Pulaski Commentaries are short analysis of current international developments. The publications are focused on economic and political issues, foreign policy and international security.
Published: June 16, 2023
However, the united will of the West to continuously support Ukraine and provide with the right tools for the job, and armoured vehicles to support their troops, might set the odds in Ukrainian favour and spare the lives of many Ukrainian soldiers. The ongoing offensive rests on the skill and bravery of Ukrainian soldiers and equipment and will of the allied West.
Published: June 9, 2023
The long awaited Ukrainian counter offensive has finally begun. Ukrainian forces went on the attack sometime on June 7 in several areas along the line of contact stretching along the entire Zaporizhia Oblast and Donetsk Oblast up to Bakhmut.
Published: June 2, 2023
As both sides prepare it seems that the upcoming Ukrainian offensive might be the make or break of the war, not only on the battlefield but also in the political sphere and western support of Ukraine.
Published: May 31, 2023
In the 1990s, Central and Eastern European countries learned quickly that by combining their forces, they can be more successful in the Euro-Atlantic integration process. Perhaps, one of the most successful forms of informal regional cooperation was the Visegrad format.
Published: May 31, 2023
The recent announcement of the Czech Republic's ongoing military assistance to Ukraine highlights the growing importance of defence cooperation between the two countries.
Published: May 30, 2023
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has turned the global security environment upside down and made all countries think about the effectiveness of the existing security architecture. It is clear, that the process of revising the international order has already begun, and it is not excluded, that in the near future, we will witness the formation of new scientific, theoretical, or practical approaches to international relations and global politics.
Published: May 30, 2023
The path of the modern Ukrainian state towards democracy has been relatively short, but simultaneously full of struggle. The people of Ukraine had to take to the streets at least three times over the last 30 years to preserve democracy in the country: in 1990, 2004, and 2014. The last time when Ukrainian society stood up to the rise of authoritarian rule, Russia started its aggression against Ukraine by occupying the Crimean Peninsula and deploying its mercenaries in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Published: May 26, 2023
After 10 months of fighting the Russians, spearheaded by Wagner Group’s forces have at last captured the defiant city of Bakhmut.
Published: May 25, 2023
Bakhmut has fallen. On May 20, 2023, on the one year anniversary of the fall of Mariupol, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared that Bakhmut had officially been captured in its entirety, which plays very neatly into Russian obsession with symbolism, which is used for propaganda purposes - two “mighty” Ukrainian cities taken on the same date.
Published: May 19, 2023
The battle for Bakhmut continues. Ukrainian forces have launched a series of counter offensives in the Bakhmut area.
Published: May 19, 2023
The recent visit of the new Czech President Petr Pavel to Poland in the middle of March has clearly shown that there is a new common understanding and possibly also future appetite to do more together in relations between Czechia and Poland.
Published: May 12, 2023
The battle for Bakhmut continues. In the previous weeks Russian forces have achieved significant gains in and around the city. With the rate of Russian advances and surfacing geolocated footage from within Bakhmut, it is possible to estimate that Russian forces control roughly 90 percent of the city. Ukrainian forces are now mounting a stalwart defence in the western edges of Bakhmut concentrating around Yuvileina street.
Published: May 5, 2023
Despite recent Russian advances Ukrainian forces continue to defend Bakhmut. This week saw the collapse of the Ukrainian defences along the railway line in the western part of the city.
Published: April 28, 2023
The battle for Bakhmut continues. According to the most recent information Russian forces have broken through the Ukrainian defensive lines along the railway.
Published: April 27, 2023
On Friday, April 21, 2023, Lu Shaye, the Chinese Ambassador to France, made statements during an interview with the French news channel LCI that caused a general outcry in the Western world.
Published: April 21, 2023
The decreased pace of Russian advance in Bakhmut may be indicative of the nature of Ukrainian defence of the city.
Published: April 19, 2023
Although defense cooperation with Taiwan (Republic of China) is difficult, as it is burdened with numerous risks, there are several areas that can be developed.
Published: April 14, 2023
Russian forces continue offensive operations in and around Bakhmut.
Published: April 14, 2023
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited China for a three-day state visit from 5 to 7 April 2023.
Published: April 7, 2023
The first days of April bring with them bleak news. Russian forces now control the majority of the embattled city of Bakhmut.
Published: March 31, 2023
The last days of March bring with them further changes to the frontlines of Ukraine.
Published: March 31, 2023
The President of Russia Vladimir Putin has declared that nuclear weapons will now be deployed to Belarus
Published: March 24, 2023
The Russian offensive in Bakhmut has slowed down, with a record low of daily combat clashes recorded this week.
Published: March 17, 2023
Despite the Russian assault Ukrainian forces continue to hold Bakhmut. Col. General Oleksandr Syrskyi stated that the situation in and around Bakhmut remains difficult, with Russian forces attacking from several directions simultaneously.
Published: March 15, 2023
One year into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the West is in need for a diversified strategy when discussing the conflict with its partners. Due to historical experiences, non-European and non-Western countries look at the Russian aggression differently. Supporting Ukraine thus means learning how communicate the consequences of the ongoing invasion in a language that would take into account addressees’ sensitivity. Such language is essential to assist Kyiv in winning the war and embarking on a path of successful and quick recovery.
Published: March 14, 2023
A surprising decision to re-establish diplomatic ties between two arch-rivals - the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - could potentially alter a security landscape in the Middle East. However, significant challenges remain, and they will ultimately determine a fate of the agreement. Their deep and structural nature makes it difficult to be optimistic.
