March 16, 2022. 21 Days of War. If you want to see how Putin's war will play out, you have only to look at Russia's past. When Russia backed the Syrian military in 2011, we saw cluster bombs, thermobaric weapons, chemical weapons, and Putin's penchant for victim blaming. That the war in Syria devolved into utter chaos only played into Putin's hands. Now that the West has largely shunned all things Russia, Putin's ploy is sputtering out in Ukraine, but he won't give up. We explore how The White Helmets, a humanitarian-aid organization that has accumulated hundred of videos documenting the atrocities in Syria, fell victim to the Kremlin's disinformation apparatus. With the bombing of a maternity hospital in Ukraine, we're seeing the same tactics play out again. 

In Odessa, Russian naval vessels appear to be preparing for a landing. In Mariupol, citizens are held hostage in a hospital, trapped in a theater and a public swimming pool, the humanitarian crisis worsens. In Moscow, Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova was given the chance in court to refute her criticism of Putin's war. She refused. 

CORRECTION: We need to make a correction to our reporting for this episode. We did not have a clear understanding of the circumstances that resulted in the release of Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov. We incorrectly stated that his release was due to a special military operation and not negotiations. That was incorrect, and actually the opposite is true. Ivan Fedorov was released from custody in exchange for 9 captured Russian conscripts.

March 13, 2022, 18 days of war. We take a step back and get you caught up on where we are in Ukraine - what cities have fallen to Russian forces, what exactly is an oblast, and what is Russia trying to accomplish? 

This episode is also about the international press - namely, those journalists inside Ukraine who risk their lives to bring us firsthand accounts on the war. Today, it was announced that American journalist Brent Renaud was shot and killed by Russian troops. The photographer accompanying him, Juan Arredondo, was also shot but survived. Two active journalists have been killed in Ukraine, several more have been shot, attacked, and robbed by Russian troops. We appreciate the work they do, the stories they tell, the risks they take. 

Daily update on the war in Ukraine, March 12, 2022. Calls for a No-Fly Zone intensify as Russian shelling escalates. The UN has released a new report putting the total number of Ukrainian refugees at 2.5+ million, with over 12 million Ukrainians stuck in the hardest hit areas. 400,000 Meriupol residents have been trapped in the city without food, water, and heat for nearly 2 weeks, a situation the Red Cross calls "apocalyptic." 

Today's Editorial: The sudden international furor over biological weapons - do they exist? who has them? - marks a major success for Russian propaganda. Talking points from easily debunked conspiracy theories that originated in Russia have begun to splinter Western support for Ukraine. Keeping us distracted from the atrocities of the Russian assault is the whole point. 

March 9, 2022 - Updates on the war in Ukraine. Mariupol is devolving into a humanitarian nightmare. A maternity and children's ward at a Mariupol hospital was struck by Russian artillery - destroying it and injuring 17. Intense shelling has reportedly killed 1,170 in Mariupol, with images emerging of a mass grave. Civilians, residential areas, and civilian infrastructure are constant targets by the Russian military. 

Today we reflect on Truth - what it means to be able to collect and disseminate information and ideas in a relatively open and connected world. We reflect on the precious significance of truth at a time when Russia both restricts what information is allowed to be shared and is cut off from global communication. 

Ukraine and the United States are inextricably linked in terms of national security. Whether the US gave Ukraine "assurances" or "guarantees" as part of the denuclearization deal, the US owes Ukraine a strong hand in its fight against Russia. That could be in the form of planes and weapons, or it could be in the form of brokering peace. There's a third option, but that ends the world.

This episode explores in glorious detail the complicated tale of Ukraine's need for US security from Russia. Spoiler alert: Russia has always been kind of a jerk.

7 March 2022. Vinnytsia International Airport is destroyed by Russian bombs - exactly as Zelinskyy warned. The International Red Cross reports an evacuation route made by Russians was littered with mines. Russia offers clear passage to all fleeing Ukrainians...as long as they flee to Russia or Belarus, which has been aiding Russia's war effort. 

As Europe, the UK, and the US watch the war in Ukraine unfold, President Zelinskyy and fellow Ukrainians grow frustrated with the hesitation to help. The US and UK agreement to offer protection to Ukraine when it gave up its nuclear weapons has left them a sitting duck, which was exactly their fear in the first place. We are now complicit in the ongoing slaughter of Ukrainians. It reeks of Stalin and Hitler. The Ukrainians have already lived through this once, so why are we sitting by as they relive it all over? 

6 March 2022. Ukraine's Day of Forgiveness. Maybe one day there will be forgiveness, but not today.

Somehow, Ukrainians have managed to break our cynicism. They show us hope in tragedy, humor in despair. They show us Hell and limitless bravery. This episode celebrates you, Ukraine, as you weather the worst of what this world offers. Slava Ukraini, Heroiam slava!

The daily recap returns tomorrow. 

5 March 2022 - The war in Ukraine is 10 days long. A YouTube video from a Ukrainian television broadcast appears to show an interview with three Russian POWs. They are battered, remorseful, they speak plainly and openly. It might be real. It might go viral. In the Fog of War, the truth is hard to verify.

Updates on Odessa, Kharkiv, and Kyiv. 

We look at Russia's 20-year plan to shape the world in its own way - where geographic location, not economics, determines who will rule the world. It's called geopolitics. It's a dirty game, and Putin is very good at it. Unfortunately, Putin never planned for President Zelinskyy. 

Updates on the ongoing war in Ukraine for March 4, 2022. 

The first reports of rape by Russian soldiers have made it to the news. Rape is a war crime.

Reporting on the 8th day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, March 3, 2022.

Kherson has officially fallen to Russia. Mariupol is surrounded by land and sea forces. One million refugees have fled Ukraine for neighboring countries. 

And Putin has a Nazi problem. Ukraine's Azov Battalion is a white-nationalist regiment that has been folded into Ukraine's military, but Putin's aim of "denazification" comes with some major problems for Russia and the international community - namely, several international right-extremist and white nationalist organizations have received money funneled from Putin's Russia. Within Russia itself, Putin has a Nazi problem all his own - those Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists? Yeah, white supremacists.