Attention to the Unseen

The Washington Post reports: China is considering sending Russia lethal military aid in the form of artillery shells as President Vladimir Putin’s army rapidly depletes its supply of ammunition a year into his invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials said, a prospect that has alarmed those in the Biden administration who believe Beijing has the ability to transform the war’s trajectory. There is no evidence that any weapons transfers have occurred, these officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to…

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Josh Rogin writes: As the Ukraine war enters its second year, the Biden administration is pledging to support Kyiv for “as long as it takes.” That language is calculated to send a message of resolve to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but it’s not what Ukrainians want to hear. Though they’re fighting valiantly, Ukrainians are also suffering greatly — and they are begging the West to help them speed up the war, not settle in for an endless slog. Just a…

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Michael Weiss and James Rushton report: A year ago today, Ukraine was under attack from three directions in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told his French counterpart, who was still not yet convinced that the invasion had begun, was a state of “total war.” Kyiv, we were confidently told by officials and analysts alike, had at most three days before it fell to Vladimir Putin’s invading army, airborne, special forces and naval troops and Russian tanks, accompanied perhaps by a…

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Politico reports: Western allies want to protect Ukraine from the next Russian war — but a year into this war, there’s still no agreement over how to do it, when to discuss it or what it even means. The allies’ muddled messaging has been on full display since British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak surprised some of his counterparts last weekend with a bold yet vague proposal for a new “charter” to assure Ukraine’s long-term security. “We must demonstrate that we’ll…

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The New York Times reports: A year ago, the United States did something extraordinary — it released previously classified intelligence that exposed Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine. Last week, Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, made a similar move when he warned China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, against providing weapons to Russia. In a previous era, the warning might have remained private, at least for some time. But a new intelligence playbook honed just before and during…

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The Wall Street Journal reports: United Nations members called on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, approving the latest U.S.-backed effort to pressure Moscow a year after the invasion—but also showing the limits of global support for Kyiv. Thursday’s resolution drew the support of 141 member countries, with seven countries voting against the measure and 32 abstaining, a similar outcome to previous resolutions related to the war. The resolution included a demand for Russia to “immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all…

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Timothy Garton Ash, Ivan Krastev, and Mark Leonard write: A year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there is little doubt the war is a turning point in world history. The conflict has challenged Europeans’ most basic assumptions about their security, brought the spectre of nuclear confrontation back to their continent, and disrupted the global economy, leaving energy and food crises in its wake. Yet while Russia’s aggression is an event of global significance, people in different parts of the world…

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NBC News reports: A flurry of European diplomatic activity over Russia’s war in Ukraine has offered a stark contrast this week: While President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv, one of China’s most senior diplomats was heading to Moscow. Wang Yi, Chinese President Xi Jinping‘s senior foreign policy adviser, gave one of the strongest indications yet of Russia and China’s strengthening ties on Wednesday. “We are ready to deepen our strategic partnership,” he said according to Reuters. “Other…

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The New York Times reports: The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group accused the country’s defense minister and its most senior general of treason on Tuesday, intensifying the most high-profile dispute in the Russian forces since the invasion of Ukraine began. Wagner’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has been taking aim at military leaders in a series of increasingly hostile audio messages on social media this week, accused the “chief of the general staff and minister of defense” of withholding ammunition…

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