The “Midnight Train to Ukraine” Edition

About this episode

The episode discusses the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, focusing on Russia's winter campaign and the stalled negotiations between the two countries.

This week, Scott sat down with Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes, who recently returned from Ukraine, and Lawfare ’s Ukraine Fellow Anastasiia Lapatina, to go through the latest developments in that country, including: “Cold War.” Russia’s ongoing winter campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has created a humanitarian crisis in many parts of the country. In Kyiv, at least one major power plant has been completely destroyed, and many more energy sites have been damaged. Numerous other parts of the country are without power and heating during a season when temperatures regularly dip below zero degrees Fahrenheit. What do these attacks show about the dynamics of the conflict? And what can be done to curb their effects? “Stuck in the Sand.” U.S.-backed negotiations between Russia and Ukraine—which continued in Abu Dhabi this past week—remain at an impasse, without tangible progress other than a prisoner of war exchange that led to the release of 157 Ukrainians from Russian captivity. Russia continues to demand that Ukraine surrender a large swath of territory in its eastern Donbas region, which Kyiv says is a red line. Meanwhile, President Zelensky has suggested that the…

People in this episode

Host: Scott

Guests: Benjamin Wittes, Anastasiia Lapatina

Topics covered

• Ukraine conflict
• energy infrastructure
• humanitarian crisis
• U.S.-Russia negotiations
• prisoner exchange
• political dynamics

Keywords

• Ukraine
• Russia
• energy crisis
• negotiations
• prisoner exchange
• humanitarian crisis
• Donbas
• Kyiv
• Zelensky

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Ukraine, Kyiv, Russia, Donbas, Abu Dhabi

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