Vladimir Putin

• Ukraine advances, Ukraine overcomes the path.
• He said: “Ukrainians will cope with any energy shortage as they have no shortage of resilience and courage.
• We defeated the darkness.” He took time to thank the Ukrainian people, talking up the country’s unity in the face of existential threat.
• A refugee or a citizen?” The cold hard fact is that 2023 ended badly on the battlefield for Ukraine.
• As late as the beginning of December Russia announced it was calling up another 170,000 troops.

• In the meantime, a raft of new economic measures will increase the tax burden on ordinary Ukrainians, while at the same time radically reducing public spending.
• Read more:
  Ukraine war increasingly seen as 'fought by the poor’, as Zelensky raises taxes and proposes strict mobilisation laws

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• James Horncastle, of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, meanwhile, believes that while Ukraine has suffered setbacks over the past six months or so, it can still prevail.
• And then works out exactly what it will take in terms of western military aid to achieve that initial goal.

Do they know it’s Christmas?

• Accordingly Ukrainians celebrated Easter and other important religious festivals and saints days at different times as well.
• But in May 2023, the Ukrainian government took the decision to adopt the revised Julian – what we know as the Gregorian – calendar.
• As Hann reports, the old religious calendar survived the Soviet era, but has now been swept away by decree from Kyiv.

• "We, people's deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, are deeply concerned about the presence and participation of forces and mercenaries loyal to the dictatorship in the Republic of Cuba in the genocidal invasion of the territory of Ukraine," the statement from the members of the Rada reads.
• The deputies' statement comes following news that approximately 1,000 Cubans have traveled to Russia, some knowing what they were going into, others not.
• This is an addition to the established presence of Cuban Black Berets (special paramilitary forces) receiving special training in Belarus and regular Cuban armed forces fighting for the Russian military in Ukraine.
• The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance echoes a call from the deputies of the Rada to those Cubans fighting in Ukraine to return home and fight for freedoms in their own country.

• Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive was the subject of speculation for months before it officially began at the beginning of June.
• So far, only modest progress has been made and there have been concerns from Kyiv’s allies that Ukraine is making insufficient headway against entrenched Russian defences.
• With the end of summer now fast approaching, it seems that a serious push is taking place.
• But reports emerge daily to indicate that progress is being made in a number of areas.

Overcoming Russian defences

• While Russian forces are reported to be disorganised and suffering low morale, they have the advantage of occupying well-prepared defensive positions, which will make them hard to dislodge.
• They have been able to prepare many challenges, such as minefields that stretch for hundreds of kilometres.
• While Ukraine possesses a highly mobile, well-trained and capable force, physical barriers of this nature are proving difficult to navigate.

Pragmatic approach

• Heavy losses in early phases have already caused Ukraine to rethink its approach.
• General Syrskyi, the architect of some of Ukraine’s biggest victories, stresses the importance of a cautious approach: “We’d like to get very fast results, but in reality, it’s practically impossible.” Likewise, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has stressed the importance of not expecting “Hollywood” style outcomes.
• This is likely to frustrate key Nato allies, who are increasingly critical of the pace of advance.
• Yet again, Ukrainian forces are pragmatic: “We can’t draw big conclusions yet,” a senior military officer told journalists on July 30.

• Never during the 23 years of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule has he faced the kind of challenge posed by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s insurrection over the weekend.
• The gravity of the crisis was underlined by Putin’s televised address on Saturday.

From catering food to running a trolling factory

• He was a product of the peculiar kind of authoritarian regime that Putin created during his two decades in power.
• In at least three ways, Putin ushered Prigozhin to the centre of Russia’s political stage.
• This trolling factory employed hundreds of staff, working around the clock to create the illusion of a groundswell of support for the regime.
• Its leader was simultaneously collaborating with the Kremlin and organising a terrorist campaign against its own opponents, including police and federal judges.

The Wagner Group is born

• The most durable was the Wagner Group, which was created after a meeting in the Defence Ministry in the summer of 2014.
• In the process, Wagner mercenaries committed atrocities in the Central African Republic and Mali, which provoked international condemnation.
• Read more:
  Wagner group mercenaries in Africa: why there hasn't been any effective opposition to drive them out

Prigozhin’s swift rise in power

• As the Kremlin tightened its stranglehold over the electoral process, Russia’s parliament became accountable to the regime, not the people.
• Civil society was devastated through the passage of new laws against “foreign agents” and “undesirable organisations”.
• It took Putin’s second invasion of Ukraine to transform Prigozhin from a dangerous regime proxy into a contender for power.
• At the same time, the repeated defeats of Russian forces on the battlefield magnified the importance of Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenaries.