“Ukraine – Russia”

When Ukraine appeared to be on the verge of exiting Russia’s orbit in late 2013, it took an almighty effort from the Kremlin to drag the then Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych back from the precipice. Yanukovych was gone within three months, fleeing into exile in Russia as the Euromaidan demonstrations consumed Ukrainian political life. These events sowed a seed in Russian president Vladimir Putin’s mind about the need to act, which found fertile soil in thinking we can trace back to his fear of the color revolutions and his 2007 speech at the Munich Security Conference. The tragic events we are witnessing now, as division after division of Russian troops pile into Eastern Europe, are the direct result of that seed. 

Russia has accused Ukraine and the US at the UN security council of a plot to use migratory birds and bats to spread pathogens, raising alarm among other council members that the accusations could be intended to provide cover for future Russian use of biological weapons.

The Russian permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, delivered a lengthy account of the alleged biological weapons plot, and said the birds, bats and insects supposedly intended to spread disease would cross Ukraine’s western border.

It is not the most pressing question to emerge from Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine, but I have nonetheless found myself wondering – what will happen with the word ‘erasure’ following this war? Ukraine’s heroic president Volodymyr Zelensky used the e-word last week. Russia, he said, is out to ‘erase our history’. The Putin regime and its marauding forces want to ‘erase our country, erase us all’, Zelensky cried, aptly, given the vigour and bigotry with which Putin has mocked and violently undermined Ukrainian sovereignty. Putin clearly sees Ukraine as a joke nation that can casually be erased from the map.

Russian citizens have been at the center of their government’s propaganda campaign to twist the events of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in a way that makes Russia look like the hero and Ukraine look like the aggressor.

Even before the war began, the government and state-run media in Russia were showing a distorted view of reality by painting a false narrative of the Ukrainian government.

A Canadian marketer who had planned to raise a humble few hundred dollars for a charity helping relief efforts in Ukraine has found himself the creator of a viral marketing campaign that has so far earned well over C$1m ($783,000; £600,000) using the unlikeliest of images – a rocket-armed saint.

Christian Borys helped develop the image – known as “Saint Javelin” – which depicts the Virgin Mary cradling a US-made FGM-148 anti-tank weapon. These missiles are among the arms being sent by Western allies to Ukrainian forces to aid in their fight.

Igor Gavrylko was at his home in west London when the Russian bombs began to fall on Ukraine. A British citizen originally from Ukraine, he had lived in the UK since 1996, working most recently for Nissan as a forecourt salesperson. He rang his boss. “I knew a Russian invasion was going to happen,” he said. “My Ukrainian grandfather fought against the Red Army and the Nazis in world war two. Now it’s my turn to help.”

Experts have said they are baffled by the ineptitude of the tactics displayed by Russia’s armies after drone footage yesterday showed a column of tanks getting picked off one-by-one in an ambush carried out by Ukraine’s forces.

Analysts have said Russian tank commanders allowed the Ukrainians to ambush their unit by driving down the middle of a main road leading into Kyiv – and straight into a death trap. By multiple counts, President Vladimir Putin’s forces have lost more tanks than are operational in entire German army.

The devastating artillery strikes came as Putin’s troops inched closer to Kyiv, and saw a number of Russian T-72 tanks and other vehicles destroyed or routed in the surprise attack from the front and back of the convoy.

#Ukraine: UAV footage showing a Russian T-72 variant tank being hit by Ukrainian forces anti-tank fire in #Mariupol. pic.twitter.com/DycyL46A3a

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 11, 2022

#Ukraine: More losses of the Russian army – a BTR-82A APC was damaged by fire after being abandoned and an IVECO LMV “Rys” was completely burnt down. Location is unknown. pic.twitter.com/EouEcN9Wu0

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 11, 2022

Satellite images taken by a US firm of a large Russian military convoy near Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, show it has “largely dispersed and redeployed”.

The convoy was last seen near Antonov Airport, north-west of Kyiv, and its movement could signal a renewed push towards the city.

The firm that took the photos, Maxar Technologies, said parts of the convoy were in positions in surrounding towns.

Other parts are further north, with artillery now in firing positions.

#Ukraine: New footage presumably showing the downing of a Russian Mi-24/35 attack helicopter. However we can't verify yet where precisely it occurred or if this helicopter was not documented previously. pic.twitter.com/VB1WfBswfA

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 11, 2022

#Ukraine: A Ukrainian Stugna-P anti-tank guided missile operator successfully hits and destroys a Russian tank. pic.twitter.com/WPdOFix0ut

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 11, 2022

WARSAW — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau capped a weeklong European trip Friday by slapping new sanctions on the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who has become an international poster boy for the largesse that enabled President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

Abramovich is a major shareholder in Evraz, a British multinational manufacturing company that operates a steel mill in Regina. Britain also sanctioned Abramovich on Thursday, as pressure continued to grow on the Boris Johnson government to bring down the hammer on the owner of its famed Chelsea Football Club. Abramovich has aimed his super yacht into the Mediterranean Sea to avoid having his assets seized.

One of the biggest questions about the war in Ukraine at this point is what Russian president Vladimir Putin’s exit ramp would look like. He has too much of his standing and prestige invested in this expedition for the United States and its allies to expect him to execute a U-turn and a tail-between-the-legs withdrawal, even if Ukrainian resistance were to continue being as stubborn and effective as it has been so far. For any outcome to be acceptable, Putin has to be able to portray himself, with the aid of his propaganda apparatus, as a winner.