ground, at Feldman Ecopark on May 4. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Volunteer veterinarian Tymofii Kharchenko assists in the rescue of llamas, in a field where a type of projectile is sticking in the ground, at Feldman Ecopark on May 4.

"After every trip to the park, I said I would not go again. But I went anyway. The animals were waiting for us," she says.

"Ten years of work I put into that park. They were all groomed and fed. They were our family. And when you see the broken cages, the destruction the monkeys were hiding in the toilet it's devastating."

Tortoises and swans are loaded into a van for evacuation from Feldman Ecopark on May 2. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Tortoises and swans are loaded into a van for evacuation from Feldman Ecopark on May 2.

Vyshnevetska says they were often forced to work without sedatives for the animals. The orangutans seemed to understand and took her hand. But more than a hundred animals perished, including orangutans, chimpanzees and kangaroos that died of heart failure.

Dead animals on the ground at Feldman Ecopark on May 4. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Rescue efforts to save surviving animals continues, among the bodies of dead animals, at Feldman Ecopark on May 4. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Rescue efforts to save surviving animals continues, among the bodies of dead animals, at Feldman Ecopark on May 4.

At least five employees were killed, including two found shot to death at close range in March. Vyshnevetska witnessed the shooting of a driver who worked at the park. She was also there when 15-year-old Denis Selevin, the son of two Ecopark employees, was fatally wounded.

Russian shelling at Feldman Ecopark on May 5. Zoo volunteer Denis Selevin, 15, was killed as rescuers were working to evacuate animals when the shelling began. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Russian shelling at Feldman Ecopark on May 5. Zoo volunteer Denis Selevin, 15, was killed as rescuers were working to evacuate animals when the shelling began.

From left: Vitalii Ilchenko, Serhii Kolesnikov, Andrii Kharchenko and Oleksandr Kolomiiets rush away from Russian shelling that began while they were trying to rescue an ostrich from Feldman Ecopark on May 4. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

From left: Vitalii Ilchenko, Serhii Kolesnikov, Andrii Kharchenko and Oleksandr Kolomiiets rush away from Russian shelling that began while they were trying to rescue an ostrich from Feldman Ecopark on May 4.

They were crouched down hiding after coming under shelling and heard a child cry out.

"We went outside and saw Denis lying near the threshold of the door," she says. "When I saw him, I became hysterical."

Vyshnevetska says because of her training as a veterinarian, she knew his wounds were fatal. It took them a while to get him to the hospital because of the shelling. They injected him with morphine to ease his pain. He died on the way.

Denis Selevin, a 15-year-old volunteer at Feldman Ecopark, is rushed to hospital after being wounded by Russian shelling on May 5. He later died from his wounds at the hospital. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Denis Selevin, a 15-year-old volunteer at Feldman Ecopark, is rushed to hospital after being wounded by Russian shelling on May 5. He later died from his wounds at the hospital.

Svetlana Selevina hits her husband, Vitalii Selevin, as the two react to the news of the death of their son, Denis Selevin, at a hospital in Kharkiv on May 5. Selevina was upset that her husband took Denis to volunteer with the animal rescue that day. Both they and their son were volunteers who frequently helped feed and care for the animals. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Svetlana Selevina hits her husband, Vitalii Selevin, as the two react to the news of the death of their son, Denis Selevin, at a hospital in Kharkiv on May 5. Selevina was upset that her husband took Denis to volunteer with the animal rescue that day. Both they and their son were volunteers who frequently helped feed and care for the animals.

Svetlana Selevina and Vitalii Selevin embrace after hearing the news of the death of their son, Denis Selevin, at a hospital in Kharkiv on May 5. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Svetlana Selevina and Vitalii Selevin embrace after hearing the news of the death of their son, Denis Selevin, at a hospital in Kharkiv on May 5.

Zoo worker Serhii Kolesnikov cries after learning of the death of Denis Selevin, a 15-year-old volunteer at Feldman Ecopark who was killed by Russian shelling as rescuers were evacuating animals from the park, at a hospital in Kharkiv on May 5. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Zoo worker Serhii Kolesnikov cries after learning of the death of Denis Selevin, a 15-year-old volunteer at Feldman Ecopark who was killed by Russian shelling as rescuers were evacuating animals from the park, at a hospital in Kharkiv on May 5.

Two soldiers fighting for Russia were captured and taken to the hospital. One of them was a Kremlin-backed Ukrainian separatist.

Zoo worker Andrii Shalimov is restrained while trying to hit a captured Ukrainian separatist soldier, who was fighting for Russia, at a hospital in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 5. Two captured soldiers were brought to the same hospital where zoo volunteer Denis Selevin died, and the zoo workers took out their grief on the captives when they learned of Selevin's death. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Zoo worker Andrii Shalimov is restrained while trying to hit a captured Ukrainian separatist soldier, who was fighting for Russia, at a hospital in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on May 5. Two captured soldiers were brought to the same hospital where zoo volunteer Denis Selevin died, and the zoo workers took out their grief on the captives when they learned of Selevin's death.

The boy's father, Vitalii Selevin, took off the soldier's blindfold to show his son's blood still on his own hands in a painfully poignant confrontation of war and innocence.

Vitalii Selevin shows his hands with his son's blood on them to a captured pro-Russia Ukrainian fighter, at a hospital in Kharkiv on May 5. Selevin's son Denis was killed by shelling. Carol Guzy for NPR hide caption

Vitalii Selevin shows his hands with his son's blood on them to a captured pro-Russia Ukrainian fighter, at a hospital in Kharkiv on May 5. Selevin's son Denis was killed by shelling.

See the original post here:
Photos: The fight to rescue animals in the Russia-Ukraine war : The Picture Show - NPR