What happened in the Russia-Ukraine war this
week? Catch up with the must-read news and analysis
Helen Sullivan
@helenrsullivan
Fri 23 Dec 2022 18.00 GMT
Every week
we wrap up the must-reads from our coverage of the Ukraine war, from news and
features to analysis and opinion.
A show of
support for Zelenskiy in Washington
The
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, left the country for the first time
since the outbreak of the war and travelled to Washington to meet with Joe
Biden and deliver a speech to US Congress.
Zelenskiy
was received with a standing ovation as he arrived to speak wearing his now
trademark green military-style trousers and shirt, as Chris McGreal reported.
The Ukrainian leader was repeatedly met with long bursts of applause as he
invoked US battles against Nazi Germany and President Franklin Roosevelt’s
wartime commitments in a bid to keep American weapons supplies flowing for the
war against Russia.
Zelenskiy’s
visit “was a political event with important future implications for Ukraine,
the United States and Russia, and for the conflict more generally”, the
Guardian’s editorial said. “It was clearly focused on what should happen in
2023 rather than what has happened already.”
In his
address, the Ukrainian leader, who needed to appeal both to Congress as a whole
and to Republicans who will take the House on 3 January, invoked the second
world war , making the point that aid for Ukraine was an investment in global
security. “It’s a great honour for me to be at the US Congress and speak to you
and all Americans! Against all odds and doom-and-gloom scenarios, Ukraine did
not fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking,” he said. Read his speech in full.
Putin talks
military cooperation in Belarus
Vladimir
Putin has discussed closer military cooperation with his Belarusian
counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, during a rare visit to the country, as fears
grow in Kyiv that Moscow is pushing its closest ally to join a new ground
offensive against Ukraine. Pjotr Sauer reported on the trip.
The
meeting, which was Putin’s first visit to Belarus since 2019, came hours after
Moscow launched a fresh barrage of “kamikaze drones” that damaged “key
infrastructure” in and around Kyiv, according to the mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
Speaking at
a joint press conference in Minsk late on Monday, the two leaders said they agreed
to continue a series of joint military drills that have caused alarm in
Ukraine.
The Kremlin
has for years strived to deepen integration with Belarus, which heavily relies
on Moscow for discounted oil and loans. Lukashenko has previously resisted outright
unification with Russia despite the country’s growing isolation from the west
after his brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2020.
‘Our
weapons are computers’
In a
nondescript office building on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian soldiers
have been honing what they believe will be a decisive weapon in their effort to
repel the Russian invasion, Julian Borger writes from the south-eastern city.
Inside, the
weapon glows from a dozen computer screens – a constantly updated portrayal of
the evolving battlefield to the south. With one click on a menu, the map is
populated with hordes of orange diamonds, showing Russian deployments. They
reveal where tanks and artillery have been hidden, and intimate details of the
units and the soldiers in them, gleaned from social media. Choosing another
option from the menu lights up red arrows across the southern Zaporizhzhia
region, showing the progression of Russian columns. Zooming in shows satellite
imagery of the terrain in sharp detail.
It is
called Delta, a software package developed by Ukrainian programmers to give
their armed forces an advantage in a contest of which side can see the
battlefield more clearly and therefore predict the enemy forces’ moves and
strike them faster and more accurately.
Sunak’s
review of Ukraine aid suggests cracks in UK policy
Dan Sabbagh
writes that while Boris Johnson’s Ukraine policy may not have always been
sophisticated – “Dobryi den, everybody!” – his enthusiasm was welcomed in Kyiv.
Six months of Conservative party chaos later, his successor but one, Rishi
Sunak, is yet to demonstrate he is as supportive at a time when Ukraine needs
the west to dig in.
A leak at
the start of the weekend said Sunak had ordered an internal assessment of the
significance of British military aid to Ukraine. Revelation of the Whitehall
exercise was accompanied by a pointed briefing to the BBC, accusing the prime
minister of resorting to a “Goldman Sachs dashboard” approach.
Britain’s
Rishi Sunak and Latvia’s Krisjanis Karins listen as Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks
via video link.
Britain’s
Rishi Sunak, top left, and Latvia’s Krisjanis Karins listen as Volodymyr
Zelenskiy, front, speaks via video link. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
“Wars
aren’t won [by dashboards]. Wars are won on instinct,” the critic continued – a
demonstration that cracks are appearing in Britain’s policy towards Ukraine.
Downing
Street may have rejected that characterisation on Monday, but a Ukraine review
is on. A No 10 spokesperson said: “The PM is staying closely across the detail
of developments in Ukraine and the impact of UK and international support, to
ensure we are delivering the best possible assistance.”
‘We were
allowed to be slaughtered’: a Russian soldier calls his mother
Out on the
frontline, near the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman, on 8 November at 15.10, a
Russian serviceman called Andrey decided to ignore the orders of his superiors
and call his mother with an unauthorised mobile phone. “No one feeds us
anything, Mum,” he complained. “Our supply is shit, to be honest. We draw water
from puddles, then we strain it and drink it.”
Russian
forces had been on the back foot in the Donetsk oblast for weeks. Lyman, taken
by the Russians in May, was liberated by Ukrainian forces in October. Two days
before Andrey made his afternoon call back home, the Russian forces had
“finally” started firing at Ukrainian positions with phosphorus bombs, he told
his mother, but the promises of munitions that could turn the battle had come
to nothing.
Andrey
reassured his mother, who lives in Kostroma, a city 500km (310 miles) north-east
of Moscow, that he would be OK. “I always say prayers, Mum,” he said. “Every
morning.” It is not known whether those prayers were met. When approached by
the Guardian, his mother said her son was not with her, before breaking down in
tears and putting the phone down.
The content
of the conversation between soldier and mother, which lasted five minutes and
26 seconds, can be heard and read today because it was intercepted by the
Ukrainian military and passed to this newspaper. Daniel Boffey and Pjotr Sauer
had this story.
Some are
staying with friends, while others have been taken in by strangers. Some live
in small flats paid for by the Australian government. Uprooted from a European
war, they are shocked by the price of food but comment frequently on how safe
Sydney is.
On
Christmas Day, instead of gathering around their family dinner tables or singing
carols in the snow, these Ukrainians – many of them mothers with young children
– will wake up 14,000km from home and wait for text messages to confirm their
relatives are still alive.
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