memeorandum: Battles flare across Ukraine after Putin declares war (Politico)

10:05 AM ET, February 24, 2022

Top Items:

Statement by President Biden on Russia's Unprovoked and Unjustified Attack on Ukraine — The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. President Putin has chosen a premeditated war …

Washington Post:

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russia launches attacks across Ukraine; Biden vows ‘consequences’ — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared martial law as explosions were heard throughout the country and Russian forces targeted the capital.

Discussion: New York Times, HotAir, CNN, UPI, Politico, The Hill, Insider, politicalwire.com, Associated Press, NBC News, National Review, Breitbart, Responsible Statecraft, Responsible Statecraft, ukraine@war, NBC News, BuzzFeed News and Mediaite

Wall Street Journal:

Russia Attacks Ukraine, Drawing Broad Condemnation — Missiles and airstrikes hit Kyiv and several other cities in Ukraine, in what President Biden calls an unprovoked attack, pledging further action against Moscow — KYIV, Ukraine—Russian armored columns pushed into Ukraine and airstrikes hit …

Discussion: Common Sense, CNN, New York Times, Insider, Associated Press, Washington Post, RedState, WAVY-TV, Outside the Beltway, Outside the Tent, KRQE-TV, CNN, Financial Times, Talking Points Memo and Metro.co.uk

NBC News:

Russia-Ukraine conflict live updates: Ukraine battles Russian attack on multiple fronts — Watch live: Russia launches attack on Ukraine — Russia launched what Ukraine said was a “full-scale attack” against its neighbor Thursday, with cities bombarded from the air and forces fighting on the ground.

Discussion: Politico, NATO, The Guardian, Washington Post, Associated Press, Washington Post, NBC New York and NBC News

Politico:

Battles flare across Ukraine after Putin declares war — KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday launched an all-out assault on Ukraine with missiles, warplanes and tanks that threatens to push Europe into its biggest conflict since World War II.

Discussion: CNBC, Washington Examiner, National Review, Al Jazeera, UPI, The Daily Caller, CNN, New York Times, CNN, Metro.co.uk, Insider, Forbes, NBC New York, WAVY-TV, Breitbart, The Hill, Indie News Network, Wall Street Journal, The Drive, Townhall, Politico and Hollywood Reporter

Associated Press:

Russia's Putin announces military operation in Ukraine — KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine, claiming it's intended to protect civilians. — In a televised address, Putin said the action comes in response to threats coming from Ukraine.

Zoya Sheftalovich / Politico:

Ukraine's Jewish President Zelenskiy asks Putin: ‘How could I be a Nazi?’ — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared war on Ukraine and pledged to oversee a “demilitarization and de-Nazification” of the country — which is led by a Jewish president.

Discussion: Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Associated Press, Insider, WHYY and New York Times

The White House:

Statement by President Joe Biden on Phone Call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine — President Zelenskyy reached out to me tonight and we just finished speaking. I condemned this unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. I briefed him on the steps we are taking …

Discussion: Associated Press, Associated Press, Associated Press, New York Times, The Bulwark, CNN, KSTP-TV, HotAir, CNN, The Moderate Voice, Denver Post, Media Matters for America, Politico, Newsy and Forbes

Associated Press:

The Latest: UN chief warns Russian actions could devastate — The latest on the Russia-Ukraine crisis: — ___ — UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Russia's attack on Ukraine — as he appealed for President Vladimir Putin to stop his troops — was “the saddest moment” of his five-year tenure.

David M. Herszenhorn / Politico:
Ukraine naval base drew Putin's wrath, then Russian fire

Discussion: Bloomberg, Insider, South China Morning Post, The Dispatch and Shoaib's Newsletter

Telegraph:
Russia deploys mobile crematoriums to follow its troops into battle

Discussion: The Last Refuge

Reuters:
Russia invades Ukraine in Europe's ‘darkest hours’ since WWII

Discussion: Insider, New York Times, Fox News, The Energy Transitions Blog, Power Line, Townhall, Mediaite, The Guardian, TheBlaze and The Drifter

Joe Tidy / BBC:
Cyber-attacks bring down many Ukraine websites

Discussion: Reuters, Raw Story, Sophos News, CNBC, Townhall, National Newswatch, RedState and Radio Free Europe/Radio …, more at Techmeme »

American Greatness:
Putin's Predictabilities — It is easy to predict what the Russian president will do in any given situation.

Discussion: New York Post and Small Dead Animals

David E. Sanger / New York Times:
Putin Spins a Conspiracy Theory That Ukraine Is on a Path to Nuclear Weapons

Discussion: Politico, Just Security, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg, The Daily Caller, Associated Press, Foreign Exchanges and One America News Network

Wall Street Journal:

How Ukraine Was Betrayed in Budapest — Kyiv gave up its nuclear weapons in return for security assurances. So much for that. — By The Editorial Board — As the people of Ukraine steel themselves for a Russian attack, it's worth recalling how the U.S. persuaded the country to give up its nuclear weapons.