Published: March 10, 2023
In Bakhmut Russian forces continue to press Ukrainian lines and the situation remains very difficult, despite that Ukrainian command has officially declared that the defence of the city will continue. Several western experts have doubted the importance of Bakhmut, stating that the city has little to no strategic value, while at the same time draining Ukrainian forces.
Published: March 7, 2023
The 2023 Estonian Parliamentary Elections have come to an end. Victory was claimed by the Reform Party, under the leadership of current Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
Published: March 3, 2023
The battle for Bakhmut seems to be entering its final stages. Over the last week the Russian forces launched a large coordinated offensive along the entire line of contact in the region.
Published: February 24, 2023
In most important frontline news from this week, Ukrainian forces carried out a missile attack against several key Russian targets, including far behind the frontlines such as occupied Mariupol.
Published: February 22, 2023
Putin’s speech has been an excruciatingly long ordeal, and one that started with aggressive yet somewhat reused statements. The first key point brought forward was a reaffirmation of Russian commitment to the “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine.
Published: February 22, 2023
Putin’s speech has been an excruciatingly long ordeal, and one that started with aggressive yet somewhat reused statements. The first key point brought forward was a reaffirmation of Russian commitment to the “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine.
Published: February 21, 2023
The legal and organisational nature of the “Special Military Operation” has always been rather unclear. Neither an outright war nor a counter terrorist operation so common in Russia, it didn’t fit into the pre-existing legal statutes of the Russian Federation.
Published: February 18, 2023
The war in Ukraine has already proven that Russia is not a credible partner. Its defeat has the full potential of becoming one of the most profitable processes for the rules-based international order, our security, and economy since 1991. To make it happen we shall however establish a completely new and broad Russia policy, by eliminating the mistakes of the past and boldly looking forward, with CEE actors playing an active part in this process.
Published: February 18, 2023
This week's missile strikes have seen Ukrainian air defences at a record low, failing to shoot down the majority of Russian ordnance.
Published: February 16, 2023
Although both Sweden and Finland cannot be considered as significant military powers, their full membership in the Alliance will significantly improve NATO’s strategic position vis-à-vis Russia, particularly in its Eastern and Northern dimension.
Published: February 10, 2023
The United Kingdom is a perfect match for Ukraine for conducting wartime advocacy. Britain needs to project its image as a country with a global impact and has a long track of understanding the Russian threat to security. Zelenskyy – with his Churchillian narrative – will not save Tories from a likely defeat in the next general elections.
Published: February 1, 2023
In the second round of Czech’s presidential elections held on January 27-28, retired army general Petr Pavel expectedly won over ex-prime minister Andrej Babiš.
Published: February 1, 2023
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, Ukraine’s resistance has produced several stunning reversals in the fortunes of war, drastically limiting the territorial and political gains of its adversary.
Published: January 13, 2023
Three Western NATO member states – France, the United States and Germany – promised to provide Ukraine with some heavy fighting vehicles. Although, on the one hand, this is good news – after all, a certain mental barrier is broken and a new supply channel is to be established – from a purely military perspective, this is rather a symbolic help.
Published: January 10, 2023
The State of Qatar's decision to host the biggest and most popular sporting event in the world - the World Cup – was not driven by its love to sport and football, but purely by political calculations.
Published: December 13, 2022
This year’s summit is described as one of the most important events of the upcoming months for the Biden administration. So where did these changes come from, and do they have a chance to bring benefits to both parties involved?
Published: October 5, 2022
International response to the barbaric invasion of Ukraine by Russia has been impressive.
Published: August 26, 2022
After Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, Hungary has been one of the few members of the Euro-Atlantic community that took a cautious stance in regard to providing Ukraine with political and material support. Budapest’s decision not to send its own lethal weapons to Kyiv and not to allow partners to transport military aid through its own territory has been widely perceived as a breach of the Euro-Atlantic unity and has come under criticism even by the regional partners from the Visegrád Group (V4).
Published: August 3, 2022
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is again a place of clash over the vision of the Internet as the elections to choose the next head of the organisation are approaching. After 8 years of Chinese leadership, the one of the frontrunner in the elections is a Russian candidate. Does the ITU become a centre of promoting non-western vision of the Internet and therefore will contribute to limit the free flow of information worldwide?
Published: July 11, 2022
Following the recent NATO summit and Western sanctions hitting Russia's fossil fuel industry, it seems that climate issue will increasingly affect the development of the armed forces of Western countries.
Published: July 8, 2022
The NATO Madrid summit, which took place on 29th-30th June was dominated by the hard military security driven by the war in Ukraine. However, the issue of cybersecurity and disinformation was not omitted and the important steps were included both in the final declaration and the new Strategic Concept.
Published: May 23, 2022
Finland’s bid to gain NATO membership was a direct response to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Published: April 7, 2022
Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, which started on February 24, 2022, has forced Japan to rethink its strategy towards Vladimir Putin’s regime. The previous administration of Shinzo Abe sought a closer cooperation with Russia and engaged with it on both economic and political level, including in the matters of security. However, the new prime minister Fumio Kishida’s clear and open stance against the Russian aggression marks a turning point in the two countries’ relations. This change of attitude is seen in the verbal criticism, extensive sanctions, but also plans to change Russia’s status in Japan’s National Security Strategy, which suggests a long-term perception shift.
Published: March 18, 2022
A comprehensive reform of the Polish Armed Forces, announced over a year ago, has significantly accelerated since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The Homeland Defence Act (HDA) was first announced by the government in October 2021.