From the Black Sea to its textbooks, Russia is expanding the battlefield

Russia is visibly escalating its war against Ukraine and Europe. Terminating the 2022 grain agreement with Ukraine that was mediated by Turkey and the United Nations, Russia has reiterated its intention to destroy Ukraine's economy and statehood. Russia is mercilessly bombing Ukraine's grain export economy and civilian infrastructure; it placed new mines in the Black Sea to threaten and interdict Ukrainian maritime exports. Washington has claimed that these mines intentionally create the basis for a false flag operation against Ukraine should civilian ships be sunk. It has declared that any ship in the Black Sea delivering or taking cargo to…