Discussion: NBC News, KRQE-TV, PBS NewsHour, Washington Times, TASS and CNN

Gideon Rachman / Financial Times:

Putin's war will shake the world — Russia intends to install a puppet government in Kyiv. The west must now respond — ADD TO MYFT — The phoney war is over. The real war has begun. For several weeks, the US and British governments have believed that Vladimir Putin was intent on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg, New York Times and TheJournal.ie

Anne Applebaum / The Atlantic:

Calamity Again … The poem is called “Calamity Again.” The original version was written in Ukrainian, in 1859, and the author, Taras Shevchenko, was not speaking metaphorically when he wrote about slavery. Shevchenko was born into a family of serfs—slaves—on an estate in what is now central Ukraine …

Michael Kofman / The Economist:

Michael Kofman, an expert on Russia's armed forces, explains why the Kremlin will seek regime change in Ukraine — Scenarios involving only limited fighting make little sense militarily — AFTER A LENGTHY and ominous speech, Russia's President Vladimir Putin chose to recognise …

Discussion: Axios, Axios, From The Forests of Arduinna, Bloomberg, Washington Examiner, Associated Press, bellingcat, Insider, A Conservative Perspective, NBC News, New York Post, AP-NORC and U.S. Department of Defense

David Ignatius / Washington Post:
A deadly, devious intelligence war unfolds in Ukraine

Discussion: The Atlantic

Washington Post:
Why Ukraine — and Russian aggression against it — matters to Americans

Discussion: National Review, Bloomberg and Convert or Die

Ryan Lizza / Politico:
POLITICO Playbook: War in Europe

Discussion: Insider, New York Post, POLITICUSUSA and Bloomberg

Eliot A. Cohen / The Atlantic:
Arm the Ukrainians Now — A rule of thumb in the theater is that if someone produces a pistol …

Discussion: The Economist, Bloomberg, The Guardian and Washington Post

Anton Troianovski / New York Times:
Many Russians Feel a Deep Unease Over Going to War

Discussion: Politico, CNBC, The Guardian and Hackwhackers

Bernard-Henri Lévy / Tablet Magazine:
The Rape of Ukraine — Taking Putin's grievances seriously would be nothing more than a death wish …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Bloomberg and The National Interest

Ann Coulter:

Stop Talking About Ukraine, Republicans! — Amid the media's 24/7 UKRAINE UPDATES, perhaps some enterprising journalist could write an article explaining how our esteem for that country's borders benefits a single American — other than President Joe Biden.

Discussion: Washington Post and Washington Free Beacon

Aaron Rupar / Public Notice:
Trump thought US troops are fighting Russians in Ukraine. Really.

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story and Hennessy's View

David Corn / Mother Jones:
Is It Amnesia or Hypocrisy That Fuels the GOP's Crazy Response to Putin?

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, National Review, Dakota Free Press, HuffPost, Mediaite, Fox News, Patterico's Pontifications, The Mahablog and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Meryl Kornfield / Washington Post:
Trump and his supporters praise Putin and dismiss Biden as crisis unfolds

Discussion: Fox News, USA Today, CNN, Jihad Watch, Today's Edition Newsletter, POLITICUSUSA, New York Post, Raw Story, Mike Klonsky's Edu/Pol, Mercury News, Alpha News, Takes & Re-Takes, Politico and Insider

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
Foreign-Policy Dissent Is Not Treason

Discussion: Fox News, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Insider

Timothy L. O'Brien / Bloomberg:

A Loss of Prosecutors Isn't Necessarily a Win for Trump — Every investigation of Donald Trump, during and after his presidency, has been freighted with emotion and politics, from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe and two impeachments to ongoing civil and criminal actions in multiple jurisdictions.

Discussion: Raw Story, JONATHAN TURLEY and Washington Post

New York Times:
2 Prosecutors Leading N.Y. Trump Inquiry Resign, Clouding Case's Future

Jo Yurcaba / NBC News:

Texas governor calls on citizens to report parents of transgender kids for abuse — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on “licensed professionals” and “members of the general public” to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears the minors are receiving gender-affirming medical care.

Kate Sosin / The 19th:
Ken Paxton dined with the family of a trans kid. They now feel under attack.

Discussion: Rolling Stone and Axios

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

A far-right website created 36 days ago is more popular on Facebook than the Washington Post — Brandon Gill “provides strategic marketing direction for Conservative Brief,” the right-wing website whose underhanded tactics were exposed in yesterday's Popular Information.

Discussion: Raw Story

Jeff Cox / CNBC:

Jobless claims total 232,000, slightly less than expected; Q4 GDP revised up to 7% — Jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 19 totaled 232,000, slightly less than expected. — Continuing claims hit their lowest level in nearly 52 years. — GDP increased at a 7% annualized pace …

Discussion: The Daily Caller