It’s been almost a month since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The UN Human Rights Office says at least 902 civilians have been killed between Feb. 24 and March 19, but warns that the real death toll is actually considerably higher as it has not yet verified numbers from several badly hit cities, including the besieged Mariupol.

Still, as the war rages on, the capital Kyiv and much of the rest of the country remains in Ukrainian control. Today, the Wall Street Journal’s European security correspondent James Marson explains the state of Russia’s war in Ukraine now, where Russian forces have advanced, and the strength of the Ukrainian resistance.

In February, as a massive trucker convoy rolled into Ottawa to protest COVID-19 mandates, another convoy set up outside the tiny town of Coutts, Alta., where protesters paralyzed a major U.S.-Canada border crossing for over two weeks.

A month after those blockades were finally dismantled, CBC reporter Joel Dryden travelled to Coutts to look at the lasting rifts the protests created among residents — and why, even with most mandates now lifted across Canada, some protesters are staying put.

South’s Korea incoming president, Yoon Suk Yeol, demonizes feminism, blames women for the country’s low birth rate and denies the existence of gender inequality. His campaign — which capitalized on the politics of grievance — has drawn comparisons to former U.S. president Donald Trump. So much so that he is also known as K-Trump.

This week, on Nothing is Foreign, we hear from the women who are fighting for their voices, rights and safety and explore the roots of the country’s anti-feminist movement.

Featuring:

Jieun Choi, South Korean journalist.

Haein Shim, artist and activist of Seoul-based feminist group Haeil.

Russia’s elite class of billionaire oligarchs have become major targets for Western sanctions over the war on Ukraine.

Last week, Canada announced it was freezing assets and banning business from Russian figures including Roman Abramovich, who has been ordered to sell his Chelsea Football Club in the United Kingdom. The U.K. and European Union have taken similar measures against Abramovich and others, and the U.S. has convened a multilateral task force dedicated to sanctioning these elites.

But while oligarchs traditionally wield outsized political influence in Russia, President Vladimir Putin has consolidated power over his decades in leadership. Questions remain about whether Russian billionaires — however incensed by the limits placed on their Western-style lives of excess — can pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war.

Today, Forbes’ John Hyatt uses his experience on the billionaire beat to explain where the oligarchs’ wealth comes from, and what Western pressure on their wallets could mean for Putin.

The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is scathing: it lays out the stark divide between rich and poor nations’ ability to withstand global warming’s worst effects.

This, just months after COP26 in Glasgow, where many delegates and activists were asking rich nations most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions to pay for the losses and damages that many developing nations are already experiencing from climate change. Demands for a specific compensation fund were not met.

Today, Canadian human rights lawyer Payam Akhavan is here to explain how some small island nations are looking at how they can use international law to make rich countries pay up. He’s a senior fellow at Massey College at the University of Toronto, and a former UN war crimes prosecutor who has served on tribunals investigating genocide in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Now, he’s helped establish the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, and is serving as the group’s legal counsel.

It’s been three straight election losses for the Conservative Party of Canada, and now three consecutive races to find a new leader.

MPs booted Erin O’Toole as leader last month after he failed to best Justin Trudeau in an unpopular 2021 election. Now, the race to replace him as leader is underway, with the first week of the race marked by attacks, ideology and differing tactics for how to return the party to power.

Five candidates have put their names in so far: Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, former Quebec premier Jean Charest, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis and independent Ontario MPP Roman Baber.

Today, Power and Politics host Vassy Kapelos returns with an overview of the candidates, their strategies and what’s at stake for the party beyond just winning.

Russia is stepping up its bombing campaign against Ukraine. So for weeks, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been making a desperate plea to the United States and its NATO allies to impose a “no-fly zone” over the country — to keep Russian warplanes out of the sky. But a no-fly zone hinges on the notion that if a Russian plane violates the terms, it will be shot down. And the idea of entering into armed combat with a nuclear power is a clear and potentially catastrophic risk for Western leaders.

This week, Zelensky is planning a virtual address to Canada’s House of Commons and the U.S. Congress, in the hopes of winning more support in his country’s fight against Putin’s military.

Today on Front Burner, we speak to University of British Columbia’s Allen Sens about the case for and against a “no-fly zone,” whether there’s a red line in this war, and the ways in which it could escalate.

Rents in Canada are skyrocketing, and tenants are struggling to keep up. One in three Canadian households rent, and yet much of the public conversation around Canada’s housing crisis focuses on homebuyers.

Today on Front Burner, Shaina Luck brings us her investigation for the Fifth Estate into Canada’s rental crisis: what’s driving prices up, the role of institutional landlords, and the absence of government action.

Peering inside Russia – and it’s complex web of state propaganda – presents a very different view of the war in Ukraine and who the real victims are.

As nations around the world condemn Russia’s invasion, many within Russia are supporting Russian president Vladimir Putin. How is Putin selling the war to the Russian people? Will thousands of anti-war protesters challenging the Kremlin make a difference to the government?

This week, Nothing is Foreign takes you inside the alternate reality being created by Russian state propaganda, explores how fear and new laws have choked off dissenting voices and listen in on the difficult conversations between a Ukrainian son and a Russian father in the war over disinformation.

Featuring:

Alexey Kovalev, investigative editor of Meduza.

Sergey Utkin, researcher and head of strategic assessment at Primakov Institute of World Economy and International relations.

Misha Katsurin, Kyiv resident and creator of Papapover.com.

Yulia Zhivtsova, anti-war protester in Moscow.

Oil prices in Canada skyrocketed this week as sanctions on Russian energy effectively shut the world’s third largest oil supplier out of the market following its invasion of Ukraine. The United States and the United Kingdom moved to ban Russian oil imports. Even the European Union, Russia’s biggest oil customer, announced its plan to slash Russian oil imports by two-thirds this year.

Although Canada has never really relied on Russian oil, the impact of sky-high oil prices is already being felt in Canada, as prices at the pumps remain at record highs across the country. It’s forcing a moment of reckoning inside Canada’s oilpatch, an industry facing a choice — transition away from fossil fuels or ramp up production. Today on Front Burner, we speak with CBC’s Kyle Bakx about the fork in the road for Canada’s energy future.