The Ukraine Conflict

Ukraine’s focus on immediate threats to its economic and physical security will continue to clash with the U.S.’s desire to play the long game.

The move will further inflame tensions amid the recent military escalation in eastern Ukraine and deteriorating health of jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.

In this episode of the Essential Geopolitics podcast from Stratfor, a RANE company, Emily Donahue speaks with global security analyst Sam Lichtenstein about rising tensions in eastern Ukraine and how they're drawing renewed global attention to the frozen conflict between the government in Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists.

Their new agreement notwithstanding, Moscow and Kyiv are ultimately set to go their separate ways on energy.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will meet at the Normandy summit, but the considerable distance between the two sides will be difficult to bridge.

The Ukrainian president is facing familiar obstacles as he seeks to withdraw forces from eastern Ukraine and implement a political settlement for the separatist region.

An end to Kyiv and Moscow’s six-year conflict remains a distant prospect. But a mutual step back from the front line could at least create enough space to reopen the conversation.

If the two countries cannot reach an agreement before the current agreement expires Dec. 31, Russian gas deliveries to Europe via Ukraine could well experience interruptions.

The U.S. national security adviser is on a tour of Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova in a bid to make inroads against the Kremlin.

With his party on course for a big win in legislative elections, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he wants to solve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but that'll be easier said than done.