DANIEL FRIED

President Joe Biden took an around-the-world victory lap after this month's midterm election, where Democrats showed surprising strength in holding back Republicans.

Claiming Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson would be an attempt by Russia to control of much of Ukraine’s east despite ongoing struggles on the battlefield.

President Joe Biden named Bridget Brink as his nominee for ambassador to Ukraine on Monday.

The United States unleashed some of its toughest actions against Russian President Vladimir Putin right after he rolled his troops into Ukraine.

In a struggle between Russian authoritarianism and Western freedom, Poland is an imperfect carrier of the democratic torch.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Warsaw to thank Poland for taking in Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion is taking an unexpected turn.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will tour Europe this week, as the Biden administration seeks to deter the Russian president from widening his military assault on Ukraine.

Social media posts and notes reflect rare public misgivings with the decision of war.

U.S. sanctions target Russian President Vladmir Putin and a handful of associates, but the list is just as notable for who isn't on it, many of the top names from Forbes' list of the richest Russians.

The term Russian oligarch conjures images of posh London mansions, gold-plated Bentleys and sleek superyachts in the Mediterranean, their decks draped with partiers dripping in jewels. U.S. sanctions target Russian President Vladmir Putin and a handful of individuals believed to be among his closest security advisers, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Citing the concerns of European allies, the U.S. also didn’t impose what was seen as the harshest punishment at its disposal, banning Russia from SWIFT, the international financial system that banks use to move money around the world.

Any hopes that Putin’s military buildup was a bluff disappeared in the smoke and fire of Russian missiles in Ukraine.

The threat of war has shredded Ukraine's economy, and many Ukrainians are asking why they are the ones suffering instead of Russia.

For much of his political career, Joe Biden has watched democracy expand in Europe.

Washington is raising the rhetoric about the buildup of Russian forces near Ukraine's border, but the Ukrainian president is projecting calm.

After tough talk between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin over the Russian troop buildup on the Ukraine border, both sides insist they are hopeful that a pathway to easing tensions could open during diplomatic talks set for January.

The U.S. is expelling 10 Russian diplomats and ordering sanctions against dozens of other people and companies.

FILE - In this March 10, 2011, file photo, then-Vice President Joe Biden, left, shakes hands with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia. The Kremlin, meanwhile, focused on Putin’s response to Biden’s proposal to extend the last remaining U.S.-Russia arms control treaty. Before he spoke to Putin, Biden also called NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg to pledge U.S. commitment to the decades-old alliance founded as a bulwark against Russian aggression. Biden’s team has already reacted strongly to the crackdown on the protests, in which more than 3,700 people were arrested across Russia, including more than 1,400 in Moscow. Just from the public accounts, Biden's discussion with Putin appeared diametrically opposed to Trump's relationship with the Russian president.

But it also underscored how, like the space race, the competition to have the first vaccine is about international rivalries as well as science. To be the first one out of the block with a coronavirus vaccine would be a real pardon the pun shot in the arm for the Kremlin," said Timothy Frye, a political science professor at Columbia University who specializes in post-Soviet politics. The U.S., Britain and Canada l ast month accused hackers working for Russian intelligence of trying to steal information about a coronavirus vaccine from academic and pharmaceutical research institutions. In any case, the public is eager for a vaccine as global deaths from the virus surpass 730,000. The Russian president may face similar doubts at home.