![What does Putin want in Ukraine? The conflict explained](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/220224015519-08-ukraine-0224-super-tease.jpg)
What does Putin want in Ukraine? The conflict explained
CNN
After months of military buildup and brinkmanship on its border with Ukraine, Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor with a multi-pronged attack, threatening to destabilize Europe and draw in the United States.
A whirlwind of diplomatic efforts to stave off a Russian invasion in recent weeks failed to defuse tensions that had mounted over months.
Russia had been tightening its military grip around Ukraine since last year, amassing tens of thousands of soldiers, as well as equipment and artillery, on the country's doorstep.
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The CIA has sent the White House an unclassified email listing all new hires that have been with the agency for two years or less in an effort to comply with an executive order to downsize the federal workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter – a deeply unorthodox move that could potentially expose the identities of those officers to foreign government hackers.
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Trump administration officials are hurrying to catch up to the president’s audacious and improbable plan for the United States to take ownership of Gaza and redevelop it into a “Middle Eastern Riviera,” trying to wrap their heads around an idea that some hope might be so outlandish it forces other nations to step in with their own proposals for the Palestinian enclave.