"MAD MAX" PREPARING FOR WAR

A convoy of armoured vehicles intended to serve as medical units, built with donations from Romanians, will arrive on the Ukrainian front these days. The initiative to build them came from Radu Hossu, a Romanian activist who wanted to commemorate a friend he met on the front, a fallen Ukrainian soldier. The armoured bus compound will be named after the Ukrainian soldier - Oleg Gubal. "I had this idea for a long time," says Hossu, after noting that many of the deaths in the war in Ukraine occurred while transporting severely wounded soldiers to hospitals far from the trenches. His friend died in similar conditions. Radio Free Europe reports the story of this initiative.

HOW MUCH LONGER CAN IT LAST?

The US cannot avoid an attritional war in Ukraine without helping the Ukrainians liberate their territory, as the Kremlin's "long war" narrative reflects Putin's intention to rebuild Russia's large-scale combat capability. At the same time, the idea of a long war is also being exploited by Russia to alienate the West from Ukraine. On how the political debate in the US, on the possibility of a "long war" in Ukraine, is currently being reframed, you can read in a recent analysis by the Institute for the Study of War.

SPERM AND EMBRYOS FOR UKRAINE'S FUTURE

Increasing numbers of Ukrainian couples are turning to sperm and embryo "freezing" as a guarantee that they can still have children if one partner dies. The rise in demand for "cryopreservation", commonly referred to as the preservation of genetic material, is mainly the result of the war. For soldiers, it is free of charge, with sperm samples from more than 300 soldiers already preserved at just one clinic in Ukraine. The story of this new phenomenon, containing multiple testimonies, featured in Global Voices, republished in an edited version on the Ukrainian website Свої.City.

RUSSIA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD

Gallup polls in 137 countries show that Russia's image worldwide took a major hit since the war in Ukraine began. Thus, disapproval of Russia's leadership worldwide reached a record high of 57% last year, a dramatic increase from 38% in 2021. At the same time, approval fell to an all-time low of 21%. The highest disapproval ratings, at over 90 percent, were in prosperous democratic states, namely the US, Canada and 10 European countries. The main findings of Gallup's polls can be found on the institute's website, where the full report can also be downloaded.

RUSSIAN SOLDIERS' BATTLE WITH YOUNG MINDS

Several Russian soldiers returning from the Ukrainian front are preparing to become propagandists in Russian schools and universities. Many of them come from the so-called 'People's Republics' of Donetsk and Luhansk. Some are already teaching students "Lessons of Courage" and lecturing about "Ukrainian fascists", presenting them videos from the front and having them try on military equipment. "When they hear the explosions and learn the details and understand that our people continue to defend us in spite of this, it reassures them", says one of them about the students' reaction, in an extensive report by the independent Verstka, republished by Meduza, in an English version of the story.

SHORT JOURNEY FROM KIEV TO GROZNY

Ukraine is just the beginning of the fight against Russia, say leaders of the nearly 200 Chechen volunteers fighting on Kiev's side. "Believe me, when Russia loses this war with Ukraine, it won't be able to survive as a state," says one of them. Most of the fighters are sons and grandsons of emigrants who fought in the First or Second Chechen War. Politico interviewed some of them and tells their stories: their life on the front, how they are treated, what they think of Russia, Chechen leader and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov, their country and the fate of the war.

WHEN A JOURNALIST DIES

Ukrainian prosecutors have opened an investigation into the recent death of an Ukrainian journalist who was employed as an interpreter by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. The journalist was killed while on the Antonivka bridge, an important crossing on the Dnipro river near Kherson. The news of Bitik's death shocked a hard-knit community of Ukrainian journalists who assist foreign correspondents reporting in Ukraine and consider their work even more dangerous than that of the reporters who hire them. On how the Ukrainian journalist died and how his death sparked controversy, in a report on National Public Radio.

TED

Nadya Tolokonnikova, founding member of the anti-Putin resistance group Pussy Riot, sends a powerful message to the Kremlin leader and tells the story of her imprisonment and exile.

EVERYONE’S A HERO

How many Europeans are willing to fight in a war for their country? Percentages by country.