A Ukrainian official has been relieved of her duties over her handling of reports detailing sexual assault allegations made against Russians in Ukraine.

There is some very interesting news about the inner turmoils of the Zelensky Regime in its death agony. I have this piece by reporter Andrei Rezchikov, concerning the forced resignation of Ukraine’s “official” Ombudsman, a person named Ludmila Denisova. In her official capacity, Ludmila was responsible for guarding the human rights of Ukrainian citizens. Other job duties include: Organizing humanitarian corridors. Assisting refugees. Enabling prisoner of war exchanges. None of which she did.

Some of the most sensible commentary about the Ukraine war is being made by people in their nineties, born before the Second World War and with vivid recollections of the Cold War.

Russia pressing ahead in the Donbass while preparations are already being made for next assault in the south

Overheard an interesting conversation at dinner last night in Budapest between two expats. Both are strongly opposed to the Russian invasion. One, “A.”, said that he can’t bear that people think of Volodymyr Zelensky as a hero, given that Zelensky was revealed by the Pandora Papers release to be as corrupt as the Ukrainian leader he displaced by running on an anti-corruption platform. Indeed, as I checked later, Zelensky really is a rich oligarch who hides his fortune offshore.

The conflict in Ukraine must stay focused on what is good for Ukraine, not America.

In the Paris daily Le Figaro this month, Henri Guaino, a top adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy when he was president of France, warned that Europe’s countries, under the shortsighted leadership of the United States, were “sleepwalking” into war with Russia. Mr. Guaino was borrowing a metaphor that the historian Christopher Clark used to describe the origins of World War I.

As Kissinger once said, to be an enemy of America is dangerous – but to be a friend is fatal

The fallout of the war in Ukraine over Europe is largely seen in terms of the uncertainties over the continent’s heavy dependence on Russian energy and the impact of it on the economies of the 27 EU member countries. Imposing restrictions on Russian oil has proven a much more complicated task than imagined previously.

US suddenly desperate for a ceasefire as battlefield turns in Russia’s favor but Moscow isn’t taking the bait