Latest Articles about Ukraine

Issues in Russia-Turkey Relations After Crimea

On December 4, Major-General Oleksandr Rozmazninov, of Ukraine’s General Staff, reported a Russian deployment of the Iskander-M tactical missile system to Crimea. (Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, December 4). This and other Russian military deployments to the annexed peninsula have prompted debates on the shift in the military... MORE

Russian Invasion: Improvisation or Long-Term Planning?

The Ukrainian crisis started late last year, when then–Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych suddenly refused to sign the long-planned association agreement with the European Union and ordered the brutal dispersal of student protesters in downtown Kyiv. The chain of events that followed led to the popular... MORE

Russia Takes Breathing Pause From Military Hostilities in Ukraine

Russia seems about to suspend the military phase of its multi-dimensional assault on Ukraine. The Kremlin’s “Novorossiya” project (see EDM, May 27) is shelved until further notice. Instead, Moscow is switching to what Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov has termed “a post-war phase, so to... MORE

Fortress Crimea: Russia Shifts Military Balance in the Black Sea

Since Russia’s almost effortless annexation of Crimea in March 2014, the country’s political-military leadership has promised an adequate defense reinforcement of the peninsula. This would build on existing Russian military infrastructure in Crimea, particularly associated with the basing of the Black Sea Fleet; since the... MORE

Ukraine to Develop Defense Industry Without Russia

The annexation of Crimea and the hybrid war with Russia that ensued have changed the Ukrainian government’s attitude toward the domestic military industry. Consequently, Ukraine’s arms production sector is likely to cease being an export-oriented industry that depended on Russia and exploited the fame of... MORE

Russia to Shift Rail Route to Avoid Going Through Ukraine

Russia frequently seeks to reroute oil and gas pipelines and railway routes in order to bypass those neighboring countries that it hopes to put pressure on. In turn, the West puts forth competing pipeline and transit corridors whose aim is to allow these same countries... MORE