In recent months, Russia has launched a major new bombing campaign targeting Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure. Building on key lessons learned from an earlier air offensive conducted during the first winter of the war, the current wave of Russian airstrikes has concentrated on Ukraine’s largest power plants with devastating results. Since the beginning of 2024, a large part of Ukraine’s thermal and hydro power generation capacity has been damaged or destroyed. “Rather than continuing to focus their attacks on Ukraine’s transmission systems, from late March Russia began launching massiv ..read more

In Season 2, Episode 1 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by the award-winning BBC investigative journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi to talk about her film exposing American mercenaries in Yemen. One of the few journalists to report from Yemen first-hand, Nawal discusses the Delaware-registered private military company (PMC) contracted by the UAE to kill “terrorists”, her meetings with two of the Americans involved, and the PMC’s training of Yemeni units – including former al-Qaeda operatives – to conduct targeted assassinations. She also describes how so many of those kil ..read more

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Russia has launched its third major mobilization wave in anticipation of its upcoming spring/summer campaign to take more land in Ukraine. On March 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to begin the next conscription drive, setting the target at 150,000 new inductees slated for military service. This came after a decision in July of last year by the Russian Duma to raise the maximum age of conscription from twenty-seven to thirty, significantly increasing the pool of available recruits. Ukrainian estimates put the number of new soldiers that could be inducted in the third Russia ..read more

In October 2022, the Kremlin launched what was then the most comprehensive bombing campaign of the war. For the next five months, waves of Russian missiles and drones struck Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure on an almost daily basis. The attacks aimed to break Ukraine’s resistance by making life as unbearable as possible for tens of millions of Ukrainian civilians. At the time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov openly stated that Ukraine could “end the suffering” of the civilian population by fulfilling Russia’s demands. Instead, the Ukrainian authorities worked with the country’s partner ..read more

Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel on April 14, in retaliation for an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria, represented the most dangerous round of conflict between the two countries in decades. This attack involved more than 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones. The killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi at the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus on April 1 was the final straw. Zahedi joined a long list of Iranian officers killed in Syria by Israel since December 2023, including Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a senior IRGC officer assassinate ..read more

Watch the event Public Event Fri, April 19, 2024 • 2:30 pm ET Iraq’s prime minister on building a stronger relationship with the United States AN #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT—Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani, the prime minister of Iraq, discusses his state visit to the United States. Economy & Business Energy & Environment Middle East Politics & Diplomacy “I came to Washington to open a new chapter in the relationship between Iraq and the United States,” said Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani at an Atlantic Council Front Page event on April 19. This new chapter in US-Iraqi relations ..read more

Millions of Ukrainians let out a collective sigh of relief on Saturday as the US House of Representatives finally passed a long-delayed $61 billion aid bill that will provide Ukraine with a crucial lifeline in the struggle against Russian aggression. The vote came following months of political deadlock in the United States that had forced Ukrainian troops to ration ammunition and raised serious doubts over the future of Western support for the embattled Eastern European nation. Responding to the news from Washington DC, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought to underline the broad hist ..read more

“There was always just enough virtue in this Republic to save it; sometimes none to spare.” —William Seward Finally, the blockage imposed by a minority of “America First” House members has been broken and, after a six-month delay, crucial US military aid may be on its way to Ukraine again. An alliance of what might be termed Reaganite Republicans and Trumanesque Democrats—a coalition that helped bring success in the Cold War and after—passed a $60.8 billion assistance package for Ukraine in 311-112 vote on Saturday. Rapid acceptance by the Senate and signature by US President Joe Biden look li ..read more

JUST IN Help is (finally) on the way. The US House on Saturday approved $60.8 billion in aid for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, after months of delays that have seen Russian gains on the ground. The bill, part of a four-piece national security package put forth by House Speaker Mike Johnson over the objections of his right flank, now goes to the Senate, which easily passed a similar version in February. What difference will this aid make for Ukraine’s fight? What do Ukraine and other European nations make of the delay—and the resolution? Checking in from Washington, Kyiv, and ..read more