promoearn: Your weekend must reads 📰

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Your weekend must reads 📰

Saturday, August 27

Good morning! Welcome to The Short List, where we feature some of the best reads of the week from USA TODAY. I'm John Riley, and today the spotlight is on the Ukraine-Russia war, which began six months ago this week.

Where's the war going?

🔵"Russia's callous invasion of Ukraine six months ago ignited a conflict the entire world appears to be losing." Reporter John Bacon gives a progress report on the conflict, including what the crucial winter months might bring and what victory might look like for both sides. Some eye-opening facts:

•	Russia has suffered as many as 80,000 dead and wounded. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has estimated as many as 100-200 Ukraine soldiers were dying a day. Thousands of Ukraine civilians have been killed as well.
•	Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are at risk of hunger due to food shortages caused by Russia's blockade. Up to 20 million tons of grain have been trapped in Ukrainian silos for months.
•	Most longtime Russian nationals living in Ukraine don't support the invasion, according to U.S. security expert Dale Buckner. Most Ukrainians, meanwhile, believe their country is winning.

How do you prove a war crime?

🔵Across Ukraine, even as Russian tanks roll and rockets fly, teams are investigating thousands of alleged war crimes. USA TODAY spent weeks following investigators, revealing that pursuit of justice in wartime is far from clear.

•	Prosecutors with limited training must improvise as they research gruesome deaths. Artillery may rain down even as crews photograph victims and diagram crime scenes.
•	For now, the effort is focused on the Russian military's everyday violence against civilians as opposed to the higher-stakes effort to build a case against Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.
•	Is the invasion of Ukraine really a war crime? The International Criminal Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, claims universal jurisdiction for war crimes cases. It could take years, if at all, before many senior suspects are detained.

Scattered families tell their stories

🔵Half a year since the invasion, USA TODAY journalists reconnected with Ukrainians across the globe who first shared their experiences during the early stages of the war.

While some are struggling under Russian occupation or living amid fierce combat and shelling, others in the U.S. and Europe are adapting to new countries and a new normal.

"We become older — not because of the age but because of challenges we face, the losses of our friends," said Volodymyr Omelyan, 43, Ukraine's former infrastructure minister. "You don't even have time to grieve them and to say sorry. You fight endlessly."

There are more great reads below.👇 Have a great weekend!