A NOTE: Our Russia-Ukraine Resources are updated weekly - if you're accessing the page three or more weeks past the below date, pieces mentioned in this post may have been removed to make room for up-to-date resources.
To receive our weekly updates on this conflict directly to your inbox, join our mailing list by providing your contact information under 'Join Us' at the bottom of this page.
Updated Resources - July 18, 2024
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a session on the NATO Ukraine Council attend the NATO Summit in Washington DC. July 11, 2024. (Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Kyiv Independent: Newsfeed
Novaya Gazeta Europe: Newsfeed
The Insider: Newsfeed
The Telegraph via Apple Podcasts - Ukraine: The Latest
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being conferred with the ‘Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle’ - Russia’s highest civilian award - by the President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, Russia. July 09, 2024. (Prime Minister's Office, GODL-India, via Wikimedia Commons)
WHAT'S ON OUR MIND
In addition to our weekly resource update, today we also offer an updated collection of pieces on the Israeli-Hamas war.
Last week, meetings between allies and partners reinvigorated media interest in the broader geopolitical climate. These gatherings revealed renewed competition among old adversaries, potential paths forward, and the undulant backdrop against which the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to rage. On the heels of NATO’S Washington Summit and 75th anniversary - as well as PM Modi’s visit to Moscow - we examine developments in the transatlantic bloc, including NATO’s current agenda in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its approach to China, as well as the shifting dynamics between Russia, China, and India.
We open with an overview from Al Jazeera on the three-day NATO Washington summit, highlighting the agenda, attendees, and stakes of the gathering. Responsible Statecraft critiques NATO rhetoric for a lack of nuance in its view of Russia as an adversary, proscribing diplomacy as a necessary augmentation to the Western bloc’s powerful military deterrent. Another piece from Al Jazeera informs of Russian warnings and local outcry in response to the US’s announcement at the NATO summit of plans to station long-range missiles in Germany, harkening memories of the Cold War for those in opposition.
Atlantic Council experts weigh in on what the recent summit did - could not - deliver with regard to NATO support for Ukraine. Foreign Policy continues exploring summit takeaways through analysis of a ‘central tension in Western strategy’: that while NATO military aid has been pivotal in allowing Ukraine to keep Russia at bay, the aid falls short of enabling a Ukrainian victory.
Ukraine’s path to NATO ascension steps into the spotlight in a piece from Foreign Affairs that looks to the models provided by other successful candidates for NATO membership, gleaning three lessons for Kyiv’s current bid. The Wilson Center delves into opponents' perspectives on Ukraine’s NATO ascension following the release of an open letter signed by 60 foreign policy analysts warning against the move. Carnegie outlines why, even amid internal discord and election repercussion fears, the issue of Russia and Ukraine remains the alliance’s ‘achilles heel’.
Pieces maneuver across the chess board as well. While NATO met in Washington, China and Belarusian forces participated in joint military exercises not far from Polish territory. The Washington Post and Voice of America offer background on the intensifying competition and NATO’s renewed stance against China, including labeling the latter as a ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
One piece from Al Jazeera provides insights into how Ukraine is serving as a wedge between the alliance and Eastern superpower, while another from the publication shares China’s rebuttal to what it calls NATO ‘provocations, lies, smears’ surrounding the Sino-Russian relationship. A measured analysis from Foreign Policy questions the transatlantic alliance’s ability to hamper Chinese support of the Russian war machine. Novaya Gazeta Europe suggests that Russia’s growing economic dependence hands China the power to end the war in Ukraine.
Following Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Moscow, Responsible Statecraft lays out the key components of Russian and Indian geopolitical ties. Foreign Policy suggests that even as Beijing and Washington set their sights on one another, the Kremlin maintains its influence in the Indo-Pacific. In a different piece, the former publication also weighs in on the Modi-Putin meeting’s implications for Washington, asserting that the ‘Russia factor’ may not be as concerning for the U.S.-India partnership as appearances suggest. Finally, we conclude with a Russian foreign policy perspective on what ‘NATO rigidity’ can learn from ‘emerging powers flexibility’.
In videos, Children’s theater goes underground in wartime Kyiv. In the arts, the historic conviction of two Russian theater artists for ‘justifying terrorism’ and why the Odesa Literature Museum is more ‘Ukrainian’ today than ever before.
Find these stories, and many more, on today's Russia-Ukraine resource page. Visit our blog for new perspectives on the Israel-Hamas War, as well as reflections from our network written by a peacebuilder in Israel.
STATEMENT