Back Story Newsletter
Good morning,
Ukraine War
Russia leader Putin’s mad war in Ukraine is grinding on with many reports of brutal artillery duels and see-saw street fighting in the City of Sievierodonetsk which is the last Ukrainian holdout in the area known as Donbas.
It’s at times described as a break away region, but since 2014 Russia has tried to break it off from Ukraine and join it to the Crimea and the Black Sea port so dear to Putin’s navy and apparently his legacy of reuniting it with Russia.
Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has so far not ordered his troops to withdraw, despite accounts the Ukrainian army is losing many soldiers in the fight for this largely symbolic city.
"This is a very brutal battle, very tough, perhaps one of the most difficult throughout this war," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video statement on Wednesday.
"Sievierodonetsk remains the epicentre of the encounter in Donbas ... Largely, that is where the fate of our Donbas is being decided now," he added.
Meantime as Russia has blockaded much of the Black Sea coast of Ukraine, the world is beginning to see grain shortages and discussions continue on how to reopen shipping out of Ukrainian ports, especially Odesa.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, the guy who said there would be no invasion of Ukraine and openly lied about Russia’s intentions in this war, suggested in talks in Turkey yesterday delays in shipments are Ukraines fault.
According to Lavrov, Ukraine just needs to de-mine the waters around Odesa and food will flow to the world. But of course the mines were laid to stop Russia from invading Odesa which it still has every intention to take.
One solution is to arm Ukraine with anti shipping missiles to protect Odesa, but of course Russia opposes that which tells you everything you need to know about intentions.
Another solution is for Turkey to secure the sea lanes, which it is offering to do but Ukraine wants other nations like the UK and U.S. to put their ships around Odesa, and of course Russia won’t like that.
What’s important now is time is critical because the world has about 10 weeks to find a solution before the Ukraine grain harvest begins and silos need to be emptied. Russia will demand sanctions be lifted so it can export grain, even from seized Ukrainian ports. Not likely but increasingly will a hungry world will see the demand as legitimate?
EU Gas Ban
The European Union passed a ban on all CO2 emitting vehicles by 2035, effectively banning everything but electric vehicles.
This is a landmark no compromise vote, because counter proposals to allow hybrid vehicles failed.
It’s not only the Russian attack on Ukraine which has turned Europe away from gas, but also the fact targets to rein in climate CO2 emissions are failing and cars account for 12 per cent of Europes emissions, transportation in general a whopping 25 per cent.
Big car manufacturing countries like Germany, France, and even the UK which is outside the EU voting block, will pay heavily for this green transformation. It also condemns the development of hybrid vehicles which are commercially viable as a transition to electric.
But for the environment it’s a huge achievement if viable. And ironically Russia which has threatened a nuclear exchange over its war in Ukraine, might be ironically responsible for ushering in this dramatic transformation away from its biggest export, fossil fuels. Instead of destroying the planet Putin may have indirectly helped to save it. even if he didn’t of course intend to do so.
Other News…
-The U.S. House voted to restrict assault rifles from under 21’s, and ban large capacity magazines. Unfortunately the vote will be defeated in the Republican led Senate
-In Berlin car was driven into a crowd of people yesterday morning, killing a female teacher on a school trip and injuring 14 teenage students traveling with her. Five of the victims have life-threatening injuries, officials said. The driver was a 29-year-old German man of Armenian origin was described as “a mentally impaired person.”
-The efforts to find a booster vaccine to fight sub variants of Covid are in over drive. The latest sub variants, BA.4 and BA.5, not Omicron itself are spreading the fastest threatening to bring another winter with lockdowns and crowded hospitals
Have a good day everyone, and please share the newsletter.
Dana Lewis