A soldier of the Russian National Guard in St. Petersburg, 2022. (Credit: Dmitri Lovetsky/Keystone)

Humiliation, the root of Russia’s systemic violence. In Russia, the army and prisons have long been symbols of grassroots cruelty towards their own kind. The humiliations that occur in these institutions even contribute to their manageability. In schools, too, violence and bullying are an everyday occurrence. This systemic cycle of domination impacts all of Russian society.

(Credit: Yuriy Zhuravel)

Ukrainian cartoonists merciless in Putin takedowns and portrayals of war. “Laughing at cartoons adds confidence to the Ukrainian people and lifts the spirits of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” according to cartoonist Yuriy Zhuravel, an artist and musician from Rivne, in the north-east of Ukraine. Zhuravel and two other Ukrainian cartoonists talk about how the war has affected them.

📌 4-5 July | Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano. Ukraine and Switzerland, the two co-organisers of the conference, want to launch Ukraine's rebuilding efforts through a broad political and diplomatic process. The conference is expected to attract international delegations as well as representatives from the private sector and civil society.