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Wang and Putin meet in Moscow as China pushes relations with Russia
22 February 2023
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Ukrainian civil society and city representatives meet LINKS Europe in The Hague to discuss future cooperation
22 February 2023
On Tuesday (21 February), a delegation of six Ukrainians, including two representatives from the National Interests Advocacy Network NGO “ANTS”, and four representatives from the cities of Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Mariupol, visited the LINKS Europe in The Hague.
The Ukrainian delegation included: Vasyl Sehin, the Executive Director of ANTS; Yuliya Vusenko, the regional coordinator of ANTS and the head of the investment commission in Volyn Oblast Council; Olexandr Senkevych, the Mayor of Mykolaiv; Serhii Koreniev, the Deputy Mayor of Mykolaiv; Halyna Luhova, the Mayor, Secretary and Head of the Military Administration of Kherson; and Sergiy Orlov, the Deputy Mayor of Mariupol.
The Ukrainian delegation were on a two-day visit to Rotterdam and The Hague to meet with Dutch civil society and city representatives to discuss potential future cooperation between the respective organisations and cities, with a particular focus on developing horizontal EU-Ukraine ties and harnessing knowledge for the reconstruction of Ukraine following the ongoing war’s conclusion.
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Samantha Smith's Group: the global volunteer movement uniting Ukrainians and Russians through English
21 February 2023
On 24 February 2022, in the town of Kostyantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk oblast, Anastasiia woke up at 4am to the sound of explosions. Not in her town, but about 30km away. When the first explosion hit she did not understand what was going on, but once the second explosion hit she rushed to her parents’ room and told them that the war had started.
Originally conceived as a protest, Samantha Smith’s Group has evolved into a herculean effort run by a tight-knit, principled and dedicated group of individuals committed to making a very genuine difference to Ukrainians whose lives have been turned upside down by Russia’s invasion of their country.
However, although the teachers come from all over the world, from Canada to New Zealand, from the UK to Costa Rica, as well as Ukraine and Belarus, the majority of volunteers teaching English to Ukrainians in Samantha Smith’s Group are actually from Russia.
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Putin announces withdrawal from New Start treaty in State of the Nation speech
21 February 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered long-delayed State of the Nation speech on Tuesday (21 February), in which he has announced that Russia will withdraw from the New Start arms reduction treaty with the US.
Speaking for nearly two hours, the Russian President repeated many arguments with which observers have become all too familiar over the previous months and years, especially since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year.
Throughout his address, Putin continued to blame Ukraine and the West for the war, despite it being Moscow that launched a full-scale invasion that is believed to have had capturing Kyiv within three days as one of its main goals. He again characterised the Ukrainian government as a "neo-Nazi regime", a claim which he has often repeated to justify his "special military operation". One of the biggest announcements coming from his speech was that Russia would pull out of the New Start strategic arms reduction treaty with the US, adding that Russia needs to be ready to test nuclear weapons if the US does so first.
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US President Joe Biden visits Kyiv
20 February 2023
The President of the United States Joe Biden has made a surprise visit to Kyiv ahead of the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year.
On Monday morning (20 February), there were reports of blocked roads and major traffic jams in the Ukrainian capital as speculation built over the potential arrival of an "important guest", according to Ukrainian officials.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and St Michael’s Cathedral has been blocked off with a police and military presence.
Just before midday, pictures emerged on social media showing the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walking alongside the US President Joe Biden in central Kyiv. As Joe Biden was seen walking beside Volodymyr Zelensky outside St Michael's Cathedral, heading towards a memorial wall honouring Ukrainian soldiers fallen in Russia's war against Ukraine since 2014, air raid sirens rang out over the Ukrainian capital.
It was already known that Biden would be visiting Poland to mark one year of Russia's full-scale invasion, but his visit to Kyiv has come as a complete surprise.
