Michael Wasiura

Russia's persistent attempts to surround the small Donbas village despite "colossal" losses raised questions about the attack's ultimate objective.

In the months leading up to February 24, 2022, virtually no prominent Russian pundits were actually predicting that Kyiv would fall "in three days."

The less plausible sounding half of Kremlin propaganda isn't actually any less true than the more plausible sounding half is—it is cut from the same cloth.

"When I got here, I realized that everything I had done in Afghanistan wasn't just wasted effort. It was preparing me for this," U.K. volunteer tells Newsweek.

"There is a worrying politicization of the issue of support for Ukraine," CSIS Europe expert tells Newsweek.

"I investigate cases of theft and of petty bribery, but there is nothing that can be called 'high-level,'" former Ukrainian star prosecutor tells Newsweek.

"Russia uses CNC machines to produce physical parts that are then used in almost all of its weapons," Mark Savchuk told Newsweek.

A recent essay titled "The Tragedy of Volodymyr Zelensky" raises serious questions about the Ukraine president and his war with Russia.

"When your house is on fire, you don't buy new curtains, you buy a fire extinguisher," Odesa-based activist tells Newsweek.

"We build better drones than the Russians do, but they build more of them," Maxim Sheremet, leader of Dronarnia, tells Newsweek.

The Ukrainians are fighting "to maintain the initiative so as to prevent the Russians from regrouping and fortifying their defensive positions yet again."

As the case against former Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev moves closer to trial, evidence has emerged that appears to undermine the prosecution's allegations.

Musk was purportedly motivated by fears that Ukraine's attack against Russian ships in Sevastopol might provoke a nuclear response from Moscow.

"The threat of nuclear escalation proved to be the most powerful instrument in Russia's military toolkit," a war analyst tells Newsweek.

"If the Democrats understand that their plan isn't working, what will they do? They could start a war with Russia. That's just what they're planning to do."

"We do this almost every day," a priest in Lviv, Ukraine tells Newsweek as he presides over a funeral service for two soldiers killed in action.

The Kremlin will exercise complete control over all aspects of the Russian election, including who appears on the ballot and how the media cover it.

"There are elections coming up, and if they openly say 'we are for Russia,' they know they will lose," a Georgian media figure tells Newsweek.

"In the past year and a half, Ukrainian people have become better," singer Oleh Skrypka tells Newsweek.

The Ukrainian agency tasked with leading the fight against corruption needs to be independent of the administration.

"Some commentators were too confident in making claims that the Russian security agencies didn't do anything to stop the uprising," analyst tells Newsweek.

Authorities arranged for conspicuous corteges of hearses at seemingly every St. Petersburg cemetery except for the one burying Prigozhin.

"Speaking realistically, I might not return [to Russia] for the rest of my life," anti-Putin emigree in Serbia says.

"Four thousand largely isolated Wagner personnel do not pose a serious threat ... to Poland, Lithuania, or Ukraine," George Barros of ISW told Newsweek.

While Lukashenko's fantastical rants have literally become the stuff of parody, the dictators in both Minsk and Moscow still have the most to laugh about.

"I am serving a life sentence, where life is measured by the term of my life or the term of life of this regime," Alexey Navalny said after his sentencing.

"I'm very frustrated that people in the West, including at the International Monetary Fund, are not more concerned," an anti-corruption activist tells Newsweek.

Support for Kyiv will be a key issue in the 2024 election. The outcome will shape U.S. foreign policy for years to come—and could determine who wins the war.

"Anyone who possessed two university degrees must be a Ukrainian defender, while anyone who had served two prison terms could only be a Russian invader."

"In order to end the war, the West needs to start delivering buckets of aid instead of teaspoons," Ukrainian security expert Anton Gerashchenko tells Newsweek.