Festive Flip: Ukraine Celebrates Christmas on December 25th

Roskomnadzor is Russia’s communications and media regulator who blocked Instagram and Facebook in the country, on March 21, 2022, for “extremist activity.” Prosecutors haven’t requested to ban WhatsApp’s Meta-owned messaging service, widely popular in Russia. A court’s ruling prohibits Meta from opening offices and doing business in Russia.

Which other news providers are blocked in Russia?

In addition to blocking Facebook and Instagram, Roskomnadzor, in March 2022, blocked the website of Euronews, a European news network, cut Euronews broadcasts, and shut access to foreign media websites, including BBC and Voice of America. Other blocked news providers include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and Latvia-based website Meduza.

The Russian Navy’s Moskva was a guided-missile cruiser. She led the Russian naval invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and sank 100 km off the coast of Odesa on Apr. 14, 2022. According to Ukrainian officials and the US Department of Defense, Ukraine fired two anti-ship missiles at the cruiser. The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed a fire triggered a munitions explosion that sank the ship. A Ukrainian fighter holding up his middle finger in front of the vessel appears on one million stamps released by Ukraine’s national postal service shortly before the Moskva was sunk.

Azovstal Iron and Steelworks is one of the largest steel companies in Ukraine. About 600 civilians and 2,000 Ukrainian fighters were trapped in the Mariupol steel mill for over 60 days during the destruction of the Ukrainian port town by Russian forces, beginning Feb. 24, 2022. The last civilians who found shelter in bunkers beneath the plant in ruined Mariupol arrived in Zaporizhzhia,  the first major city beyond the frontlines, on May 7.

Status quo ante is Latin for the state where (things were) before, usually the state of affairs before an upsetting development.

Who used “Status Quo Ante” in a sentence in 2022?

Veteran US statesman Dr. Henry Kissinger, 92, told the World Economic Forum in Davos on May 23, 2022, that defeating Russian forces in Ukraine would have disastrous consequences for the long-term stability of Europe. Instead, he suggested that negotiations need to begin in the next two months. “Ideally, the dividing line should be a return to the status quo ante,” he said.

Members of Ukraine’s LGBTQ community who sign up for the war have taken to sewing the unicorn insignia into their uniforms, just below the national flag. The practice began in 2014 when Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. As a reaction to the notion that “there are no gay people in the army,” Ukrainian LGBTQ soldiers chose to wear the unicorn symbol.

Dmitry Muratov, co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize and editor of Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s last major independent newspapers, auctioned off his Nobel medal for a record $103.5 million to raise money for UNICEF’s humanitarian response for Ukraine’s displaced children. The auction of Muratov’s medal broke the record for any Nobel medal auctioned off. Previously, the most ever paid for a Nobel Prize medal was in 2014, when James Watson, whose co-discovery of the structure of DNA earned him a Nobel Prize in 1962, sold his award for $4.76 million.

Elon Musk suggested UN-supervised reelections in the regions that Moscow has falsely annexed after what it called referendums, that Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014, be formally recognized as Russia, and that Ukraine remains neutral. Ukraine’s outgoing ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, tweeted “F*** off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, on the other hand, said, “It is a positive thing that somebody like Elon Musk is trying to find a peaceful way out of this situation.”

Starting on Oct. 10, 2022, Russia launched a massive, deadly attack across Ukraine, hitting Ukraine’s capital region with Iranian-made kamikaze drones. The Ukrainian military says its air defenses have shot down dozens of incoming Russian missiles and Iran-made Shahed-136 drones, which are increasingly deadly.

In a coordinated effort by the West to help Kyiv break combat deadlocks as Russia’s invasion reaches its 12th month, Germany and the United States are sending battle tanks to Ukraine. France, the UK, the US, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden agreed on Jan. 25, 2023, to continue military support for Ukraine.

How many tanks is the West sending to Ukraine?

Despite previous persistent arguments from Washington that the tanks were too hard for Ukrainian troops to operate and maintain, the US will send 31 M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine. The Germans have agreed to send 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks from their stocks. Other European allies have agreed to provide enough tanks to equip two Ukrainian battalions with 62 tanks. Eight M88 recovery vehicles are also included in the $400 million package. There’s no word on when the tanks will arrive in Ukraine or when they’ll hit the battlefield.

As part of his visit to Kyiv on Feb. 20, 2023, President Joe Biden announced $500 million in military aid, including artillery ammunition, Javelin missiles, and howitzers. Nearly a year after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, Biden visited the Ukrainian capital to show America’s “unwavering support.” Biden said the United States was “here to stay.” An air-raid siren sounded during the visit, as Ukrainian officials had warned Russia was about to launch large-scale missiles on the war’s first anniversary.

The New START Treaty is a nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia. The agreement limits the number of strategic nuclear warheads each side can deploy. Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, signed the treaty in 2010, and it’s supposed to expire in 2026.

