Here's a report on winemaking in a war zone from RFE/RL's Christopher Miller:
Beneath Ukraine's Battlefields, Some Sanctuary And Sparkling Wine
BAKHMUT, Ukraine -- You wouldn't know by Yuriy Ivanovich's calm demeanor or the elegance he uses to describe the bubbles rising in his champagne flute that we're directly beneath the battlefields of eastern Ukraine.
Protected by more than 80 meters of rich, black earth, neither the rumbling of armored vehicles nor the din of artillery fire can joggle his hand as he pours a rare, ruby blend of fizzy cabernet sauvignon and merlot.
"You'll notice it has raspberry on the nose, and a taste of black current with a hint of blackberry," Yuriy says as we sample the Krimart red brut sparkling wine that has been perfected here since the first batch was made four decades ago.
Yuriy, who asks that his last name not be used, continues to host connoisseurs or the simply curious here at Artwinery, a maze of winemaking and climate-controlled caves originally opened in honor of Soviet leader Josef Stalin's birthday in 1950.
Above ground, signs of the only active war in Europe are omnipresent in this historic salt-mining city of about 100,000 residents just 20 kilometers from the front lines where Russia-backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian government troops. Checkpoints are in place at every entrance to the city. Armed soldiers in fatigues roam streets scarred by tank tracks. Apartment buildings are spray-painted with the words "bomb shelter" in Russian. There is more foot traffic in and out of military apparel shops than the city's fashion boutiques. Helicopters routinely buzz overhead, delivering wounded troops from flashpoint areas like Avdiyivka to the hospital here.
And there is no end in sight to the nearly three-year conflagration that has taken at least 9,750 lives since April 2014 and soured relations between Russia and the West. At least 35 civilians and fighters on both sides have been killed and many dozens more wounded since January 1 in the worst outbreak of violence since 2015.
Read the entire article here.
There appears to have been a protest at the Berlin film festival in support of the jailed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov (You can read more about him here.)
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry:
Nolan Peterson, who often writes for the right-leaning Daily Signal, has an opinion piece in Newsweek:
From the Lithuanian foreign minister:
Alec Luhn sounds a wee bit skeptical...