Leonid Ragozin

After Istanbul talks, ceasefire remained on the table – perhaps as a face-saving measure that would keep Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on board. The Russians are extremely unlikely to agree to any ceasefire until they see a clear path to the final deal. My latest for…

The complete Russian-styled takeover of Ukraine’s power vertical by the SBU has always been around the corner. But it’s interesting Zelensky’s administration is putting its relations with the West at risk by clamping back on Western-backed power-wielding structures. Maybe they…

If EU support for Zelensky crumbles due to this credibility crisis, the EU will have to accept scenarios of Ukrainian capitulation. This is unlikely under current conditions. The EU will adhere to Zelensky's political style and decisions as long as it takes. The question is…

Blogging Ukrainian serviceman “Bakhmut Daemon” (169K followers) is disdained by the subject of Kyiv protests. He says he’d prefer the protesters demand demobilisation for people who have been at the frontline for years now.

Useful thread

Russian milblogger channel Two Majors on Trump’s 50-day deadline turning out to be flexible: “Trump is unshakeable as a merchant at an oriental bazaar”.

Protesters in Kyiv chant “Fuck Yermak”. It doesn’t rhyme in Ukrainian/Russian.

Both Klitschko brothers turned up at the Kyiv protest.

By pitting himself against Western-backed anti-corruption bodies and civil society groups, Zelensky has made a step along the lines of Georgian scenario. That might have implications for peace process.

Hundreds of people are protesting the dismantling of anti-corruption bodies in Kyiv. Also in other large cities - Lviv, Odessa, Dnipro. Hard to imagine an anti-corruption Maidan today though. Anti-mobilization maybe. Even if the protests grow big now, their agenda will quickly…

Newly appointed Ukrainian PM Yulia Svyrydenko says the issue of corruption is being exaggerated by some social groups in Ukraine. She means pro-Western activist community/civil society. nv.ua/ukraine/events…

If only the Western pro-democracy, rule of law and anti-corruption agenda could have ever been disentangled from its geopolitical agenda… …it would have been so much better for the latter. Not for the beneficiaries of conflicts though.

Enter heavy artillery. Former PM Yulia Tymoshenko makes a fiery speech in the Rada against Western-backed anti-corruption bodies, sides with Zelensky: “What a sacrilege it is when grant-receiving patriots claim they are fighting for Ukraine.” [pro-Zelensky MPs applaud] “You…

Russian State Duma has criminalised online searches for “extremist” content. One of those laws which basically introduces lawlessness rather than sets a rule, even a harsh one. A tool of repression that allows to prosecute pretty much anyone who is searching for material about…

The dismantling of anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine makes a key anti-corruption NGO claim that Zelensky is taking the country back into the times of Yanukovych - who was deposed by Maidan.

Zelensky’s administration is waging a rapid assault on anti-corruption structures created on the insistence of previous US administrations. Sounds like Trump is not seen as an obstacle.

Russian Telegram channel Baza says its offices have been raided by police and editor has been arrested. Baza is well-connected with Russian law-enforcement bodies and provides a lot of exclusive material about their activities.

Putin’s decree honours 1488th Red Banner missile and antiaircraft regiment. What a name. vedomosti.ru/politics/news/…

DS update shows a 5km Russian breakthrough north of Pokrovsk agglomeration. It seems that the Russians may no longer need to fight a grinding Bakhmut-style battle for the Kramatorsk-Sloviansk agglomeration as they can envelop it from the west by moving through sparcely populated…