Ukraine

This stretch of New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring, Maryland is so packed with houses of worship, it's been called the Embassy Row of Religions. But locals know it as the Highway to Heaven.

This week marks the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine. A Naples woman describes the ordeal that brought her to Southwest Florida.

William B. Taylor served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama presidencies. He’s been vice president, Europe and Russia at the U.S. Institute of Peace since 2015. It’s a federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. He returned to Ukraine in 2019 to serve as Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv after President Donald Trump fired the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. He remained in that role until early January of 2020. Ambassador Taylor was in town to give a talk for the Naples Council on World Affairs titled "600-plus Days of Battle with Volodymyr and Vladimir."

President Biden has asked Congress for billions more in help for Ukraine in its fight against Russia. But Republicans have made it contingent on major changes in U.S. border policy.

President Biden has said he wants "unprecedented" aid for Israel and enough funding for Ukraine to continue its fight against Russia. But he faces hurdles in the Republican-controlled House.

Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a brief armed rebellion against Russia earlier this year, was on the passenger list of a private jet that crashed Wednesday, killing all 10 people on board, emergency officials said. It wasn’t immediately clear if Prigozhin was on the plane.

Russian troops deployed to protect the capital withdrew Sunday after a mercenary forces beat a retreat. But the short-lived revolt could have long-term consequences for President Vladimir Putin’s two-decade hold on power and his war in Ukraine.

The rebellious Russian mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow before abruptly reversing course will move to neighboring Belarus and not face prosecution, the Kremlin said Saturday, as part of a deal to defuse a crisis that represented the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.

President Vladimir Putin vowed Saturday to defend Russia against an armed rebellion by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led his troops out of Ukraine and into a key city south of Moscow.The uprising, which Putin called “a stab in the back,” was the biggest threat to his leadership in over two decades in power.

The Naples Council on World Affairs is hosting “The Path Forward into a Decisive Decade” seminar on Friday (Feb. 24). The council’s mission is to “educate, inspire, and engage Americans in international affairs, and the critical global issues of our times.”