Did New START end?

During his state-of-the-nation address on Feb. 21, 2023, Vladimir Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the treaty, saying that the US was inspecting Russian military bases under the treaty to “inflict a strategic defeat on us” during the Ukrainian war.

On Feb. 21, 2023, the Russian president gave his annual state-of-the-nation address. In his speech, Putin said war was the new normal. According to Putin, as Ukraine has been effectively occupied by “the Kyiv regime and its Western overlords,” Russia would respond accordingly to the West trying to turn a local conflict into a global confrontation. Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, trying to reach Kyiv, but Ukrainian forces, backed by Western weapons, turned back Moscow’s soldiers.

During his state-of-the-nation address on Feb. 21, 2023, Putin said Russia would change its education system and science and technology policies to withstand Western sanctions. He also warned that Moscow could resume nuclear tests. Putin accused Western elites of targeting Russian culture, religion, and values because they “realize it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield.” To sweeten the deal, he promised soldiers and draftees taking part in the war two weeks of leave every six months.

“Navalny,” a documentary directed by Alex Gibney, won Best Documentary Feature at the 95th Academy Awards. It’s CNN’s first Oscar win. The CNN film covers Alexei Navalny’s poisoning, recovery, arrest, trial, and the following protests and crackdowns. Navalny died in prison on Feb. 16, 2024.

In Aug. 2020, Alexei Navalny was hospitalized after being poisoned with a nerve agent. He was medically evacuated to Berlin. On Jan. 17, 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was detained for violating parole conditions by failing to report to Russia’s Federal Prison Service during his illness. On Feb. 2, his suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence, as he was sent for two and half years in a “corrective labor colony” in Vladimir Oblast, near Moscow. In Oct. 2021, he was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights. On Mar. 22, 2022, Navalny was sentenced to nine more years in a “strict regime penal colony,” according to Russian state-owned news agency Tass. Prosecutors accused him of stealing $4.7m (£3.5m) of donations given to his now-banned organizations, including his anti-corruption foundation – accusations which his supporters say are fabricated. While in prison, Navalny has denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine via social media. Amnesty International recognizes Navalny as a prisoner of conscience. In December 2023, his spokesperson said he was located in a prison colony in the town of Kharp, near the Arctic Circle, about 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) northeast of Moscow. On Feb. 16, 2024, Navalny felt unwell during a walk in his prison and subsequently fell unconscious and died. The exact cause of Navalny’s death remains unclear.

A major leak of classified US documents that exposed details of its intelligence gathering started in a chatroom on a social media platform popular with gamers called Discord. An anonymous poster shared the classified documents, first typing them out, then posting images of papers. The posts appear to have gone unnoticed until they began circulating on social media and were picked up by major news outlets.

What’s in the leak?

The records have provided startling and timely details of US and NATO assistance to Ukraine and efforts to assist Ukraine in its war with Russia, including an anticipated spring offensive. By April 11, 2023, the Pentagon claimed some of the leaked documents had been doctored. The Associated Press interviewed a chat group member in which documents appeared for several months. He said the person who uploaded the documents did not appear driven by ideology. He also said he had copies of hundreds of pages of files and would leak them all if the original poster was arrested.

Russia’s Interior Ministry issued an arrest warrant for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) after criticizing the Putin regime and praising US military assistance to Ukraine during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on May 30, 2023. Graham responded defiantly by challenging Russia to submit to the International Criminal Court, where Putin faces a warrant for forced transfers of children from Ukraine. He also said he would wear the arrest warrant as a badge of honor.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head honcho of the Russian mercenary Wagner force and the failed June 2023 rebellion, often dubbed “Putin’s chef,” met his untimely end in a plane crash on August 23, 2023. Following the event, President Vladimir Putin, in a rare display of culinary critique, described Prigozhin as an adept entrepreneur who navigated a challenging destiny and made serious mistakes. Prigozhin was buried in St. Petersburg, away from public attention. Russian state television hardly covered the funeral.

On Sept. 12, 2023, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea’s supreme leader, didn’t just hop on a plane or drive to Russia. Instead, he chose his dark green, luxuriously decorated armored train for a 20-hour journey to Vladivostok, Russia. This slow-moving fortress comes complete with reddish-pink leather armchairs and an average 60 kph (around 37 mph) speed. The grand purpose? Meeting with Vladimir Putin to talk about sending a North Korean cosmonaut into space, building satellites, and cooperation on military-technical matters. Kim Jong-un took the opportunity to express his full support for Russia’s “just fight.”

In a move more surprising than finding out your secret Santa is actually Santa, Ukraine officially shifted its Christmas celebration to December 25th in 2023. This historic change, signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in July 2023, marked a significant departure from the traditional January 7th date, aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church’s calendar. The decision was a statement of cultural identity and national autonomy amidst the ongoing conflict with Russia.