Russia Invades Ukraine

Under increasing pressure to untie Kyiv's hands, the United States has changed course and allowed Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons to strike at some targets inside Russia. Ruth Deyermond, senior lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, joins the host to discuss the significance of the shift.

Since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine, Central Asian states have been working to lessen their dependence on their former colonizer. Yet all five Central Asian leaders went to Moscow this year for the May 9 Victory Day parade, four on very short notice. And all five will be in China on May-18-19. So in terms of geopolitics: where is Central Asia now? Joining host Bruce Pannier to discuss are Nargis Kassenova, senior fellow and director of the program on Central Asia at Harvard Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies; Paul Stronski, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment’s Russia and Eurasia program; and Francis Olmos, senior researcher in Central Asian affairs at Spain’s GEOPOL 21 Center.

Is the armistice that brought a halt to fighting on the Korean Peninsula 70 years ago a template for peace in the Ukraine war? Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War historian and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, thinks it might be. Radchenko joins guest host Mike Eckel to discuss the idea and what to watch for as the war grinds into bitter attrition.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "partial" mobilization for military service on September 21, tens of thousands of young Russian men and their families have left the country. More than 100,000 crossed into Kazakhstan, and other Central Asian states are also seeing a sharp increase in the numbers of Russians arriving, probably the largest influx of outsiders into the region, in less than one year, ever. Residents of the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek capitals talk about the effect this Russian migration is having on locals.

A crucial time in the war in Ukraine, and two years since a disputed election led to protests and crackdown in Belarus. Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.

What's behind President Vladimir Putin's assertion that Russia has not yet begun to fight the war in Ukraine "in earnest?" And when Western officials talk about victory for Ukraine, what does that mean -- and how far will they go to achieve it? Analyst and author Mark Galeotti, an honorary professor at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London, joins host Steve Gutterman to discuss.