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Ukraine's Kursk invasion complicates Putin's war efforts
Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden and co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, shares his perspective on European politics from Tabiano Castello in Italy.
How will the Ukraine Kursk incursion affect Putin's way of handling his war?
No question. It does complicate things for him quite considerably. First, they were trying to say, "Well, this is a quick thing. This will be over. The mighty Russian army is going to throw out the evil Ukrainians within a short period of time." That has clearly not been successful. So, now they're trying to say, "Well, this is not a big thing." They're trying to play it down. But whatever. It does complicate significantly the narrative that Putin has been trying to hand out, some say, or get anchored with the Russians that victory is going to come. It's only question of patience. He will have quite considerable difficulty. More on the political way. In the political respect than in the military with this operation.
What do we expect of Indian Prime Minister Modi's visit to Kyiv in the coming days?
I think it's going to be interesting to see. I would be interesting to see whether he hugs, embraces Zelensky in the way he did in a way that was quite remarkable with Putin when he was in Moscow a couple of weeks ago. And I think that sort of hugging of Putin did create some image problem for India in part of the word, notably in the West. And it will be interesting to see how far he goes in his visit to Kyiv in sort of counterbalancing the impression created by that hugging of Putin in the Kremlin.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi walk during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence near Moscow, Russia July 8, 2024.
Indian PM Narendra Modi: a “bleeding heart” in Moscow
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to take a swipe at Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, even if only a subtle one.
Just moments after the Russian president welcomed him to the Kremlin, Modi lamented that his “heart bleeds” whenever children are killed in war.
A timeless statement, yes – but the timing itself was a statement: The day before, the two leaders embraced just hours after an apparent Russian airstrike destroyed a children’s cancer hospital in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Moscow has claimed, so far without evidence, that the hit came from a Ukrainian air defense system. The tragedy occurred as Moscow targeted cities across Ukraine with one of its biggest missile barrages in months.
The nonaligned line. Modi has, gently, criticized Putin’s invasion before, but the bigger picture remains the same: India has kept up good relations with Moscow throughout the war.
In part, that’s pragmatic. A rapidly growing Indian economy enjoys buying steeply discounted Russian oil. But it’s also ideological. Modi is keen to show that while he is glad to partner with the US over shared concerns about China, India – the most populous democracy and the fastest-growing major economy – has its own prerogatives.
Russian President Vladimir Putin waits to meet India's PM Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Hard Numbers: Moscow’s plea for help, deadly West Bank clashes, US Congress’ choo-choo choice, those hit hardest by US murder surge, US same-sex marriage bill
500: Is a friend in need a friend indeed? The Kremlin, increasingly isolated by Western sanctions, has sent India a list of 500 items that Russia needs in order to keep manufacturing planes, trains, and automobiles. No answer yet from Delhi, which has tried to walk a fine line since Russia invaded Ukraine: hewing to its traditional non-aligned policy, but without angering the US, a key ally in India’s burgeoning rivalry with China.
5: Israeli forces killed at least five Palestinians in separate clashes in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. Violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian protesters and militants has increased in recent months, and things could get dicier still: Newly reelected PM Bibi Netanyahu has named the far right’s Itamar Ben-Gvir as minister of national security, a portfolio covering the West Bank and Israeli policing.
765,000: In a rare show of bipartisanship, the US Congress will move to impose a compromise agreement in an ongoing labor dispute between rail companies and rail worker unions. President Joe Biden, who requested the intervention, says as many as 765,000 jobs could evaporate if the workers go ahead with a December strike. The dispute has put his Democrats in a tough spot: They are generally pro-union, but they can’t have a rail strike ruining Christmas on their watch.
80: It ain’t the 1990s, not by a long shot, but homicides in the US have jumped up since the pandemic. And those bearing the brunt of it, a new Washington Post study shows, are Black communities, which account for more than 80% of murder victims in America’s largest cities.
61: With 61 votes in favor and 36 against, the US Senate passed a bill that enshrines the right to same-sex marriage in federal law. It does not require states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples but repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which allowed states not to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.